The Rain Artist

With this slim and uneven blend of dystopian, neo-noir, and weird fiction, Foster (Shine of the Ever) transports readers to a drought-stricken world in which only the wealthy may experience rain. Celine Broussard, the world’s last umbrella-maker, creates fanciful party favors for opulent “rain parties.” Ex-convict Paul Anahera runs the flower shop—a black market front—next door. Yochanna, pregnant by her rapist boss, commits a desperate theft to pay for an abortion. Their stories collide over a single violent night, and the trio flee the oppressive chemical snarl of New York City, seeking retribution, freedom, and self-actualization all at once. Foster sets out to explore bodily autonomy, surveillance, and the place of art and beauty within a fascist state, but while they demonstrate a keen understanding of the reckless, morally empty speculations of the ultra-rich, the characterization and the rest of the political messaging are often inconsistent: characters acquire new traits whenever the story requires, and the treatment of queerness in this dystopia is oddly difficult to pin down. Still, Foster’s intriguingly eclectic thriller-cum-quest story draws to a vengeful and cathartic conclusion, even if the journey there is somewhat muddled. Readers will find much to chew on. (Feb.)