God Save the Child vs Prayers for rain: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Massachusetts, Boston, Private investigators, Fiction
God Save the Child
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New York Times bestselling author of the Spenser series of crime thrillers - Book 2 in the series -Appie Knoll is the kind of suburb where kids grow up right. But something is wrong. Fourteen-year-old Kevin Bartlett…
Prayers for rain
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The master of the new noir, Dennis Lehane delivers a shattering tale of evil, depravity, and justice that captures the dark realism of Boston’s gritty blue-collar streets.Private Investigator Patrick Kenzie wants to…
Side by side
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- God Save the Child is the quickest read — about 3 hours vs 8 for Prayers for rain.
- Prayers for rain has the widest readership — 24714 ratings behind its score.
- Prayers for rain runs the darker storyline; God Save the Child stays the lighter read.
How to choose
Scores by source
| God Save the Child | Prayers for rain | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | — | 4.1 (24714) |
| Hardcover | 3.7 (29) | 4.0 (1) |
| Google Books | — | 4.0 (2) |
| Apple Books | 4.0 (320) | 4.5 (333) |
Reception
| God Save the Child | Prayers for rain | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 320 | 24714 |
| Editions | 5 | 34 |
| Citations | 3 | — |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | — | 7824 |
| Reading it now | — | 1100 |
| Written reviews | — | 1108 |
| Wikipedia attention | 197 | 519 |
| Pages | 185 | 478 |
Questions readers ask
Which is rated higher: God Save the Child or Prayers for rain?
Prayers for rain has the higher combined reader rating across sources (Prayers for rain 4.1/5, God Save the Child 4.0/5).
Which is shorter to read: God Save the Child or Prayers for rain?
God Save the Child is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: God Save the Child (185 pages, ≈ 3 h 26 m); Prayers for rain (478 pages, ≈ 8 h 51 m).
Which is harder to read: God Save the Child or Prayers for rain?
Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — God Save the Child: Moderate; Prayers for rain: Moderate.