Four Kinds of Rain by Robert Ward

Again Robert Ward is a writer whose work is steeped in Baltimore. He may live on the West Coast but his heart is here. He is a review of his latest book from the end of last year, Four Kinds of Rain.

As much as Ward's work on such shows as Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice and New York Undercover are all appreciated I personally hope that we will see more novels from him.

In 1985 Robert Ward wrote a novel, Red Baker that went on to critical acclaim, win awards and become a minor classic in the genre. Minor only because most people haven’t read it. After the success of Red Baker the producers of Hill Street Blues came courting and Ward went on the write scripts for that show as well as others since then. He pops up periodically to write a novel and when he does you better take that opportunity because he doesn’t publish them as often as he should. Four Kinds of Rain is Robert Ward's triumphant return to crime fiction. Largely an unknown commodity outside of genre circles and other writers Four Kinds of Rain is a great book that should increase his name recognition and hopefully we'll see more from him.

Four Kinds of Rain is a thematic descendant or cousin of Red Baker approaching some of the same themes just from a different angle.

Dr. Bob Wells is a middle aged psychiatrist coming out of a divorce and operating a failing free clinic for those in Baltimore. He was an idealistic social activist in the past who has doggedly stuck to his youthful principles while watching his colleagues "sell out" and move on to financial gain and big homes in the suburbs. One of Bob's patients is an art collector who claims to have a mask of a Babylonian god that is worth millions. An early turning point in the novel starts with an age old set up and delivery, that of the rain soaked woman dramatically walking through the door and into Dr. Bob’s heart.

"The front door opened and a very wet woman came hustling in out of the rain. Bob looked up and felt something happening in his chest. Jesus, she was something... She had thick blonde hair and the most beautiful, sensual lips. And her skin... He hadn't seen anything like it before. It was soft and white and her nostrils flared a little, and her eyes, Christ, he'd never seen eyes like those, ever. They were small and almond-shaped and green -- they seemed to hold a secret, or a promise."

All changes when Jesse Reardon enters into his life. The only way that Dr. Bob can have the life that he feels he deserves and that he wants to have with Jesse is to steal the mask and selling it to a rival collector. This decision more so then the actual act will set him on a dangerous path and alter the trajectory of his life.


After the establishment of Dr. Bob’s life and Jesse makes her dramatic entrance Four Kinds of Rain enters into its caper phase. The secret heist is plotted and planned and executed in a fast moving and energetic way. The masterfully quick and seamless transition from one scene to the next is indicative of Wards long career and success as a screenwriter. Ward also makes a brave decision to have the action packed climax of the heist relatively early in the novel. A lesser writer would have saved it until the end. Ward is an assured writer though and deserves our trust and that trust won’t be misplaced.


The final sections of the book draw back into a more personal scope as we bear a tight first person witness to Dr. Bob’s descent into an all consuming greed. He now views his life as choking him. Those closest to him, including his patients, whom he starts to see as the dregs of society, are now viewed with contempt as if they were sucking the life out of him. As he starts to feel more and more trapped by his life his motives and actions become increasingly frantic and desperate.


Like both versions of Dorothy Gale's Somewhere Over the Rainbow that were originally planned to be in the finished cut of The Wizard of Oz, the dark side of the dream is realized in due time. The prize at the end of the rainbow that he held in such a lofty place of prestige becomes the very thing that corrodes his soul. It only makes the greed and selfish behavior hungrier as they feed off of Dr. Bob in an all consuming smorgasbord.


Though it’s easy to pinpoint the exact moment when Dr. Bob begins his slide out of control Ward offers us a seamless transitioning of character and events that in some ways becomes the books biggest strength. Dr. Bob literally becomes the frog in boiling water, not realizing that he's being cooked alive until it’s far too late to do something about it.


The ending of the book is nightmarishly surreal and entirely appropriate in its dramatic closing moments. A hallucinogenic showdown with demons, past and present, real and imagined that takes place in a pornographic theater that almost has to be read to be believed. It is a masterful piece of writing and a great ending to a great book.