Book Review: Ravens In The Rain: A Noir Love Story

Ravens in the Rain: A Noir Love Story. Christie and Jeff Santo, BookBaby, September 22, 2021, Paperback, eBook, and Audiobook, 258 pages.

Reviewed by Gerry Souter.

Subtitles are usually second thoughts to give you a hint about the story's content. However, Ravens in the Rain: A Noir Love Story directly warns you to buckle up, knock back the last two fingers of Jack Daniels—relishing that clink of un-melted ice against your teeth—and step through page one to a joyous, dark-shadowed plunge into the souls of two people you'll never forget. 

Carney and Pru, our main characters, meet in Vegas—not the glossy Vegas of the Rat Pack, but the next tier down where call girls and chip junkies roam, where the riffle of the shuffle and slap of the deal come up busted 21 and snake-eyes where good luck is doubled down. A spark strikes between these two wayfarers at first, but they will surprise—especially when the reader becomes both of them. You are in their heads and behind their eyes, slowly at first, as they sort out their relationship. Snappy dialog jumps from scene to scene until you slide into the Santos' rhythm and realize this is a literary film script. Your senses are sharpened as you jump from fade-in to fade-out in their noir world.

Carney is a creature of Hollywood with a famous actor dad. I tagged Carney as a Lee Child knockoff at first—a footloose loner. I was way off-base as his self-image collided and then meshed with Pru, a Lauren Bacall type (in my fantasy) in her role as Slim in To Have and Have Not. Her scenes with Carney draw out her past and her expectations, and the reader just knows Carney and Pru will collide again, in every sense of the word. 

The supporting cast, from reliable pals to back-slapping angle-players, weaves in and out of the shadows, chewing up the scenery. The surprises come quick, from a crashing motorcycle to the deadly punches of nine-millimeter slugs. Join this rich collection of characters for a beer and a stogie at the Hemingway Cigar Bar where everybody knows your con or the rich ocean-side mansions where the champagne flows and the lights never dim. 

This is a book that you, the reader, cannot skim. The tender moments and rich dialog draw you in—this is a love story to root for. 

It is an amazing book crossing the line between a film noir movie and a novel love story. Its pages are virtually impossible to skim. The readers look out through the players' eyes and motivations, reacting to their world and the cast of supporting players and geography—often from one paragraph to the next. The reader's concentration will be rewarded with snappy dialog, atmosphere descriptions, and contradictions that propel the narrative at a great rate. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

Carney mashes the gas, bulleting along an L.A. freeway—wind ripping through the open windows—a Carney who knows where he's going. Poetry flows from Pru's pen: 

"So flee,

All in,

And we'll see. Luck or loss, 

Our lives intercross. Insane or in pain? 

We're just ravens in the rain."