I posted a review of this on Goodreads with 4 stars in early December. Now I see that while the date shows, the review does not.
I liked the book and how it moved along. The story was engaging about a murder in a small town that has been over run by a flood

Hard Rain by Samantha Jayne Allen had my head spinning with all of the questions by the end of the very first chapter. The setting was during a natural disaster that almost sounded like a terrible fever dream. So much death and destruction, but who survived? And the undercurrents began…and they grew to full on crashing tsunamis by the end of the book.

The protagonist in this book was super approachable. Annie McIntyre was an apprentice private investigator in a small town (reminiscent of any number of Hill Country towns in Central Texas). She was able to weasel her way into finding out very uncomfortable truths all around her.

All in all, this story built up to some crazy and interesting plot lines; and some felt like the theme/plot device was from out in left field, but at least it was entertaining! Pick this book up for surprises at every turn!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC.

Hard Rain doesn't disappoint. Fast paced with interesting twists and turns, I enjoyed it. I hope that the series continues with more mysteries for Annie.

I received a free ARC ebook of Hard Rain from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.
This novel is the second in the series; I did not read the first so there were a few questions about Annie's relationships. Despite that the novel is an enjoyable read.
Annie is a young private investigator in her home town. She has a lot of ambivalence about her family whose history of law enforcement is shadowed by alcoholism. Allen mixes in a natural disaster where lives are lost, homes are destroyed, and the landscape is scarred. What should be a beacon of hope and peace, the local church, instead appears shady and conspiratorial. Annie's quest to find a mysterious stranger who saved a friend from raging floodwaters brings her in conflict with the church as well as local drug dealers.
Allen's depiction of how addiction can destroy promising lives is well done.

Another one I was just not liking. I am not sure what is going on, but to have three books in a row not pull me into them, and I just kept hoping the story would hurry up and be finished. This was another story that I was just not truly invested in, and that is sad.
First, I did not know this was book two in this series; it was not shown, so I would say this book could be read as a standalone.
The author did a great job of describing the small Texas town and how the flood waters affect people.
Annie is a P.I. I find to be a cool job though I am sure it is not always. She has been tasked with finding a man who resembles Jesus and saved Bethany from the flood. Though what Annie uncovers is more than that; it seems that there is some shady dealing within this small town, the church folks are not always the best folks, and it just goes to show to what depths they will go to keep those secrets dead.
I felt the storyline had great promise, but it sometimes felt like the same thing over and over again. Leroy and her dad are always not getting along (which we find the reason behind it), to her always being in "the bullet," which, by the way, is her car. I do not know if that is the name of the car or what she calls it. A lot of describing the sky, and the talk about the flood all the time. I wanted more action, secrets, and the nitty gritty, but this book did not do that for me. Also, knowing that you have a hutch about some things going on and you are dealing with drug dealers, why are we not carrying a weapon? I mean, come on, like I understand not wanting to shoot anyone, but baby girl, you got to find a way to defend yourself. Also, why in the heck are we not attempting to go to the shooting range? You are a P.I. in training; you must learn how to defend yourself. Now, before I get someone to be like, there are other ways to defend yourself besides a weapon; yep, there is sherlock, and Annie needs to learn both ways.
I have heard she has another book out, and I may read that one, but if it is anything like this, then I just do not know.
I hope someone enjoys this series because I believe it could be good.

I do love books that have the main story plus a few other things going on in the book which this book had. It can be a little confusing but these are the types of books that I reread because I will find something interesting. I am hoping that the series grows and you get to know more about Annie.

WOAHHHH The first chapter will take your breath away!
Bethany Richter is saved in a flash flood and hires childhood friend to identify the man that saved her.
Annie is still recovering from the adventure of solving a local murder and is working towards her PI license. She has mixed feelings taking on her friend of a friend's case and the feelings intensify as the case becomes incredibly complicated. Set in poor rural Texas, Annie
navigates the church, drug dealers and old timers as she tries to get to the bottom of the case.
This story is brilliantly written and will immerse you in the flood and the people who are left afterwards. If you love a rural mystery, a secretive community or just want to follow a new and spirited young PI, Hard Rain is for you !#StMartinsPress #HardRain #SamanthaJayneAllen

A great accompaniment of an emotional and physical journey of a private investigator in a small town revealing truths and untruths, twists and turns and so much intrigue. Never a dull moment.

A small town in Texas is dealing with massive flooding. Bethany is pulled from the floodwaters that has decimated the town. Annie is a PI and is working as an apprentice private investigator who’s handed her first solo case – uncovering the identify of the man who rescued Bethany before he was swept downstream and never heard from again. During her investigation Annie comes across a different victim – he was shot, not drowned. Annie starts to question who she is searching for. As Annie digs deeper, she uncovers, drug dealers, preachers, and wayward drifters trying to make sense of life after the storm. Will Annie be able to solve the secrets? Or are some secrets better left buried?

The people who Annie encountered in her small town really through me for a moral loop. So many of them were ethically and morally questionable and the good guys were hard to come by. There were just so many characters going on in the book that at times it was hard to keep track. I think this would have really from having few characters who were more well developed. The descriptions of the town, and the flooding were spot on, and I felt right there in my mind. Overall, this was a solid book and interesting.

Thank you to @netgalley and the publisher, St Martin’s Press, @stmartinspress, for my advanced copy in exchange for this honest review.

Annie McIntyre is back and working in her grandfather’s PI agency. She gets her first solo case helping a childhood friend find a Good Samaritan who saved her life. Lots of twists and turns as Annie hunts for this man. And lots of growth with Annie as she comes to some realizations in her investigation. Great mystery that keeps you guessing. Looking forward to more in this series.

*ARC provided by NetGalley for an honest review.

Samantha Jayne Allen’s debut novel “Pay Dirt Road” deservedly won a Tony Hillerman prize for best first mystery set in the Southwest. Now the author has returned with her initially reluctant investigator, Annie. Annie has “no law enforcement experience, no special training…. [just] equal parts circumstance and sheer will” that propel her to be part of her retired Grandfather’s detective agency. Bethany, the preacher’s son’s wife, was saved in a devastating flash flood by a stranger who looked like a blue-eyed Jesus. Bethany wants to thank him and Annie gets the job of trying to locate him.

Ms. Allen’s writing is incredibly atmospheric — you can feel the temperature, see the sky, hear the crickets, and witness the aftermath of the floodwaters during each scene. It’s a solid story — Annie is following leads to identify the mystery man until she finds a dead body in the river — but of a woman. Is this connected to her missing person?

I’ll definitely be back for Annie’s next investigation. Annie is complicated and still finding herself, but I want to get to know her better. I also want the recipe for the Dr. Pepper cake. 4 stars!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press/ Minotaur and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): SORT OF Some yellow (Tate/Tater Tot, the cat) and reddened ones, but the light has to hit Wyatt’s hazel eyes the right way to bring out the green.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO It’s spring and the cedar is scrubby, the cacti showing new growth, and bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush (the earliest spring flowers in Texas) are dotting the hillsides.

Hard Rain by Samantha Jayne Allen Takes place in the small and rather typical Texas town of Garnett. Annie has returned to town after college and is now working with her grandfather as a private investigator. When there is a catastrophic flood and a number of people are killed, Annie's friend Bethany is saved only due to the intervention of a man who helps her free herself from a tenuous rebar and concrete perch almost engulfed by water. Bethany asks Annie to please try to find the man who saved her life.

Garnett seems to have a fairly sizeable group of ethically and morally questionable people, including drug dealers, murderers, some leaders of two large churches who have gone astray, and other sundry people. Annie is confused by who are the "good guys," and who aren't.

A drawback to this book is the number of disparate characters; I believe that fewer characters would have made the plot tighter, easier to follow, and more logical. However, the descriptions of nature, the flood itself, and the surroundings of Garnett are well-sketched.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books for the privilege of reading an advance copy of this book.

Multiply storys going on. Author does a pretty decent job tying it all together . There are times it can get confusing.
Looking forward to more books or posable series for this author .
Thanks to NetGalley for advance copy

Thank you to Netgalley and Minotaur for the free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Annie McIntyre, a 25 year old woman, works at her Grandfather's PI firm. Annie is not really sure what she wants in life, and is working on that and dealing with her family issues. She returned home to the small town in Tx where she is from after college. This is Annie's first solo case trying to locate a missing person. A woman who was rescued during a recent flood asks Annie to find the man who helped her to safety before he was swept away by the floodwaters. When Annie's initial search turns up a different person- a murder victim- she realizes the case is more complicated than she initially thought. Her determination to find the missing man gets her closer to the truth but also closer to an unseen danger that is closer than she realizes.

I did not realize that this was the second book in the series but you can definitely read it as a standalone book. The setting is very realistic for as a small town Texas. The characters are well developed and it's a good coming of age/mystery story. The ending was to be expected which was a bit of a disappointment. Overall, a good read. 3.5 start rounded up.

Second in the series about budding PI, Annie McIntyre.

Small town Garnett, Texas is suffering from a (very) wet natural disaster as heavy rain causes the river to jump its banks and bring massive floods. Preacher’s wife and old friend Bethany Richter hires Annie to find the man who rescued her from the flood while being swept off himself. The case gets muddied when the trail leads to a woman who is found dead in her truck, floating in the river. But she didn’t drown — she was shot. Nice and convoluted, with a wide variety of characters from drug dealers to preachers to drifters to Annie’s atypical family, their circle of friends, and their ties to law enforcement.

For me it was a little too long — I favor a more spare prose — but if you’re enjoying the story you night appreciate all of the novelistic commentary on scenery, character background, and fully fleshed out experiences. Annie suffers from occasional bouts of self-doubt which I hope she has less often in the future (I like to see characters grow!)

Hard Rain is a super investigative mystery compiled of many hidden mysteries detailed by the investigative skills of sleuthing Annie and partners Mary-Pat and Leroy. Author Samantha Jane Allen keeps you turning pages assisting Annie in solving the small-town's dilemmas resulting from the aftermath of the serious flood. I truly enjoyed this novel.

Writing the same Book Report on the first two books in what I can only assume author Samantha Jayne Allen plans to be a long-running series. Found out about them because I had the opportunity to get a complimentary ARC of Hard Rain from St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books/NetGalley; realized it was the second Annie McIntyre book and checked out the first one via Libby so I could read in order. Scroll to the very end for a cut-and-paste of the flyleaf copy for Hard Rain if you want to read my thoughts on the books in the context of a summary of the overall story arc (not both mystery/ies proper).

I wanted to like these books so, so much more than I did. I mean, c’mon; a smart young woman graduates from college and moves back to her hometown and realizes she has law enforcement/private investigation in her blood? Me, me, me, me, me, me 30 years or so ago…….if only………maybe in The Multiverse…….

Plus, I have never lived in Texas. Just wanted to, a whole very lot.

Alas, I found both Pay Dirt Road and Hard Rain to be overly thought-y and somewhat awkwardly constructed. To the point that I am writing this to remind myself thusly: DO NOT INVEST ANY MORE TIME IN THIS SERIES, KRISTI.

I mean, maybe some of what all was going on in the main protagonist’s brain could’ve been believable if she were at least in her 30s, but it just didn’t ring true with her at the age she is portrayed as being. So, maybe we’re supposed to think she’s older (maybe even way, way older?) and looking back on her life? If so, then the author did not flesh that concept out enough to make it clear that was what was going on.

There was also an awful, awful lot of foreboding going on, in both books, that did not lead to anything. I mean, c’mon, y'all, not _every_ sky can be full of menace.

Also, here’s a copy editor nit I want to pick: It did not make for reader ease for her to refer to her car as the bullet, vs The Bullet, or even “the bullet.” There were times, given the storylines, that one could be forgiven for thinking an actual gun bullet was in play, instead of said car.

All that said, I am sure there are more people out there who will enjoy this series than not, and good for Ms Allen for writing books. I’m just getting on up in years and don’t have time to invest in a series that, well, frankly, is kinda boring and clunky to me.



FLYLEAF COPY
From the Tony Hillerman Prize-winning author of Pay Dirt Road comes Hard Rain, Samantha Jayne Allen's mesmerizing next novel set in a hardscrabble Texas town dealing with disaster.

In shock and found clinging to a tree branch, Bethany Richter is pulled from thrashing floodwaters that have decimated the town of Garnett, Texas and killed a dozen others.

Six months after solving the murder of a local waitress, Annie McIntyre is working as an apprentice P.I. when she's handed her first solo case: uncover the identity of the man who rescued Bethany before he was swept downriver.

When Annie's search turns up a different victim—shot dead, not drowned—Annie questions if the hero they seek is actually a killer.

Flexing her new skills while relying on the wisdom of her eccentric, ex-cop grandfather, the case leads Annie into a web of drug dealers, preachers, and wayward drifters trying to make sense of life after a disaster. Annie's own convictions are put to the ultimate test as long-held secrets, corruption, and violence are exposed like the ruin that lies beneath receding waters.

In Hard Rain, Annie McIntyre has her first solo assignment as a private investigator for her grandfather’s firm. She is trying to find someone who might have drowned after a flood decimates part of Garnett, TX. It takes a while to sort out all the town’s characters, but then picks up the pace to rocket the reader to a surprise ending. I received an ARC from Net Galley and the opinions expressed are my own.

Vivid descriptions. Strong, at times lyrical writing. Well-drawn characters. Those are just a few of the positives in Samantha Jayne Allen’s second entry in the Annie McIntyre series. I read enjoyed the first, PAY DIRT ROAD, and looked forward to reading this latest installment. Although this was convoluted at times and unnecessarily complex, it is a satisfying read that kept me turning pages. The mystery doesn’t matter as much, but this starts out as a woman from Annie’s childhood, now a preacher’s wife, hiring Annie to find a mysterious man who saved her from a flood. A man who looked like Jesus. With that kind of setup, you know calamity will ensue and it does. I look forward to reading more in this series.

Private investigator Annie McIntyre is twenty-five working at her elderly Grandpa’s agency with his partner Mary-Pat. Annie still hangs out with high school friends, dates a safe guy and isn’t sure what she wants. Her best friend Nikki's getting married and Annie can’t commit to a dinner date with her boyfriend. Annie returned to her small Texas hill country home town after college. The area is a one diner sorta place where everybody is up in your business. Her family dynamics are strained.
Annie’s working a missing person case by herself for the first time. The new client nearly lost her life when a flash flood caused the river to flood at hundred year depths. Bethany needs to know the identity of the man who rescued her. The clues are few in the aftermath of the devastating flood. When Annie revisits the river the case turns into a murder investigation. The unknown stranger proves almost impossible to put a name to much less to find. As Annie keeps asking questions and following dead ends someone in a red pickup truck is stalking her.
The biggest thing in town is a church complex rivaling those in a metroplex. Bethany married the pastor’s son, John David, also a preacher. He’s devoted and full of hidden secrets. Before Annie can solve the missing man’s identity, she’ll need to protect herself and decide if she’s on the professional and personal path she really wants.
The case was full of unexpected discoveries, people aren’t what you assume, kept me guessing. This was second in the series, could be read as a standalone, by an author I enjoy. The setting is very realistically small town Texas and enjoyable.
Thank you to NetGalley for the digital advance reader copy of “Hard Rain” by Samantha Jayne Allen and to St. Martin’s Publishing, Minotaur Books. These are all my own honest personal thoughts and opinions given voluntarily without compensation.