Noah's Rainy Day
“Along with mystery and suspense, this novel conveys profound familial love.”
Twelve-year-old Noah Hogarty is severely disabled with cerebral palsy. He has spent his entire life inside a body unable to function as an ordinary child's, even to the point where he is partially blind. Though Noah lives with these limitations, his mind is sharp, and Noah and his family are able to communicate through hand signals and his facial expressions.
It is Christmas Eve, and Noah is excited about the upcoming holiday. He is looking forward to spending time with his favorite aunt Liv and her bloodhound Beulah. Aunt Liv, a recent graduate of FBI training in Quantico, currently lives with her sister, Noah's mom, and their family. She and Noah have a special closeness, and Noah loves that she treats him as an average person and not a disabled child.
Unable to celebrate the holiday, Liv is called to handle a case pertaining to a missing child. Working alongside her agent boyfriend, Jack Linwood and agent Streeter Pierce, she wonders why she, a rookie, has been called in on this case.
She soon learns the missing child is five-year-old Max, son of multimillionaire Maximilian Bennett Williams II and fashion model mom Melissa. Known as “little Max,” the child had been put on a plane in New York with an escort to deliver him to his mother in California. On a layover in Denver, little Max turns up missing. Father Max almost became Liv's brother-in-law when her sister, Ida dated him, but to everyone's relief, Ida saw Max for the scoundrel he is and dumped him.
But why does he want Liv on the case? The two despise each other and Liv is just a rookie.
A high-profile case, this dilemma ups the contentiousness between Max and Melissa, and the FBI wonders after many hours have passed why there is no ransom demand. Could one of the parents be to blame? Meanwhile Liv and her colleagues search tirelessly for clues using Beulah to track the child's footsteps throughout the airport.
In his room, Noah thinks about another boy who turned up missing not that long ago. His backpack was found in the mountains and the boy returned home but he did not go back to the Noah's school, causing speculation among the children. Noah becomes distracted upon seeing a young girl in the window of the house across the way. Dragging himself to the floor-length picture window in his room, he tries to get a better look at the child, wondering why she is in Mr. Fletcher's house. Everyone knows Mr. Fletcher is weird and never talks to anyone.
Noah becomes frustrated when he cannot communicate his findings to his family as they all are too busy to take the time to listen to him. With a sharp mind and the dream of being a spy himself, Noah pieces the puzzle together, but will his limitations impede him from conveying what he knows and believes?
Ms. Brannan digs deep into the minds of her characters, sharing differing points of view in separate chapters. She tackles the delicate subject of disabilities, showing they are not always debilitating. Along with mystery and suspense, this novel conveys profound familial love.