A review by luckyyou
Hard Rain Falling by Don Carpenter, George Pelecanos

2.75

The parts I liked the most were the philosophical musings on the true state of the world and power, and how power manifests and what people do with it, why they want it, what they would devolve into without it. This kinda does end up feeling like a book that is so much about how the protagonist contends with the different forms of power in his life. He starts completely powerless and ends completely powerless and in the middle he swings back and forth between trying to strive for power and fighting against conventional forms of power. Ultimately the whole narrative is fairly nihilistic and bleak, reminded me a bit of how I felt while reading No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai and Candy by Mian Mian. No matter what you do you're pushing someone else down to get it. The protag's development feels equally nihilistic, he has one moment of trying to better himself then slips back once he's no longer on the hook to go back to prison. He remains a completely aimless person who runs from discomfort but can't figure out how to run towards anything. Form-wise I felt it was a little too meandering for my taste, and the internal philosophical dialog parts, the parts I was most engaged with, don't happen enough to buoy the rest of the story for me. There are some parts that are so detailed but don't feel purposeful, and I felt like switching the POV didn't add much for me. Sometimes was a little bit of a slog to get through. I liked the expressions of nihilism and the meaning of power, but overall did not hit for me as a whole cohesive story.