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    Red Rain: A Novel
    Red Rain: A Novel
    Red Rain: A Novel
    Audiobook10 hours

    Red Rain: A Novel

    Written by R. L. Stine

    Narrated by Michael Cerveris

    3/5

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    About this audiobook

    The New York Times bestselling author of the Goosebumps and Fear Street series delivers a terrifying horror novel for adults centered on a town in the grip of a sinister revolt.

    After travel writer Lea Sutter barely survives a merciless hurricane on a tiny island off the South Carolina coast, she impulsively brings two orphaned twin boys home with her to Long Island. Samuel and Daniel seem amiable and intensely grateful at first, but no one in Lea’s family anticipates the twins’ true evil nature—or predicts that within a few weeks’ time her husband, a controversial child psychologist, will be implicated in two brutal murders.

    “The horror is grisly” (Associated Press) in legendary author R.L. Stine’s “creepy, fun read” (Library Journal)—an homage to the millions of adult fans who grew up reading his classic series and a must-read for every fan of deviously inventive chillers.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateOct 9, 2012
    ISBN9781442346772
    Author

    R. L. Stine

    R.L. Stine has more than 350 million English language books in print, plus international editions in 32 languages, making him one of the most popular children’s authors in history. Besides Goosebumps, R.L. Stine has written other series, including Fear Street, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room, and Dangerous Girls. R.L. Stine lives in New York with his wife, Jane, and his Cavalier King Charles spaniel, Minnie. Visit him online at rlstine.com.

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    Reviews for Red Rain

    3/5

    101 ratings16 reviews

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    • 3/5
      AUDIOBOOK: I found myself wanting the book to go in a different direction rather than down the typical RL Stine storyline. When I realized the story wasn't going to stray, I wanted more character depth - not description. It's not a bad listen/read, moderately easy to follow, etc. I think I just wanted more and it felt like the ending was cut off.
    • 5/5
      I love R.L. Stine growing up. This book was perfect for ADULTS who loved him. Amazing!!!
    • 5/5


      Perfect story.. Kept me reading. Excellent twists.

      Everything you'd expect in RL Stine's first adult novel....plus more!
    • 3/5
      I was super excited to read a new R.L. Stine book. I was obsessed with his books growing up. It was OK. I was a little disappointed, as it wasn't all that great. Interesting premise, but I didn't like it all that much. Not sure I'd recommend it.
    • 1/5
      Lea Sutton writes a travel blog for people who like adventure. Researching for her latest instalment she travels to the small island of Le Chat Noir off the coast of South Carolina where she experiences a fierce hurricane. In the aftermath of the storm she is wandering on the beach looking at the desolation when she encounters twin boys who have also survived. Their family however was not as fortunate and Lea forms an immediate bond with them and decides that she is going to take them home with her and make them part of her family. Lea’s husband Marc is less than thrilled by the idea, but the boys return with her nonetheless. As they begin to integrate themselves into life in Sag Harbour the strangest incidents begin to occur and the boys seem to have some very real, and very deadly special gifts.

      My girls both read R.L. Stine novels when they were younger and although I would often read books that they were reading … just to keep up with what they were “into”, R.L. Stine was not one of the authors I ever picked up. Because of that I have really no basis of comparison to this “adult” novel. Saying that I also felt that aside from one scene involving sex this could have been a YA novel. In fact if I may be so bold as to offer a further opinion … the scene was gratuitous and could have been thrown in just to bump the book into the adult market. Yes, it really was that disappointing - oh – I mean the book as a whole, not just the sex scene.
    • 5/5
      Great Book! Can't wait for the next one!
    • 1/5
      Empty plot and even worse characters!

      Originally, I was so excited to read Red Rain. The first part that describes the aftermath of the hurricane was so well done that I could feel the screams of the survivors in my chest. Too bad the buck stopped there because absolutely every thing else in this book was a waste of my very limited free time and printed paper.

      There wasn’t a single likable character to connect with. After the second adulterous couple I almost gave up reading altogether. The first adulterous sex scene at least had some point in the absurd plot but the second…completely pointless.

      What would a travel blogger be doing setting up her trip the day before she knows a huge hurricane is due to strike the island? This woman drove me nuts. She decided to bring home these two kids that are total strangers, knows nothing about them and doesn’t even listen to her husband or children’s feelings/opinions on the matter. Not to mention why in the world would you bring home two more children to take care of (who are supposedly traumatized from losing their family and home) when you already have two kids that you barely spend time with as it is. These were the thoughts running through my mind. Then the idiot woman says this: “I’m not neglecting the twins. The twins and I have a special bond. Even if we don’t spend time together..”

      Because of Red Rain I doubt I will ever read another R.L. Stine book, I felt it was that poorly plotted and written. All of the characters were weakly realized. Without a character for me to attach to it is hard to care what happens to them. Hell, I was hoping every one would die at one point. There were also scenes that just felt like wasted space. I thought this was supposed to be a horror or thriller book and I wouldn’t even consider it a cheesy horror read.

      Stay away, I say, stay away.
    • 2/5
      RL Stine has published hundreds of fantastic books for children and young adults. His first novel for adults, Red Rain, might suffer for that reason. Any reader who has loved and devoured the Fear Street and Goosebumps books will recognize some of the old twisty tricks here—the ‘punch lines’ at the end of chapters, the slow reveal of details that change how the reader understands the character’s motivation, the indulgent descriptions of creepy things. While these and other tactics work wonderfully in Stine’s other work, they seemed to fall flat here. A good example of this is my favorite chapter-ending punch line, “Of course, neither Andy nor Elaine Saltzman, nor anyone on the pier that night, had any idea of what would happen to Derek’s head a few weeks later.” Stine’s work generally has a note of humor and a sort of gleeful approach to the horror. I’ve been lucky enough to see him speak, and he’s a genuinely funny guy. But this is grown-up horror now; a blurb on the back of the book calls it “grisly.” The way the foreshadowed scene involving Derek’s head is described later, it’s not humorous at all, especially when Elaine Saltzman sees her son’s body and begins screaming and sobbing. After that, thinking back to the “mwa-ha-ha” style punch line almost feels inappropriate. There’s no glee in it. In many ways, the characters don’t come across as very likeable. To be fair, a good portion of them are hypnotized throughout the book, which does have a tendency to dull personalities, even if the effect of the hypnosis seems inconsistent at times. Others are just not very good people who aren’t really evil, but don’t treat the people around them very well. The most likable character is probably the 14-year-old daughter (which can’t possibly be a phrase used very often), and the scenes between her and her BFF are among the most enjoyable. Besides the scenes with the 14-year-olds, my other favorite scenes are of Lea’s point of view on the island. Before the hurricane, she’s just taking in the different-ness of this little island, only half-believing everything she hears, and there’s an authentic ring to it. Unfortunately, her spark of curiosity and observation that propels these scenes is gone by the time she returns to Sag Harbor (for plot reasons), and she becomes a much more static character.The family as a whole seems, frustratingly, never to be able to have a direct conversation. They’re always interrupting each other or changing the subject or answering phones instead of communicating. Maybe this is a glimpse of how real families get along when so many are competing for attention, but I found their lack of useful interaction stressful. And how much of it was needed to get the story across?Other details and scenes seemed extraneous too, including, I hate to say, the red rain itself. While it’s such a good, creepy image, it’s described in detail only in the preface and only referred to once more. None of the characters talk about it, and I’m not sure I can figure out its significance, except for a good visual. Likewise, Mark’s infidelity with Autumn goes without comment by any other characters—he never admits it to anyone, and no one else finds out. The twins kill her without mentioning the affair, and the police suspect Mark for entirely different reasons. It really only serves to make the reader like him and Autumn less (and they weren’t particularly likeable before). I’m a great fan of RL Stine and count him as a major inspiration. I really think this one didn’t work for the reason that his other books work so well. Red Rain, being geared toward adults, focused on some really grim themes and brutal horror. But that eliminates opportunities for the almost light-hearted gallows humor that Stine excels at. While I can’t recommend this book, I think I will be revisiting the Fear Street series soon.
    • 2/5
      Though Red Rain requires major suspension of disbelief, it was easy to read and piqued my curiosity enough that I read it until the end. I was trying to figure out what the deal was with the hell twins, and there was a twist there that I didn’t anticipate. I was grossed out a few times, but I wasn’t ever scared. With the exception a few passages here and there I would recommend this for Stine’s regular audience, but it’s back to the drawing board for a compelling adult horror novel.
    • 3/5
      Audiobook review:This is going to be a really hard review to write, because it was such a bizarre story. I grew up reading R.L. Stine's Goosebump series, which I think most children who grew up in the early 90's would relate too. Obviously I was a HUGE fan, and they were a big part of what got me into reading to begin with, so when I saw that he was writing his first adult novel I knew I wanted to read it.I don't know if the narrator made me lose focus of the story, or if parts of story dragged on a bit, but I had to go back quite a few times, because i'd realize that my mind had wandered and i'd have zero clue as to what was going on. The story follows a travel blogger named Lea who goes to this small island off of North Carolina, that most people are afraid to travel too due to the creepy history of the island. A strong hurricane hits the island while Lea is visitng and she meets two young twin boys who are left orphaned by the storm and she decides that she wants to adopt them. Once the twins are home, weird situations start to ensue including murders that frame Lea's husband, Mark. The twists and turns in this book are bizarre and twisted, but in a good way. I just don't think I connected with the story. It was a bit too weird and macabre for me. I still enjoyed it though, and if your a fan of horror, then I definitely recommend checking this one out, but beware, it's very dark and gruesome.
    • 2/5
      Like most kids of my generation, Goosebumps books were part of my formation as a reader. What elementary school kid didn't pick up at least a few of them on library trips. R. L. Stine was a freaking genius of horror to my childhood self. In fact, his books terrified me to the degree that I could only handle reading the Choose Your Own Adventure books, which, ironically, scared me less even though it was purportedly me dying over and over again, since I invariably made all the wrong choices. The other ones, though, I just did not have the mettle for at the time.



      Because of my childhood fear of his books, I just could not pass up the opportunity to review his adult horror novel when the opportunity appeared in my inbox. Even at the time, I knew it was probably a bad idea, back before I started to see the negative reviews rolling in, but my inner child just had to see for itself what frightened me so much back in the day. As feared, Red Rain was not a good book, however it was thankfully bad enough to be highly entertaining in parts, which was pretty much its only saving grace.

      For one thing, Stine's bread and butter has been writing for children, young ones, and he's been doing it since the 1980s. I remember the children's books of those days, because I read them for a while, before shifting to adult novels pretty young. The standards for children's literature were just not as high writing-wise as I feel they are today. I found the writing in Red Rain rather juvenile, though certainly there are plenty of successful authors of adult novels who make good careers on that. This style of writing does not appeal to me, however.

      The biggest issue with the way he chose to write this novel, though, was that he set a lot of the action off-screen. He would be ramping up to something scary and would then the chapter would end and we would be stuck again with the mundane family drama. He did this to build suspense I think, as to who was committing the series of brutal murders, but, unfortunately, this was insanely obvious all along, so all that it did was take away a possibly terrifying scene. All told, there are only a few horror scenes in the whole book, and they take place in the last hundred pages or so.

      Rather than giving the audience any actual action, he tries to keep them on the edge of their seats with suspense by constantly foreshadowing the horrors to come. This method can work, but its handled here with the subtlety of a brick through a window. For instance, Lea, a travel blogger, decides to go to the mysterious and creepy island off the coast of South Carolina, Cape Le Chat Noir. Oooh, the Cape of the Black Cat. Oh no, black cats are bad luck! Ahhhhhh!



      There are also comments like this one from Lea in regards to the island ritual where people are purportedly killed and brought back to life: "'I always think these rituals are a hoot, don't you? They're almost always like from a bad horror movie. Hope I don't burst out laughing'" (17). That deftly sums up the whole book, and, spoiler alert, I totally did bust out laughing.



      For those of you that fear spoilers, now is probably about the time to duck out; you have been warned.

      During all those other pages where you're waiting for Stine to finally admit to the insanely obvious twist about what precisely is occurring here, you get to enjoy a lot of time with the characters. Sadly, the characters lack depth and a lot of things happen for no apparent reason. Mark, the father of the family, cheats on his wife with his assistant, but nothing ever comes of this at all. Lea never finds out, so this apparently happens only to add one more cliché to the book.

      As the blurb mentions, the family adopts blond twins from Cape Le Chat Noir. Let's disregard the fact that the adoption process does not take just a couple of days and focus on the twins, Daniel and Samuel. Yes, these kids are rather creepy, and I am terrified by creepy children. They could have been super scary, I imagine, but I wanted to kill them not so much for being evil but for being incredibly annoying. These kids, though they're from an island off the coast of South Carolina, speak in some weird accent that seems like some combination of Irish and Cockney English, constantly calling people 'bruvver' and 'boyo.'



      Even worse than their obnoxious way of speaking is their evil plan, which definitely reveals Stine's experience in writing horror for children and not for adults. Daniel and Samuel aim to take over the world middle school. Yup, that's their grand evil aim: "to rule the school." Pardon me while I shiver in my boots. I mean, damn, middle school is like the worst part of life and they are welcome to it. Also, their scheme for domination involves painting blue arrows on the cheeks of themselves and their comrades, like demented Avatar rejects.



      Then there's the big showdown, which is where I totally lost it. Seriously, I was sitting in my house, reading about the cops arriving to confront the kids that had taken over the middle school and I was cackling like a mad woman. Inside, the kids have gotten the kitchen staff to cook for them, bacon and eggs, because school food is so incredibly delicious. The boys then go outside and totally dominate the police force with their powers (though Daniel's power is merely making Samuel use his really). Also, Sam's power? He shoots laser beams out of his eyes. He's a poor kid's Cyclops, basically.



      Despite the superiority of laser eyes, the kids are taken out by the supremely lame action moves of Mark. Right. Then there's the tear-inducingly hilarious reveal of the final twist and the final destruction of the twins. Now, since this is running through classic horror territory, it can't just end that way, so there has to be one more final twist, leaving room for another hilariously awful book: the powers have moved to someone else, even though it makes no sense whatsoever even by the book's own logic. Hurrah!



      Probably I should rate this lower than I have, but I'm giving it bonus points for giving me some good laughter. I didn't have enjoy it in the way I was supposed to, but I did get entertainment from it. If only I could believe this was intended to be a parody.
    • 2/5
      Does it count as reading an adult book when the writer is clearly more used to targeting 8-year-olds? Creepy twins, seriously idiotic lead female ("oh, there's a major hurricane coming straight for the island I want to write about? HANG ON I'M GOING THERE ANYWAY, IN THE PATH OF THE STORM"), and a plot that feels derivative of something I can't put my finger on--The Shining (but not quite), everything by Stephen King ever (but not quite). Another review mentions the movie Orphan, which I didn't see, but I can see the comparison.

      And I didn't hate this. Sure, I cringed at the writing and found the Big Reveal a little underwhelming (I didn't actually call the ending, mostly because I sort of just assumed and wasn't surprised by it). But it was engrossing and a quick read and kinda fun on those grounds. But not one I'm going to suggest everyone run out and read.
    • 2/5
      This is nothing but a GOOSEBUMP book with the F word. Although the book did get my attention early, it just drags to a conclusion that anyone over the age of 8 could see coming way in advance.
    • 2/5
      R.L. Stine, the author of the Goosebumps series and other scary stories for kids, tries his hand at a horror novel for adults. Unfortunately, he misses the boat: a few sex scenes and some gratuitous dirty words do not necessarily make a novel for grownups. In this story, a pair of twins are rescued from a hurricane- ravaged island and brought home to live in a Long Island suburb. Their home island has a reputation of being "where the living meet the dead." Can you see where this is going? Not one person in this story (living or dead!) acts in a rational or believable manner. And the horror and suspense completely fail to take hold. Stine should keep to the kids' books!
    • 1/5
      Let's get right into this one. I did not felt the suspense, the horror, the fear, straight and simple. Sure there were gory scene such as:"Blood poured from an open tear in her other side...ragged flesh of the woman's other leg trapped beneath the pile of debris. A white bone poked up from the torn skin." (PG 65)and I felt like puking when characters puked, I groaned when the characters puked, but there was no terror. I read that above quote with disgust on my face, not spine-tingling horror. And the book was just too slow for me. It felt like the story took a lot of time to start. It seemed like a bad horror TV show. If you watched The River (US TV Show) which only ran for 8 episodes, you basically know how Red Rain was. Sure the plot was not the same but it was just not good. The background was bad, the scenes weren't captivating. It felt very amateur. The book was just not there. Character-wise, it wasn't any better. All the characters were blend and one dimensional; they didn't developed or evolved. It was like looking at a piece of rock and tried to wait for it to become a butterfly.Lea seemed brave and ambitious. She lost her job because of budget cuts but she still strove forward. But she was kind of stupid. I mean she travelled to an island when the hurricane was coming. She could've simply check the weather network. I don't know, she didn't felt like a mother to me, even with her "oh-I-want-to-adopt-these-twins-right-now" maternal instinct.Mark was an interesting character. He seemed like a normal guy, calm and doesn't have any characteristic that makes him stand out. I thought there was more to him but there wasn't. And I think this could be said to the whole book.Autumn, Mark assistant was just...weird. I guess R.L. Stine tried to make sure the readers know that this is an adult book instead of the Goosebumps series with Autumn trying to hit on Mark by wearing provocative clothes, but it was just ugh.Roz seems super nice and kind. But of course she just sucks at picking a man. And I think out of the whole book, Roz was the only good thing out of it.
    • 4/5
      R.L. Stine is a household name in children's horror stories. Now he comes to the adult level with "Red Rain."Lea Sutter, a travel writer, goes to an island off South Carolina. She learns that there was a terrible hurricane there in 1935. Many people died and the island was decimated.The island returned to normal soon after the storm because the 'old dead' returned to help build the island again. These undead had no eyes, rotting flesh, yellowed or broken bones and floated up from rain filled graves to go to work.They enjoyed the sunlight which made them look almost normal so they blended in and remained on the island.A new storm hits the island causing more deaths and afterwards, Lea sees two young boys, preteens. They tell her their parents died in the hurricane and Lea, wanting to do something good, adopts them and brings them to Long Island.Who would imagine that only weeks later, Lea's husband, Mark, would be charged with two horrible murders?This is well written and a nail biting horror novel with characters who are powerful, scary and memorable. Just in time for Halloween.