Because the Rain : A Novel

Critically acclaimed author Daniel Buckman tells with noirish lyricism the story of two men--a cop and a Vietnam vet--and the Vietnamese call girl who unites them

Mike Spense has traded in his dream of becoming a writer for the hard reality of a beat cop. Donald Goetzler is a retired businessman and Vietnam vet who wants the world to remember and understand the war. These two broken men will see their dark fantasies converge through a Vietnamese prostitute, and a shattering, poetic act of retribution. Daniel Buckman's Because the Rain is a gripping crime drama, and a stirring meditation on the home-front fallout of the Vietnam War.

“Buckman is a writer of considerable talent, able to turn on a dime from mapping the consuming perils of trauma with brusque, Hemingwayesque jabs to lilts of startling beauty detailing the tiniest gestures of longing. . . . [Delves] creatively and gracefully into the ghost-fields of America's Vietnam conscience.” —Booklist

“A dark and pulpy tale . . . Buckman writes convincingly of Vietnam vets and captures nicely the disillusionment his characters share. It's a bleak but redeeming read.” —Publishers Weekly

“Buckman's work rises to a new level. The writing is accomplished, confident, and at times just downright beautiful.” —Chicago Reader