The Color of Rain

Gr 10 Up—To get the funds she needs to jump planet and travel to the Edge, where her younger brother might be cured, Rain has only one commodity to sell: her virginity. Walker's headaches and confusion will soon identify him as Touched, and he'll be among the hundreds taken away by Earth City police each year. Attracted by Rain's unusual red hair, the starship captain agrees to transport her and Walker through the Void. Aboard Imreas, Johnny Vale controls dozens of women who work as prostitutes for passengers and crew. He will use any means necessary to make Rain totally dependent on him. Despite killing her only friend from Earth before her eyes and demoting her from serving as his exclusive mistress to having sex with whoever will pay, Johnny cannot break Rain's spirit. Her unique qualities attract the attention of Ben, whose advanced technological skills keep Imreas's complex systems functioning. They also help Ben bypass surveillance to develop a relationship with Rain. When she learns that the ship carries hundreds of Touched to work in asteroid mines, she reluctantly agrees to help him and the K-Force stop Johnny and his brother, an even-more-sadistic slave trader, who enjoys lobotomizing the Touched personally. The hopeful ending seems highly improbable. Having survived beatings and rape, witnessed torture and murder, and made choices that sent others to their deaths, Rain seems unlikely to emerge unscathed, ready for a conventional romance with Ben, who carries his own share of guilt. McCarthy's dystopian future in which "deranged people with power" control others through violence and degradation makes for bleak reading.—Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State University, Mankato