3.5 stars

Looking through the dozens of unread books I have in my Kindle app, I found this one, reread the synopsis, and decided to give it a whirl. Turned out to be a pretty good choice.

This is a rather simply mystery set in Munich, Germany, along the Danube and the autobahn. The writing style was terse, with many chapters only a sentence or paragraph long. This felt almost like flipping through a photo album and having the story revealed through simple descriptions rather than in-depth story-telling. I'm not normally a fan of this approach, but it worked pretty well in this instance. The story itself was pretty straight-forward, with some good twists. Recommended for fans of European mysteries. ( )

i hope "Rain Girl" turns out to be the first in a long series; it's a compelling suspense story with interesting central characters, and I'd like to spend more time with them. The book starts when a young girl in a sparkly dress, staggering along the Autobahn in the rain, stumbles towards the headlights of an oncoming car and is killed on impact. Homicide detective Franza Oberweiser starts her investigation with big questions. Who is the girl? And was she attacked before car crash? The story starts rather slowly, as we are introduced to Franza and her colleague Felix, and as the investigation gets underway. But it builds momentum, both around the unknown girl, and around Franza's complicated personal life. The style is episodic, with short chapters (a few from the viewpoint of characters we don't yet know), piling on to produce a coherent whole. Characterization is very strong; the central characters are fully rounded, who make mistakes and have faults. I enjoyed it a lot, and have already bought "Raven Sisters", the only other novel featuring Franza that seems to be available in English. Let's hope there's a nice big lot waiting to be translated. ( )

Rain Girl is about the investigation of the apparent murder of a young woman. It takes place in Germany along the Autobahn (the edition is a translation of a German novel) where a young woman is hit by a car. Soon it is apparent that the girl was attacked prior to being hit by the car and left by the side of the road. The main character is a homicide detective, Franza Oberweiser. None of the characters are particularly likeable. Franza is cheating on her husband (who has cheated on her with the nanny in the past) and she has neglected her son in favor of her work. I really felt like the book was about Franza more than the mystery. The reader gets flashbacks to the dead girl's life as well as looks into the various suspects heads. The killer is revealed to the reader before Franza and her partner, Felix figure it out. But the true story seems to be that Franza's life is at a crossroads and throughout the mystery she must make some important decisions about her own life. It was a quick read that kept my reading. The structure sometimes was choppy and a few times the perspective would switch back and forth from Franza's thoughts to Felix's with little warning. Overall, it was a fun fast read that I enjoyed. ( )

"She staggered along the northbound shoulder of the autobahn in the mist of the rising dawn unaware of the danger hurtling toward her."
Franza Oberweiser is a veteran homicide detective. Along with her partner, Felix, she investigates the death of a young girl who hit by a car on the autobahn. They know how she died, but they found blood at the rest stop nearby. What happened at the rest stop and how did the girl (Marie) end up in the middle of the highway?

Franza has a difficult home life. Her husband cheated on her a while ago and they have never really recovered. Now Franza is having an affair with an actor and she hardly ever hears from her son. He is off to college this year and her husband tells her she shouldn't worry, he is an adult now and taking care of himself. But, she still worries.

It is tough for Franza to juggle all the aspects of her life. The story covers her home life, her affair and the search for the killer. In between, we have glimpses into Marie's life, as a young man falls for her. Who is he and how does he fit into this story?

My opinion:
Franza wasn't very likable as a character; I understand that we all have flaws, but I didn't really connect with her. There seemed to be some sexual tension between Franza and her partner Felix but that was never really explored. Felix's wife is about to have twins and didn't consult him first, so he isn't thrilled.
I wasn't enthralled by this book, but I was anxious to find out who killed Marie and who was her secret lover. I finished the book easily.
I wouldn't recommend this book unless you really like crime thrillers and are interested in reading about detectives in a country other than the U.S. Maybe then it would appeal to you more than me.
( )

Der erste Franza-Oberwieser- Roman „Das Regenmädchen“ von Gabi Kreslehner handelt von dem tragischen Mord an der jungen Marie, die eines Morgens im Ballkleid am Rand einer Autobahn auftaucht, um schließlich von einem herannahenden Auto erfasst zu werden. Was zunächst als Unfall erscheint, erweist sich schnell als Mord und führt die ermittelnden Kripobeamten Franza Oberwieser und Felix Herz zu einem Geflecht aus Lügen, Missbrauch und Prostitution.

Dieses Buch zeigt, dass man sich beim Buchkauf nicht zu sehr von einem Buchcover beeinflussen lassen sollte. Denn obwohl das Cover dieses Romans sehr ansprechend gestaltet ist und auch der Klappentext mein Interesse geweckt hat, konnte mich dieser Krimi nicht überzeugen.
Leider kann ich nicht viel Positives über diesen Roman schreiben, da ich mehr von diesem erwartet hätte. Dabei hat mich vor allem der Erzählstil in diesem Romans sehr gestört. Dieser hat mir überhaupt nicht gefallen, wobei es mir schwer fällt, diesen zu beschreiben. Als poetisch wird er in einigen Rezensionen dieses Krimis bezeichnet, dem kann ich nur bedingt zustimmen. Es scheint als könnte die Autorin sich selbst nicht entscheiden, eine zum Teil etwas schräge und/oder vulgäre Ausdrucksweise ist die Folge.
Meiner Meinung nach nimmt außerdem das Privatleben der Kommissarin Franza Oberwieser einen zu großen Teil in diesem Roman ein, was mir diese Person nicht sympathischer macht. Weshalb zusätzlich ihr Sohn in die Handlung verwickelt werde musste, ist mir schleierhaft.
Letztlich war ich froh, dass dieses Buch mit 300 Seiten verhältnismäßig dünn ist, andernfalls hätte ich es möglicherweise nicht bis zu Ende gelesen. Merkwürdigerweise war in diesem Roman dennoch Platz für eine schwer nachvollziehbare Nebenhandlung um den Fahrer des Wagens, der Marie anfangs angefahren hatte. Alle Personen in diesem Roman wirken klischeehaft und wenig glaubwürdig, weshalb dem Leser der Mörder bereits sehr früh offenbart wird.
Auch muss ich sagen, dass mir dieser Roman nicht lange im Gedächtnis geblieben ist, denn jetzt nur einen Monat nach der Lektüre dieses Krimis fällt es mir bereits schwer, mich an einige Passagen zu erinnern. Zum Glück habe ich mir dieses Buch nur als preisreduziertes Mängelexemplar gekauft, andernfalls wäre ich jetzt womöglich enttäuschter. Es wäre zudem sinnvoll gewesen, vor dem Kauf dieses Krimis die Leseprobe zu lesen, da diese bereits einen guten Eindruck von dem Erzählstil dieses Romans vermittelt.

Abschließend kann ich sagen, dass sich jeder selbst ein Bild von diesem Roman machen sollte, vor allem da die Meinungen über Gabi Kreslehner Schreibstil doch sehr auseinanderzugehen scheinen. Ich denke jedoch nicht, dass ich in Zukunft weitere Franza-Oberwieser-Krimis lesen werde. ( )