The Rain is definitely a chilling look at the potential effects of climate change and our failure to do anything about it. The Rain is told from two different points of view. One from Rook, a meteorologist who is hired by a company who claims it is going to be helping people stranded by the rising waters. The other person is Tanner, who is probably about 20 years old and does not remember the world before the rain started.
Overall this was a fantastic story, gripping and frightening with very well developed characters. It does end rather abruptly (and on a pretty significant cliffhanger) and I did not realize when I requested the book that it is part of a series which I am thrilled about.
I definitely would recommend this to anyone who loves a good post-apocalyptic story. ( )

The Rain by Joseph A. Turkot is a highly recommended survival novel set in a postapocalyptic America.

Civilization has collapsed. After almost twenty years of rain, almost all of North America is underwater. Any survivors have boats and/or made it to land on higher elevations while avoiding the face eaters, people addicted to "Red" a drug that makes them murderous and cannibalistic.

There are two story lines that are told through alternating chapters. In the first, Tanner, seventeen, and her adoptive caretaker, Russell, have long been searching by boat for Leadville, Colorado, which is rumored to be "the highest-elevation city in America, the last place where it’s not raining." In the alternate chapters, the plot follows Rook Wallace. Rook is a meteorologist who joined a a pharmaceutical company called Yasper. His job there is to help the company maintain a trade route between groups of survivors. He kept up contact with his parents until he stopped receiving their letters.

This is a bleak end-of-the-world climate science fiction novel with Yasper, a pharmaceutical company, an equal antagonist in the overall plot. The two different narratives remain separate until the very end when a connection is made that most readers will have deduced much earlier, but the journey of these characters is the point.

Character development is most certainly present, but, as with any mythological tale, the more important element is the struggle and encounters on the journeys of the heroes. It is obvious at the open ended conclusion of The Rain, that there has to be second novel.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Blackstone Publishing via NetGalley.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2023/07/the-rain.html ( )