Member Reviews
Loved these characters! Great plot, excellent dialogue, believable characters, Noah and Liv are treasures. I wish I had read the previous 3 entries in this series first. Highly recommended and I'll be ordering the other books in the Liv Bergen series. Also got my 80 year old dad reading them.
I received a free copy from NetGalley. Buried on my kindle I have had this one for awhile. I didn't know what I was missing. Fourth in the series, and I've not read the others, this cast of characters is fantastic. A new FBI agent, a tracking dog, and a young child play prominent roles in the page turner. Adding the others in the series to my to read list now, as I look forward to more of their adventures.
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for a copy of this book.
The atmosphere, characters and the plot for all these books are fab. You definitely have to read the whole Liv Bergen series!!
Noah's rainy day by Sandra Brannon.
Noah isn't like a normal child. He has cerebral palsy. But when his aunt Liv gives him a present she doesn't realise that when she is asked to join a case that someone close to her will be affected by this case.
This was a fantastic read. I loved Liv's character and how she was with her nephew Noah. I loved Noah's character too. I really hope there is more to come. 4*.
Interesting take on a child with Cerebral Paulsy. It was interesting to see how the author depicted the child.
Well written and fast paced. Great writing style.
I discovered Sandra Brannan's novels on Netgalley and quickly read them all. I love all of the characters and felt like I got to know them better in each novel. I can't wait for more in the series. I recommend you start from the beginning and read them all.
This is the 4th book in the Liv Bergen series. I'd read the first three and was excited to have the 4th one. When you are one of 9 children, you have a lot of relatives. This book focused not just on Liv, but her handicapped nephew also. Together they will find danger and save the day. This series is well developed and has maintained the feel of a great story told by a great author.
Noah is Liv Bergen's nephew. He also has cerebral palsy. He also wants to be a detective.
When Max goes missing two worlds collide. Can Noah be the key to solving the mystery?
Really powerful emotive story - i couldn't put it down.
I haven't read any other books in this series and it didn't matter at all.
I'll definitely be going back to read them.
This has to be rated right on the top of the top 15 books I have read this year. Liv is simply an amazing character that I have been falling in love with reading about but now enters her amazing nephew Noah and the love grows. The author did such an amazing job making this book both entertaining and at times educational Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this book and write about it.
Let me start out by saying how much I loved, loved Sandra's first three books, I was entranced and read them all straight through. Not only did I enjoy the books but the covers blew me away... yes, I am one of those people who has bought books just for the covers alone, hoping the "innerds" would blow me away like the covers did!
I am so blown away by this book.
Sandra Brannan remains one of my all time favorite writers, and I'm happy to recommend this whole series to you! Trust me when I say you won't be sorry you met Liv Bergen and her beautiful family.
As I read these books, I am finding that there is no detail too small to keep in mind, even from book to book. It's all about backstory. If some factoid about a character is mentioned in passing, it may well have meaning elsewhere. That is the sort of thing that makes characters into flesh and blood people.
This book is a bit different than the first three. Enough time has passed for Liv Bergen to have become a full-fledged Special Agent with the FBI, in the Denver office. She has gone from limestone quarry manager to agent in just a few months, and it changes the dynamic from amateur sleuth to professional investigator. It is now Christmas, and Sandra Brannan has expanded Liv's family story using the holiday backdrop to illustrate the ups and downs of a large and loving family. The bond that binds them all is key.
It's really hard to talk about this book without giving everything away. What I can say is that it shows how versatile Sandra Brannan is. This book is quite different from the first three in the series, yet it commands a place in the overall story.
This is a book that will make you open your heart with compassion, while, at the same time, it will make you furious. NOAH'S RAINY DAY is a book of contrasts. You will see that it is more important to measure a person by their actions and not worry about their words. It is a book about learning to communicate on an entirely different level. Sometimes communication is hard, and you have to work at it.
Sandra Brannan has dealt with two very different scenarios posing them in juxtaposition in such a way that you will never forget.
I have now read four of the six Liv Bergen mysteries, and will be starting on number five right away. This is an excellent series, and I recommend that you start with book one and read Liv Bergen's story from the beginning.
Liv Bergen Mystery Series
Book 1 - In the Belly of Jonah
Book 2 - Lot's Return to Sodom
Book 3 - Widow's Might
Book 4 - Noah's Rainy Day
Book 5 – Solomon's Whisper
Book 6 - Jacob's Descent
Book 7 - Jeremiah's Revenge
by Sandra Brannan
The Liv Bergen Series by Sandra Brannan will split audiences, either loving or extremely disliking the books.
On the positive the books are faced paced, with a modern female lead. The gripping story line twists and turns like a snake on a mission.
On the negative, after the first, the books fall into a pattern, with the spice losing its flavour quickly. The second and third books are a much harder read.
The first book in the series “In the Belly of Jonah”, introduces the characters Liv Bergen, amateur sleuth, and her love interest, FBI Agent Streeter Pierce.
They investigate the gruesome murder of her summer intern Jill Brannigan. More murders are quick to follow, by a madman with an appetite for human art.
#InTheBellyOfJonah
#NetGalley
www.books-reviewed.weebly.com
We get a bit more of Liv's family in this one, along with Liv becoming an agent! So Liv is an agent and in the process of moving so, she gets to spend some time with her nephew Noah. Noah who has cerebral palsy doesn't let that get him down. He can communicate through five finger communication and smiles. I really loved how Liv was able to understand her nephew and treated him like a normal child when she gives him a spy tool little does he know he will be capturing something that will help a case.
A child has gone missing and our old friend Agent Pierce will be on the case when Liv is asked to join in she is a bit surprised until she learns who has requested her. With the help of her bloodhound Liv will find out who kidnapped little Max but in the process, someone very close to her will be affected by this case.
I really loved Noah in this book and his ability to communicate and yes he would get frustrated but he did not let that deter from his happiness. You can tell that Liv's whole family is a loving family and they take care of each other. The author did a great job with her research on this disorder and how a person is affected.
One thing that bothered me in the book was the outhouse, for some reason I am thinking of this small space but yet the way the author described how something was put in there didn't really fit for me.
You can really see how strong minded and driven Liv is to help others even if she is hurt (it seems in every book she is hurt in some way. Poor woman needs a vacation).
I do wonder on her feelings between Agent Pierce and Linwood. Something has to happen there I just know it.
If you haven't read the other books in this series then you need to.
REVIEW: NOAH'S RAINY DAY by Sandra Brannan
(A Liv Bergen Mystery Book 4)
Liv Bergen is an extraordinary protagonist, of whom I've become extremely fond, extremely fast. Born into a mines-owning large family (Liv Is one of 7 sisters and has 2 brothers), she has always been an inveterate puzzle solver, and just can't let a mystery go. She joins the FBI almost accidentally (or is it fate?) and becomes an applauded Special Agent. This installment, like the following two novels, is a tearjerker, also stomach churning because of the plot (although the author doesn't over detail the situation). Liv' s nephew Noah, who has cerebral palsy, but a brilliant intellect and great powers of observation, is the star.
Thanks Netgalley for a copy to read and review.
Wow, great read. This book was told mostly by Noah, Liv Bergens nephew who has cerebral palsy. I found this book to be very educational when it comes to the disease Cerebral Palsy and I thought the young boy's narrative to be quite unique and refreshing. Liv is at it again, now a fully trained agent three weeks after graduation at Quantico. A small boy turns up missing and the father of the boy asks specifically for Liz Bergen. She is becoming notorious far and wide as she and Beulah fight airports and wildlife areas to locate the missing boy. I'm really enjoying this series because of the uniqueness. You don't see many mystery/thrillers with this style of writing. Five stars of entertainment!
I AM SO EMBARRASSED ... JUST NOW FINDING THIS ONE ON MY KINDLE/AMAZON. WAS NEVER READ SO NO REVIEW COMING AT THIS LATE DATE. MY SINCERE APOLOGIES.
I have a long back-log of ARC books that I'm trying to catch up on and as I write this, <em>Noah's Rainy Day</em> by Sandra Brannan is the oldest book in my queue. One of the reasons I kept putting it off, I think, is because of the title, which sounds more like an Easy Reader Chapter Book than a captivating mystery.
But this is a captivating mystery. It's a page-turning thriller and author Sandra Brannan really turns up the tension, building the book, layer by layer.
Liv Bergen is a recent Quantico-trained FBI agent. When the five-year-old son (Max) of a very wealthy, connected New York mogul goes missing between connecting flights from New York to Los Angeles, Liv is requested to work the case. Her connection to the wealthy man is tenuous (her sister briefly dated him) but it's enough to make local agent Streeter Pierce suspicious. Agent (and lover) Jack Linwood is also on the case.
Given Max's wealthy father, and the separation of Max's mother and father, Agents Bergen, Pierce, and Linwood follow up on the most obvious of crimes: kidnapping for money or kidnapping for parental care. But Noah Hogarty learns another possibility.
Noah is the nephew of Liv Bergen. Born with severe cerebral palsy, Noah's an intelligent young boy trapped inside his own skull, working hard to find ways to get attention and to communicate with those around him. He's managed to find a way to communicate with his parents, though most might not believe that his complicated system of "yes" "no" and spelling out he alphabet is anything more than his mother's imagination. But now he must get his mother's attention and then convince others to get in touch with his Aunt Liv, because he believes he knows something important about the missing boy case.
Author Brannan really does a great job of building tension, especially when we are inside the mind of Noah. Near the climax of the book I was reading at a fevered pace, willing the information to come faster in order to save young Max. I recognized and appreciated the beautiful prose, leading me in this direction.
Liv Bergen is an interesting, strong female agent and I find it interesting to learn after the fact that this is the fourth book in a series (no worries ... there doesn't appear to be anything crucial to know prior to this to enjoy this book). If this is her first FBI case, what happened in the first three books? I definitely want to know, and I am very curious to read more of her adventures following this as well.
But as well-built as the suspense and tension is, all is not well with this book.
The story comes from multiple points of view. Sometimes Noah, sometimes Agent Bergen, sometimes the kidnapped boy, sometimes the kidnapper. It's a bit of a mess, stylistically and slowed my reading when I was wanting to really get in to the story and read faster and faster.
There is also the fact that the mystery is solved not so much by great detective work, but a lot of happen-stance and coincidence. And the final moments are almost laughably poorly managed by three FBI agents, all to try to draw out the suspense just a little bit longer. This is a case where I feel a stronger editing hand would really have helped an otherwise nicely written suspense.
Looking for a good book? <em>Noah's Rainy Day</em> by Sandra Brannan shows a lot of promise and delivers some intense suspense, but a few choices along the way derail an otherwise fine read.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review