Racing the Rain

A Novel

By: John L. Parker Jr.

Narrated by: Jim Meskimen

From the author of the New York Times best seller Once a Runner - "the best novel ever written about running" (Runner's World) - comes that novel's prequel, the story of a world-class athlete coming of age in the 1950s and '60s on Florida's Gold Coast.

Quenton Cassidy's first foot races are with nature itself: the summer storms that sweep through his subtropical neighborhood. Shirtless, barefoot, and brown as a berry, Cassidy is a skinny, mouthy kid with aspirations to be a great athlete. As he explores his primal surroundings along the Loxahatchee River and the nearby Atlantic Ocean, he is befriended by Trapper Nelson, "the Tarzan of the Loxahatchee", a well-known eccentric who lives off the land.

In junior high school, quite by chance, Cassidy discovers an ability to run long distances, but his real dream is to be a basketball star. Still, Cassidy absorbs Nelson's view of running as a way of relating to and interacting with the natural world. Though he is warned of Nelson's checkered past, Cassidy dismisses the stories as superstitious gossip - until his small town is stunned by the disappearance of a prominent judge and his wife. Cassidy's loyalty to his friend is severely tested just as his opportunity to make his mark as a gifted runner comes to fruition.

John Parker's prequel to the New York Times best seller Once a Runner vividly captures how a runner is formed and the physical endurance, determination, and mind-set he develops on the way to becoming a champion. Racing the Rain is an epic coming-of-age classic about the environments and friendships that shape us all.

©2015 John L. Parker (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

on the level of Once a Runner!

once a runner, and again to Carthage are two of my favorite books. This one fits right in with the first two.

A solid prequel

So good. I've read and listened to once a runner and again to Carthage bunches of time and will be doing the same for this one.

A slice of Americana in running shoes.

I will recommend this to a friend that I run with that did not grow up in this country. He will get a sense of living the American dream from a young man's perspective.

Fantastic!

Well written and captivating prequel to Once a Runner and Again to Carthage. The reader was excellent!

Great performance by Narrator

After having read several autobiographies, this novel was a fun change of pace.
I'm a sucker for any sports story, but what made this audiobook so entertaining was the performance of Jim Meskimen.
Anyone looking for a little something fun , with a bit of competitive edge would probably enjoy this audiobook.