The story just didn’t interest me honestly. The only things I read into it were either uncomfortable or boring. The story was repetitive, which some can be, even this short, but this just felt like the author didn’t look deeper into the characters instead of an interesting idea to contemplate. The story just wasn’t lyrical for the repetition.
I kept reading, thinking it might be the sort of horror story with an ending that made it worth reading, but once again, it was predictable and boring. Just not the book for me.

Scott is man who has been existing...not really living, though he never realized that fact. He has had to sell off most of his father's farmland and all he has left for his family is slightly more than 12, unproductive, acres of land and a severely run down old farmhouse. He is still processing finding out that his wife cheated on him. She has been the strongest force holding their household together. All of that becomes secondary when a strange small dark cloud appears. Scott is immediately filled with a feeling of dread as he watches the unmoving cloud expand across the sky. Then the rain begins. Everything the rain touches is corrupted and Scott is left to try and protect his kids from the storm....if they can hold out everything will be okay. After all....a storm can't last forever...can it?

From the beginning of this story I was reminded of The Birds. Not the Alfred Hitchcock version, but the original Daphne Du Maurier story. A simple hard working man trying to protect his family during an unexplainable force of unnatural nature. Very suspenseful build up throughout the entire tale. It was also quite a read to be in the middle of during a three day rain pattern where I am at.

Thank you to Netgalley and Coronis Publishing for the opportunity to enjoy this Suspence/Horror e-ARC

A truly inventive and terrifying horror novel.

What would you do if nature turned on you? Scot finds out the hard way when strange clouds bring storms with rain that eats away at everything and changes every living thing it comes in contact with.

Scott, his wife Dana and their two children are sequestered in their old farm house as the rain comes down outside. The weather and news reports are increasingly horrific. This rain is changing people, turning them into monsters. Scott will stop at nothing to protect his children, even if that makes him the bad guy.

The idea behind this is truly scary. What would you do? Where would you go? And how would you live with the consequences? I found this one so intriguing. The writing was fantastic, giving realistic scenarios in unthinkable situations. I loved this!

This was a very creepy very fun read. Thank you for this opportunity. I highly recommend if you want a spooky book to curl up with on a stormy night.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
A very slow paced novel with a horror theme. A family trying to survive a rather unique storm that surrounds only them.
I somewhat enjoyed this book and I liked the atmosphere of it. The ending was a bit of a surprise.

I’d put this in a genre called Post-Apocalyptic Cosmic Horror. It was fun, it was scary in the sense of constant dread and anxiety. When your world is collapsing, what can you really do? Who is prepared for an alien invasion or zombies or even natural disasters? This novella touches on the fear of the unknown, the fear of survival and the fear of creatures out of this world.

What would you do to save your family from something unknown? The constant anxiety I felt through the MC made this book work. I couldn’t imagine going through a similar situation. I like the family dynamic because that adds extra terror, especially as a parent. My mind immediately goes to the sacrifices I would do for my children. I love that this is a work of fiction but could easily be a very scary reality.

Thank you for NetGalley for the ARC

Starts off with such a creepy atmostphere. I felt the tension keeps rising and then makes you question everything. How do you even make it out of this? This was a very atmospheric read centering on the characters. It is a slow burn but when it gets going it gets under your skin kind of like the rain. Things you would think were safe you start questioning. The rain is a force that invades more than outside but inside everything as well. I had to see what happened.

Downpour centers around Scott and his family of four in rural Illinois. A sudden rainstorm appears but it’s not a typical rain: this rain not only destroys everything it touches but it also turns people into violent monsters. Soon after the rain begins their house starts coming apart and the rain itself begins calling to them. Scott must give his all to fight the rain and keep his family safe before time runs out.

I’m always on the lookout for a unique and authentic story and Downpour delivered. Downpour is a classic plot driven horror story with plenty of action. Raw and visceral, this story plays with your senses, emotions, and reads like watching a film. I really liked Scott as a main character and I enjoyed being inside of his mind. I'm sure horror readers will find this one just as entertaining as I did.

Downpour by Christopher Hawkins will be available on October 3. Many thanks to Coronis Publishing and NetGalley for the gifted copy!

So after reading "Suburban Monsters", I saw that the author had a new book on NetGalley and I knew I just had to check it out. I'm definitely glad I did!

'Downpour' started off on a note of despair. The protagonist's negative feelings jumped out at me from the first page. Throughout this book, there was no ease up, no feel-good moment. As surprising as this may sound, unless you're also an avid horror book reader, I l0ved it!

The ending was strange. I had mixed feelings about it. There was one particular character whose fate I would keep worrying about for sometime. I'm hoping there's a sequel where I could follow up on that person as well as find out what exactly caused the downpour and what it consisted of.

This author is extremely talented, there's no question about that. I would definitely read more of his work and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a sequel.

Thank you Christopher Hawkins for providing me with the opportunity to review this book.

*****I received this book as a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

What a whirlwind this book was! When a strange storm moves in and the rain isn’t “normal” but something sinister! Nothing is safe.

So many parts of this book had me anxious wanting to read more. It was nasty and vile in a few parts and that added to the story.

A definite MUST read!

A slow book that barely goes anywhere. The pace is too slow with too much paranoia and repetitiveness. Would have liked the story/events from another character's perspective.

Thank you to the author for gifting me an ebook!
———
If you’re looking for a horror book that gives you constant dread and foreboding at the turn of every page, then let me introduce you to Downpour. Although the book is only 246 pages, the feeling of impending doom as a father tries to save his family from rain that turns people into something evil, will have you forgetting time altogether.

The book explores a lot of things amidst the threatening weather, including a dividing spousal relationship, family dynamics, past trauma and an overall sense of hopelessness over life choices, and I’m sure there are parts that every one of us can resonate with. However as a reader, I felt there was a lot to unpack while the main characters are also navigating through an unprecedented, monstrous rain situation during one evening. Also, some parts felt repetitive though it did not deter my interest from reading.

I definitely did not see that ending coming which makes for a very interesting discussion as readers are sure to experience different feelings about it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Christopher Hawkins for the digital ARC.

This was definitely not a feel-good novel. I'd check any applicable trigger warnings before diving in. That said, I didn't have any trouble with the subject matter.

This book was fast paced and well-written. It was a quick read and held my attention the entire time.

I could see this book adapted as a movie. It was reminiscent of early Stephan King and had "Bird Box" vibes.

I've never read anything by Christopher Hawkins before, but I look forward to reading more of his work in the future.

An apocalyptic rain begins to fall on an old rural farmhouse. Inside, Scott and Dana’s marriage is falling apart, and the children are starting to notice. As Scott contemplates forgiveness, fatherhood, and his own dark childhood, the rain falls harder.

Relentless and destructive, this downpour is no ordinary summer shower. And Scott soon realizes he has much bigger problems than his marriage - especially after he witnesses the horrors this rain is capable of.

Suspenseful and action-packed, this eco-thriller will appear to fans of Bird Box and Annihilation - landing somewhere between science fiction and horror (a few scenes are especially graphic and horrific). I’ve seen comparisons to Stephen King’s The Mist too.

I was expecting a survivalist thriller, but that’s not exactly what is happening here. Atmospheric and full of gloom and dread, I really enjoyed this cinematic, speculative novel. And I always appreciate a good surprise ending!
Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the arc!

Downpour was so creepy! Christop Hawkins did a really good job on setting the scene and drawing me in to atmosphere he created. I was able to finish this book in a day because I wanted to see what happened next. No spoilers from me but I think if you enjoy horror, you’re gonna enjoy this one.

I would recommend reading this one on a gloomy and rainy day.

Christopher Hawkins' debut novel is an incredible blend of psychological and cosmic horror, with a dash of family and domestic terror. It feels like Max Booth's 'We Have to Do Something' meets Jeff VanderMeer's 'Annihilation': the claustrophobic atmosphere combines with deep psychological insight into stressed family relationships, producing an original story brimming with tension and genuine anxiety and worry about the fate of the characters as the world around them collapses and transforms into something entirely different.

People, places, events, all follow a downward spiral along with the weather: strange cloud formations appear over continental US, one of which over the house of an already stressed family. The focus is on the father, who inherited the house from his own father, with whom he did not have the best of relations. Bit by bit, through subtly placed memories within the narrative (not flashbacks), a family history of psychological abuse and trauma is revealed, giving the father's plight throughout the book a special overtone, as he tries to do his best not to repeat his own father's mistakes. This proves very hard, as the cloud brings torrents of corrosive rain, "corrosive" both in the material and the metaphorical sense: the toxicity of the father's memories translate into a toxic environment both internally and externally, mentally and in the real world, The father takes it upon himself to single-handedly save his family: he has to deal with the family pet, a sweet dog transformed by the rain into a monster, with his volatile wife, who gets infected by the rain, with his children, a teenage boy and a four-year-old girl, who sometimes undermine his confidence, if not his authority. Hawkins' take on the masculine mentality feels very real and astute; in fact, it drives the story and brings it to its explosive ending.

The ending! Well, without spoiling anything, I confess that this is the best ending I've seen in ages. Perhaps terrifying, perhaps not, certainly unsettling either way.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the author for the chance to read an ARC of this book.

Thank you @christopherhawkins and @netgalley for the #gifted copy of this book!

Rain rain go away, come again another day! (OR NOT) I live in IL so I am hoping this really doesn’t happen in this wonderful state. 😅

Set in a small town in IL there is a family of four and dog living on a farm. The parents aren’t in the best spot with each other and quite frankly themselves. One day, out of no where a rain cloud forms however it’s not just any rain cloud..it is a rain cloud that causes the poor dog to stop acting like Lassie and more like Cujo. Eek! As soon as the father notices something is up things literally start to crumble around them. The rain is turning any living thing into monsters. Just who will make it out alive?

Thoughts: This short horror book totally reminded me of a movie that I would have watched as a kid to scare the pants off of myself. 😂 I feel the author did an amazing job creating fear and vivid imagery of the world that was literally changing by the minute. I liked that the timeline was just a day which kept me stressed and flipping pages fast. There were some terrifying moments and I honestly felt for the poor dad trying to keep his kids calm and alive! If you don’t like rain, don’t read this book! 😂 it will make you like it less. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting the ending to end the way it did. Definitely was a surprise which I always love! I can’t wait to see what Christopher writes next!!

I really liked the writing and the concept. The writing reminded me a little bit of Stephen King. I highly recommend this book to horror or thriller fans.

Thank you to NetGalley for a review copy.

I found this book to be a little bit too repetitive in it's descriptions of the characters and especially of how the main characters thought that they must be feeling. If this book had been longer, I might have not noticed it, but for how short this story is, a lot of it is repetitive.
Furthermore, I feel like the story fails to commit to a plot. I usually don't mind if horror stories end without much of an explanation, but in this case I really needed more to the atory. A lot of it feels like an outline to a book that could have been really interesting, as the concept of the story in itself is super unique. To me, both the entity (?) in the rain and specifically, the main characters childhood should have been explained more. This is also were my issue with the repetition comes back into play, as the desciptions of anything belongin to what's happening with the rain, but one again specifically with the childhood, is constantly repeated, and we only get new information right at the very end.
The end, however, was good. For me, parts of the middle could have been condensed, and instead, there could have been another 50-100 pages after the end that we got, commiting a bit more to the alien (?) horror vs. the childhood trauma, and a little glimpse into what could happen in the future.

Downpour by Christopher Hawkins is definitely a page-turner. I wish it were longer with more revelations about the source of the rain.