Until about 50% of the way into this book I thought it was classic noir set in what is, to me, an exotic location - Tanzania. A mysterious woman, Ranna, a photographer who seems to be a fatal attraction for most of the men who cross her paths. Alex, a journalist at loose ends who is powerfully drawn to her, but is put off by her reluctance to reveal details of her past. A clever detective, Hamisi, hiding his own secrets.

This is all told from Alex's POV with a strong forward momentum, building tension scene after scene.

And then Ranna takes over the story, and the tension dissipates. In the interest of avoiding spoilers I won't say much more except that I felt the suspense of not knowing that imbued Alex's side of the story was frittered away once Ranna, with prodding from Hamisi, shares what haunts her.

I kept hoping that there would be a twist at the end that would salvage my hope for an African noir, but in the end I was disappointed. Factoring in the great beginning and the evocative descriptions of Tanzania and later South Africa, I'm giving it 3 stars, despite the let down of the closing half of the book. ( )

review here: https://debbybrauer.org/#hard-rain-rogue-book-1 ( )

Alex Derksen is a foreign journalist from South Africa on assignment in Tanzania. Shortly after arriving in the new country, he meets beautiful photographer Ranna Abramson. For Alex, it’s love at first sight.

But Ranna is not an easy woman to love. She seems attracted to Alex but she’s constantly pushing him away at the same time. She’s obviously hiding something but she won’t share her troubles with Alex. She shows up for a date with a bloody arm one night. Not long after, one of her acquaintances is found dead and Ranna is suspected of murder. What exactly is Ranna hiding? Or what is she running from?

I wanted to like this more than I did. It’s a pretty solid premise but the writing was too–jumpy? I actually restarted it about 20 pages in because I thought I had missed something. Alex and Ranna barely knew each other but Alex seemed to think that she owed him something. It was some crazy insta-love.

And then Ranna finally shares her worries with Alex and all I could think was, “What? Really? That’s where we’re going?” With this revelation in hand, I had a good idea of who done what, so to speak. All that I needed was the full details of why.

I was correct about who but the why? It felt far-fetched. And then the resolution? That really left me scratching my head. Alex and Ranna’s choices made absolutely no sense to me.

I did enjoy the hot, humid, rainy setting of the book. The author’s descriptions of Tanzania and South Africa made my travel bug flare up. It was also fun to read some South African words that I hadn’t come across before, like bakkie. It’s a pickup truck, if you’re curious.

Apparently this is a series but I don’t feel any need to continue with it.

I received this book for free through the Amazon First Reads program. I am not an Amazon affiliate. ( )