The Rainy Season
 James P. Blaylock
 (Associate Reviewer - Colleen Helme)
 2000 Ace Books
  ISBN: 0441007562

Phil Ainsworth lives alone in the old house which he inherited from his mother. One night during the rainy season, he receives a phone call that changes everything. His sister has died suddenly, leaving him the sole-surviving guardian of her nine-year-old daughter.

Associate Reviewer Colleen Helme writes:

When Betsy arrives in California to live with her uncle, she realizes there is more going on in the old house than Phil knows. The spirits of those who died there, live on in a “memory glass” & there are several!

Not only that, there are people willing to do anything to get their hands on those “memory glass”, even kill. Always in the background, is the rain, & with the rising water, the well overflows, & out steps a visitor from the past. A visitor many have been waiting for.

The Rainy Season combines a mixture of horror & fantasy, where the rain is just as much a character as the people. It captures the mood of an old gothic tale set in modern times of strip malls & subdivisions.

The characters are many-faceted & their true natures are understood as we learn more about them. This is a fresh tale of good conquering evil & I highly recommend it.

More from James P. Blaylock: Winter Tides; Homunculus; Night Relics & more!
(05/04/03)

Colleen
2003©Colleen Helme
A RebeccasReads.Com Associate Reviewer

Reviewer's Bio:
I have been an avid reader “forever” & live in the Rocky Mountains with my husband & four children. In my spare time (when I'm not reading!) I do watercolor paintings, make music, & WRITE! My first fantasy novel, Child of the Flame, is being published this year by American Book Publishing.