Luther Ewing, aka, Five O brings his unique b background to his job as a cop on the Baltimore County P.D. narcotics division. This is a contemporary location with the controversy in Baltimore recently after the shooting of a black man by the police.

Luther an ex-Special Forces sharpshooter with experience in Bosnia. In "Red Rain" Luther is working with his crew in narcotics and he comes across evidence that something is different on the streets. It's a feeling that experienced agents tend to get.

Vasilly is a Russian who is bringing vast amounts of drugs into the Baltimore area and ready to begin selling the drugs on the street. His drug cartel begins making headway and Luther's life and routine changes.

There is good dialogue in the story in what the reader can imagine taking place. There is also realistic descriptions of what life must be like on the streets.

It might be the way things are but many of the characters had nicknames and with this I had difficulty in determining who was who and what side they characters were on.

The bodies mount up and there are a number of plot twists that keep things unpredictable. I liked the suspense in a story of people at the edge of society-many who have little to redeem them. ( )