Silent Echo by J.R. Rain

Nov 07, 2013 M.W. Griffith rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I feel as though some readers have become the most harsh of critics and have forgotten how to simply read for pleasure. This book was good. Another reviewer pointed out that the author didn't focus enough on the mystery, but the fact is that the case and the investigator share the same story. Its written in first person, which was a problem with another reviewer because they felt as though the investigators thoughts were too redundant. Well, they were redundant, but honestly, if I were stricken ...more

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Nov 07, 2013 IslandRiverScribe rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mysteries-thrillers, kindle-first, z-read-2013

The promotional blurb for this book was quite simple – a private investigator with a terminal illness takes on one last case.

Now I read for escapism. I don’t usually buy heartbreaking tearjerkers since that wouldn’t escape from anything I have to deal with daily. And reading a book in which I know the main protagonist is going to die in the last chapter is definitely not in keeping with my personal mantra on escapism.

But something in that simple blurb apparently pricked my subconscious. Not onl ...more

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Nov 11, 2013 Marvin rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

I do not think I've ever read a mystery more depressing than Silent Echo. P. D. James writes some depressing mysteries but she's a load of laughs compared to J. R. Rain.

I guess if your main protagonist has terminal AIDS related cancer and six months to live, you're not going to be writing a comedy. But P. I. Jim Booker is really depressing. He crapped out in the game of life. He blames himself for his brother's death, the love of his life is married to his best friend and now she's missing. So h ...more

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Nov 09, 2013 Pam marked it as dnf · review of another edition

Shelves: bizarre, boring, arc

I received this through an Amazon ARC program, but I honestly just couldn't get into it. I felt like I was in some weird version of Groundhog Day: every time I advanced the pages in my Kindle, I felt like I was reading the EXACT same thing I read on the last page. No one seems particularly likable, either.

Also, the AIDS situation could have been handled less awkwardly. ...more

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Nov 08, 2013 Angelia rated it did not like it · review of another edition

I felt like I was dying a slow death as I read this book.

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Nov 02, 2013 Karyn Niedert rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Jimmy is a ex-PI suffering from end-stage lung cancer related to AIDS. The novel tells of his determination in solving one last case-who murdered his best friend's wife. Complicating things, this is a woman whom Jimmy has always loved, AND her body is discovered in the same area Jimmy's brother's murdered body was found years earlier.

I liked the storyline, but the writing kept to the same theme ad nauseam. The reader is shown that the main character, Jimmy, has a serious self hatred issue from t ...more

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Dec 01, 2013 Lady rated it it was amazing

This book was amazingly odd. I felt really bad for Jimmy as he suffered through every day trying to find his friend's killer knowing he really wasn't up to snuff. The fact that he should have been dead two months ago lends a certain frenetic energy to the story.

Mystery and suspense abound along with a touch of the supernatural. The (at times trippy and psychedelic) visions Jimmy experiences are signs that even though his death is fast approaching he will get to the bottom of the murder that has ...more

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Sep 02, 2014 Lisa rated it did not like it

I got this book for free from Amazon and wished I had passed. It just was not a good book. The author could not decide if he was writing a straight guy dying of AIDS book or a murder mystery and therefore fails at both.

There was no path to follow on the murder mystery part. You get almost to the end, he sees one clue and blam! solves the mystery. The result is completely unbelievable and frankly kind of pathetic. Like the author suddnly remembered he had a crime to solve and then just took some ...more

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Nov 23, 2013 Tom rated it really liked it · review of another edition

If you're having a bad day, are in a funk or on the verge of depression - and you're counting on a good book to pull you back into the sunshine - then don't read this book. It will just kick your butt over the edge you're trying to avoid. However, if you're on somewhat stable ground and are looking for a mystery written from a different perspective than most, Silent Echo won't disappoint. J.R. Rain has written an improbable, poignant piece that blends a more superficial "private detective solves ...more

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Nov 15, 2013 Linda rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: wont-touch-again

To be perfectly honest this book was a freebie from Amazon. I was excited to read and review it. It is about a man who is asked to help solve a murder but here is the catch, he is dying of aids/cancer and has very little time left to solve the mystery. I liked the idea of adding a completely new twist to an old murder mystery. But it's clear the author had an agenda so it ends up being very preachy. Exactly what his agenda was I'm not sure. I didn't mind the fact that his best friend is gay and ...more

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Apr 06, 2019 David Highton rated it really liked it

A moving tale of a terminally ill detective working to solve a very personal cold case from 22 years earlier along with a very recent murder with similiar features

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Dec 03, 2013 Samantha Woods ( LSK Sweetheart Reviews ) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

'I got this book for free in exchange for an honest review'

Jimmy is dying. He has AIDS and Lung Cancer and he is living on borrowed time. He should have been dead 2 months ago. His best friend is a Nigerian Artist named Numi. He is the Only person who has stuck by Jimmy through everything. Jimmy used to be a PI and his old friend comes to him asking him to find his wife Olivia who came up missing. Jimmy and Olivia have always had feelings for each other. It turns out Olivia was found that very n 'I got this book for free in exchange for an honest review'

Jimmy is dying. He has AIDS and Lung Cancer and he is living on borrowed time. He should have been dead 2 months ago. His best friend is a Nigerian Artist named Numi. He is the Only person who has stuck by Jimmy through everything. Jimmy used to be a PI and his old friend comes to him asking him to find his wife Olivia who came up missing. Jimmy and Olivia have always had feelings for each other. It turns out Olivia was found that very night. She was taken from the same park and found in the same park that his brother was 22 years earlier.. Murdered in the same way also. So now Jimmy is on a Mission before he dies. To find the killer.

I don't often look through other reviews. I did for this book for some reason. I was curious about other peoples opinions because to me this book was so different from anything I have read from J.R. and I was highly disappointed from most of the reviews that I had read. Yes. In the book Jimmy continuously stated that he was dying but how would you react if you were dying and you resented it and you resented your best friend taking care of almost your every need and you resented the fact that you finally found the love of your life and you are in fact dying. My father died of Cancer. So this book actually touched a very close place for me. I often wonder about the things that went through my fathers head when we had to take care of him in ways like Numi had to take care of Jimmy. What actually went through his head when we had to feed him food through a tube through his stomach. I imagine it would be a lot like the things that went through Jimmy's head. There is another person extremely close to me with cancer although I cannot say who as she does not want it broadcasted. And I again wonder what actually goes through her head.

I am giving this book a 5 star rating because I liked this book so much because of how different it was and because of how personally it did touch me. I loved Jimmy's determination no matter how weak he felt and how close he felt to death to push on until he found out who the killer was. I love that he finally see's Numi for the friend and Angel that he is. I Love that he finds forgiveness in his heart. I found this book very emotional at the end. Every person will not like every book. True. Every book will not touch every person the same way. True. But for me, these are the main reasons why I loved this book. I thought that it was very touching and very different. I think people will enjoy the book more if they read it just for the enjoyment of reading it. Not if they are reading it just for the sake of analyzing it. I would definitely recommend reading it.

'Reviewed by L.S.K. Sweetheart Reviews' ...more

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Nov 03, 2013 Mary rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This started out as a very typical J.R. Rain book for me. Like many others of his I have read, it is about a PI in California investigating a missing person. It definitely has his typical writing flare, which is so wonderful. But the story soon became less about the detective story, the mystery surrounding the murder, and more about the life of the PI, Jimmy. Usually that would bother me, but this was so well written, intertwined with the investigation, that it just made sense. This book is a mu ...more

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Nov 05, 2013 Mahinui Gail rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

A mystery wrapped in an enigma. The enigma is, what is life, what is dying, where is the line between.

The protagonist shares with us his dying. It is an honest sharing. He is trying to solve a mystery, but being that he is not fully on this plane due to dying, the mystery solving moves to the back seat.

Altogether a captivating story, told in a true, believable voice. The friendship between the protagonist and the man who has chosen to care for him in his end days is truly the centerpiece of th ...more

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Dec 01, 2013 Cindy Reifel rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: everyone

edit it here.

Product Image

Silent Echo

~Thomas & Mercer

3.9 out of 5 stars (674)

5.0 out of 5 stars AMAZING!, December 1, 2013

By cjr

This review is from: Silent Echo (Kindle Edition)
I borrowed this book from Prime because there's a contest going on and, I thought, what the heck, I'll read it, then enter the contest. Having said that, I am a bibliophile who reads 4-6 books and I have been doing that for 50 years. I don't usually read mysteries, but I read this one for the reasons already ...more

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Nov 02, 2013 Fran Parker rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This was a great story told in the first person like many favored detective stories. But it is so much more! There is much hurt, disillusionment, betrayal, suffering, death. But there is also great friendship, love, honesty, resolution, restoration, forgiveness and hope in this story of the last days of a very ill detective trying to solve his first as well as his last mystery of of a triad of murder.

Each of the main and other close characters in this book are very well developed. I cried and co ...more

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Nov 11, 2013 snmohan rated it did not like it · review of another edition

How did this book earn the label 'Mystery'?
There were very few characters and the 'mystery' was criminally simple to unravel.
The protagonist played no significant role in the evolution of the story.
The author has, dare I say it, wasted chapters and too much of my time by frequently portraying the protagonist as an ailing, homophobic narcissist.

Further, the author has exhibited questionable judgement in introducing characters who serve no purpose but to pander to the wanton desires of the movie ...more

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Nov 04, 2013 Regina rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: amazon-prime

Living on borrowed time, Jimmy Booker works a gruesome murder case of a longtime friend.

To me, this book was less about solving a murder mystery; it's about examining traditional masculine gender norms, its debilitating impact on forming relationships and even how it affects ones health. I found myself drawn in Jimmy's scarred past and dealing with his illness. Especially interesting was the dynamic between Jimmy and his gay friend/volunteer caretaker.

It's a quick yet emotional read.

This review ...more

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Nov 25, 2013 Allen rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I was promised a book about a detective coming out of retirement, what I got was a book about man dying of AIDS/cancer held loosely together by a mystery I solved within the first few chapters. I may not mind the AIDS/cancer story if that's what I was buying into when I read the summary.

I will say that I thought it was creative and unique at first but the only thing consistent through the book was him whining and after the first several chapters it just got old. I hung in there and can say it c ...more

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Nov 17, 2013 Bradley rated it liked it

Shelves: written-reviews

I picked this book from Amazon’s Kindle First program where Prime members can pick from a selection of books new to Kindle. It looked interesting and a mystery seemed a change of pace from what I had been reading. The very first thing I have to say about this book is it really isn’t a mystery. There is one big plot element that is definitely a mystery but the book in my opinion is about exploring relationships and I don’t mean romantic relationships. Relationship of the human connection and cove I picked this book from Amazon’s Kindle First program where Prime members can pick from a selection of books new to Kindle. It looked interesting and a mystery seemed a change of pace from what I had been reading. The very first thing I have to say about this book is it really isn’t a mystery. There is one big plot element that is definitely a mystery but the book in my opinion is about exploring relationships and I don’t mean romantic relationships. Relationship of the human connection and covers questions “like what is a friend?” and “what is love?” This book also covers responsibility, compassion and forgiveness.

The main character has AIDS which caused cancer in his lungs and was supposed to have been dead before the book even starts. He is living on borrowed time and can barely do anything himself as he is too weak from his illness. He knows he is going to die but when the mystery starts it gives him a chance to reopen a piece of his past and solve a very old case. He assisted by his gay friend Numi who is one of the principal elements in what the book really is about. Numi has a compassion and love for the main character that is different than romantic love, it is something that perplexes the main character and provides a depth to the story that was interesting. The next character of importance is the woman that Jim falls in love with. Something that seems sudden and in some ways is but there is a history between the two before the book starts. These two characters are very important to the overall theme of the book but in my opinion are somewhat flat. Numi’s dialogue didn’t always match his actions and felt out of character, the love interest only really seemed there to help the main character overcome personal problems and didn’t feel like a real person.

I would say this book as something experimental for the author perhaps, which is good but it feels like cement foundation was improperly poured and didn’t set right which caused cracks to appear. Characters and dialogue seemed off at times and plot elements didn’t quite all seem there. I don’t know if the end had quite the impact on me that the author was attempting but it should come as no surprise as to what that ending is but I won’t write any further about it.

In the end this book is classified as a mystery and I feel that mystery lovers might be disappointed by this book. The overall mystery was not very shocking and I feel fans of genre would have it figured out by the end of the first few chapters and to me what the book really is about just didn’t have the depth it required. It isn’t a long read and I don’t feel my time was wasted reading this but I do feel it might disappoint people.

Verdict: Sixes
...more

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Feb 08, 2014 Samantha Woods rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

'I got this book for free in exchange for an honest review'

Jimmy is dying. He has AIDS and Lung Cancer and he is living on borrowed time. He should have been dead 2 months ago. His best friend is a Nigerian Artist named Numi. He is the Only person who has stuck by Jimmy through everything. Jimmy used to be a PI and his old friend comes to him asking him to find his wife Olivia who came up missing. Jimmy and Olivia have always had feelings for each other. It turns out Olivia was found that very n 'I got this book for free in exchange for an honest review'

Jimmy is dying. He has AIDS and Lung Cancer and he is living on borrowed time. He should have been dead 2 months ago. His best friend is a Nigerian Artist named Numi. He is the Only person who has stuck by Jimmy through everything. Jimmy used to be a PI and his old friend comes to him asking him to find his wife Olivia who came up missing. Jimmy and Olivia have always had feelings for each other. It turns out Olivia was found that very night. She was taken from the same park and found in the same park that his brother was 22 years earlier.. Murdered in the same way also. So now Jimmy is on a Mission before he dies. To find the killer.

I don't often look through other reviews. I did for this book for some reason. I was curious about other peoples opinions because to me this book was so different from anything I have read from J.R. and I was highly disappointed from most of the reviews that I had read. Yes. In the book Jimmy continuously stated that he was dying but how would you react if you were dying and you resented it and you resented your best friend taking care of almost your every need and you resented the fact that you finally found the love of your life and you are in fact dying. My father died of Cancer. So this book actually touched a very close place for me. I often wonder about the things that went through my fathers head when we had to take care of him in ways like Numi had to take care of Jimmy. What actually went through his head when we had to feed him food through a tube through his stomach. I imagine it would be a lot like the things that went through Jimmy's head. There is another person extremely close to me with cancer although I cannot say who as she does not want it broadcasted. And I again wonder what actually goes through her head.

I am giving this book a 5 star rating because I liked this book so much because of how different it was and because of how personally it did touch me. I loved Jimmy's determination no matter how weak he felt and how close he felt to death to push on until he found out who the killer was. I love that he finally see's Numi for the friend and Angel that he is. I Love that he finds forgiveness in his heart. I found this book very emotional at the end. Every person will not like every book. True. Every book will not touch every person the same way. True. But for me, these are the main reasons why I loved this book. I thought that it was very touching and very different. I think people will enjoy the book more if they read it just for the enjoyment of reading it. Not if they are reading it just for the sake of analyzing it. I would definitely recommend reading it.

'Reviewed by L.S.K. Sweetheart Reviews' ...more

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Jun 09, 2014 Dana rated it it was amazing

A Rainy Monday Morning Review for you ....."Not much could drag Jim Booker out of a peaceful, if lonely, retirement and back to late nights, crime scenes, and chases. Jim Booker is done with detective work and would just like to enjoy a cup of coffee on a sunny day. But when an old friend shows up with a case about an old flame, Booker can’t say no.

What starts as a missing persons case soon delivers more than he bargained for, and when Booker’s own past offers clues, it’s clear that no one else ...more

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Apr 21, 2014 Leevora rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Yep, I cried like my 2 year does when I take her favorite blankee to wash or that scene from CSI, when Grissolm holds Warrick in his arms, - pouting- I hate heart owie's.

Anyway...

The author created a superb story with characters that were well developed and was impossible not to care for.

I appreciated the love interest wasn't a supermodel looking female, which so many authors choose as love interest in their stories. the main character was more attracted to her flaw and that was awesome!

I love w ...more

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Jan 25, 2014 Sandy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2014

Jimmy Booker was a private detective until he was diagnosed with AIDS-related cancer. Now, in his last days, he's approached by an old friend whose wife (and also Jimmy's long-time friend) has gone missing. He wants Jimmy's help in finding her. Although Jimmy is physically in no condition to take on a case, because of who is involved, he agrees, however before he can even really begin Olivia's murdered body is found in Laurel Canyon just feet away from where, twenty-two years earlier, Jimmy's ni ...more

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Jun 12, 2014 Sarah rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mystery

I chose this book based on the editor's review (Terry Goodman) on Amazon.com and didn't preview any of the readers' reviews and I'm glad I didn't.

If you're reading this one, here's my advice: read Silent Echo with no expectations about plot, genre or characters and let the story and characters take you where they want to go. Open your mind to accept the written words and let the author's story pull you along. That's why we love to read, right?

And the story will pull you. For a writer that start ...more

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Nov 02, 2013 Ronna rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle-first-free-early-release

I got this book with the Kindle First Read's program and definitely have mixed feelings about it. It was billed as a mystery, and there was an element of mystery to the story. But mostly, it was the story of a man in his last days of dying from AIDS related lung cancer. The inner thoughts and emotions of the character would have been more welcome if that was what I had been looking for in this book. Though the writing was very well done and flowed nicely. I found a good bit of the action did not ...more

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Jun 26, 2014 Diane Lybbert rated it really liked it

Eight months after being given six months to live, Booker (an investigator) comes out of 'retirement' to work on one final case. His friend's wife (who is also an old friend of the investigator) has been found dead - under very similar circumstances to Booker's younger brother's unsolved murder nearly 20 years earlier. Drawing on his last bit of strength to try to solve the case, he is assisted by his long-time friend Numi, who has been acting as his unofficial 'caretaker'. Booker reflects on hi ...more

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Nov 27, 2014 Carol rated it really liked it

Shelves: facing-death-mystery, recommend

Having read the author's Bio, I'm tempted to say this novel reflects many of his personal experiences and feelings about facing death, understanding love on many levels, and the unrelenting need to check off the final bucket list entry ~ exposing a murderer. As is often the case, as one faces his own demise, his personal world shrinks and the simple act of staying alive is all-consuming.. all day, every day. I found the interactions/relationships to be very human. Guilt trips, unrequited love, s ...more

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Nov 19, 2013 Selinalynn rated it it was ok · review of another edition

the set up for the story was pretty general. Dying detective, self-hating, blamed for his brother's death, best friend stole "the girl", girl ends up dead. Of course he has to find the killer before his last breath. Oh don't forget one more romp in the sheets thrown in just for good measure. I felt like this story was like the chocolate chip cookie recipe you find on the back of all the different brands of chocolate chips you can buy at the store. Same cookie, different names. ...more

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Aug 11, 2014 Kim rated it it was ok

Shelves: wheel-a-thon-2014

I have no idea what I just read. The only part of this book I gave kudos to the author for, was the AIDS thing, this is the second book I've ever read where the main character isn't this perfect specimen that everyone fawns over, hes actually..gasp..dying! other than that I didn't see the point of the whole book, didn't see the point of Mary, didn't see the ending being any big wahoo. I did read it in one sitting, so that's good at least. ...more

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