Where the Rain Gets in
General Fiction
Adrian White’s first novel, An Accident Waiting to Happen, was published in 2004, reviewed and enjoyed by a fellow Femme. Therefore, it was with a certain eagerness that I started this book – I was not disappointed.
A phone call out of the blue to Kate, our main protagonist, brings a man she would prefer to forget back into her life. He loved her unconditionally, a love that she swore would never be reciprocated. The phone call not only opens up old wounds it also revives memories that Kate has buried for over a decade.
Her first thought about dealing with the situation, is where will she cut herself? For, although Kate is an extremely successful financial advisor, inside she is full of doubt and an inability to like herself.
Nice Guy Mike was the telephone caller, a student friend from Kate’s college days in Manchester. The only man she had ever met who didn’t try to jump her bones, make her tell him his dreams or try to change who she was. Nice Guy Mike had been exactly that, a nice guy who desperately wanted Kate’s love. Mike has a brilliant entrepreneurial mind and even as a student managed to come up with various schemes to keep him and his friends in a comfortable lifestyle. One day though he went a step too far and his accomplices’ – Kate and the unsavoury Bruno – lives are changed forever.
White has described his characters brilliantly and, in a feat that is not easy for any male author, has drawn a picture of an incredibly believable female character. Through self abuse he documents how Kate has managed to cope with the emotional pain born from a horrifying childhood. Unwilling to trust, Mike is the first person she feels she may be able to open up to. Although White’s characters appear to be damaged and hurt beyond repair this book leaves the reader with a sense that there is hope. Very well written and with such a fantastic title how could you resist? 
April 2006
