title: A Killing Rain (Louis Kincaid Mysteries)
author:  P.J. Parrish 
description: A missing child and a truly vicious family of killers make for a brisk race against time in Parrish's latest adventure featuring Florida detective Louis Kincaid (<i>Island of Bones</i>, etc.). Kincaid has just begun to connect romantically with defense attorney Susan Outlaw when her estranged husband, Austin, a globe-trotting businessman of shady ways and means, arrives at her doorstep, wanting time with son Ben. Father and son head off for ice cream, but don't return. Louis follows their trail, which leads back to Austin's office, where police have just discovered the brutally murdered bodies of Austin's partner and secretary. Austin later lands in Louis's custody but Ben remains missing. Austin eventually reveals his botched role in a transaction to purchase Micronesian women as slaves. This lean, fast-paced yarn takes a rather silly final turn, when the ruthless patriarch behind the whole mess, and his motives, are revealed (the slaves weren't used for work or sex but for hunting prey,  la John Saul's <i>Manhattan Hunt Club</i>). This might have constituted a dandy surprise ending had the back jacket copy not given it away; as it stands, it feels like an afterthought in an otherwise worthwhile thriller. <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  RAINWALKERS
  
  Matt Ritter
  
  ![](images/00001.jpg)
  
  Brown Posey Press
  
  Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](images/00002.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  CHAPTER ONE
  
  Willie Taft buried his wife of twelve years in a sandy bank above the Salinas
  River. She had cooled to the temperature of the soil by the time he took the
  last hesitant handful of sand and carefully scooped it onto her pale face. He
  tried to rise, but pain and outrage contorted his body, and he pounded the
  ground until his knuckles burned and tears dripped over the wound on his
  bloody cheek.
  
  She deserved so much better, and Will couldn’t bear to leave her. All that
  love, all that life, led to a hurriedly dug, shallow pit. Why her and not him?
  He wanted to scream the question but didn’t for fear of being discovered. He
  knew they’d be close behind him, and he didn’t have much time.
  
  Will rose and looked at her sorry little mound of sand one last time. He
  wanted to mark her grave, maybe one shiny river stone to commemorate he