The genre of contemporary women’s fiction is seen almost as the preserve of women authors, but in Beat the Rain, debut writer Nigel Jay Cooper can hold his head high for penning a moving and gripping read that stands up against the work of his best-selling female peers.   Beat-The-Rain-High-Res-CoverThe novel, which has been voted a Good Reads Awards 2016 semi-finalist by the reading public, is a psychological thriller that tells the dysfunctional and tragic love story of a couple with issues, Louise and Adam, and the dramatic consequences of a marriage in decline.   It opens with a glimpse into Louise’s life after her boyfriend, Tom, dies suddenly, leaving her heart-broken.   Lost and alone, six months later she receives a video from Tom – a message from the grave. He urges her to move on and reveals that he knew she was secretly in love with his twin brother, Adam.   Tom believes they can help each other, and so it follows. Adam and Louise go against the wishes of their families to start a relationship, both hoping it might fill the holes in their lives.   The couple marry and start a family, but as the years roll by the pressures that come with a long-term relationship, once the initial blaze of passion has long since burned out, takes its toll, exacerbated by deep-seated psychological issues. Struck by post-natal depression, Louise becomes introspective, recalling her sad and troubled childhood – one that saw her mother abandon her and her father die.   Driving Adam further away in the mistaken belief that their relationship is not worth saving, she encounters a man named Jarvis at the café she owns.   At first Louise is only mildly obsessed with this intriguing, charismatic man, but in her troubled state, this soon manifests into voyeurism.   Eventually, her erratic mind spins out of control, and she convinces herself that Jarvis is falling for her, forcing a friendship between her husband and Jarvis just to have an excuse to meet him more often.   But Jarvis is in love with someone else close to Louse, and more than this, it transpires Jarvis has not been strictly honest about his role in their lives, and has his own shocking agenda for becoming close.   Though they try to make the marriage work, Adam’s and Louise’s relationship continues to falter, stifled by the grief and pain they are both trying to deal with.   Adam descends into alcoholism while Louise tries to distract herself by becoming a workaholic, and as argument follows terrible argument, the novel gallops towards a climatic ending packed with startling revelations.   Structured in a non-linear fashion with chapters told alternatively from Louise and Adam’s perspective, Beat The Rain is an unforgettable story of love and loss propelled by blockbuster twists.   At times humorous; at others downright tragic, it runs the full gamut of emotions that would be encountered in a relationship spinning dangerously out of control.   Cooper has a rare knack for presenting flawed characters and their grubby domestic lives, yet in a way that makes the reader care about what happens to them.   We discover the emotional pains that drive the characters, the guilt and grief that they won’t let heal, and the desires and yearnings so woefully misdirected.   The most devastating thing is not what ultimately happens to them, but that it could all have been avoided if Adam and Louise had only been able to grasp the deeper truths, both of themselves and each other.   Haunting, touching and at times lyrical, Beat The Rain will undoubtedly draw comparisons with bestseller thrillers such as Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn and Girl on The Train by Paula Hawkins.   It sends you on an emotional ride that is equal parts rollercoaster and ghost train, and proves that a male author can dare to take on women’s fiction and succeed with aplomb.   Beat The Rain (Roundfire Books) by Nigel Jay Cooper is out now in paperback, priced at £10.99 or £4.99 for an eBook. For more information, visit www.nigeljaycooper.com.