"It would later be called one of the most violent storms in North Carolina history. Because it occurred in 1999, some of the most superstitious citizens considered it an omen, the first step toward the end of time. . . . In all, nine documented tornadoes would touch down that evening in the eastern part of the state, destroying nearly 30 homes in the process. . . . Thousands of trees were felled, flash floods swept over banks of three major rivers, and lives changed forever with one fell swoop of Mother Nature."
Denise Holton, single mother, former teacher, and now alone in the world except for her soon-to-be 5 year old son, Kyle, drove through the storm trying to reach home before her 19-year-old Datsun gave up the ghost and died forever. She was 10 minutes away from home. Just around the next curve, across the bridge toward Edenton, then left on Charity Road. Another mile after that and they would be safe. There were no other cars on the highway as she drove through a nameless swamp, one of dozens in the low country fed by the waters of the Albemarle Sound.
"A doe, fully grown, facing the oncoming headlights, frozen by uncertainty."
Denise hit the brakes, the car moved diagonally across the road, missing the deer by a foot. She turned the wheel again, but the tires left the surface of the asphalt. The old shocks groaned violently with the bounce. Cypress trees were less than 30 feet off the highway. Frantic, Denise fought to control the car. No use. The outcome was foregone. The car blasted into a tree. Denise heard the twisting of metal and shattering of glass -- then nothing.
Nicholas Sparks is known as a modern master of fateful love stories. He is that and more. His bestsellers -- "The Notebook," "Message in a Bottle" and "A Walk to Remember," have made him one of America's most beloved storytellers. He never fails to grab reader's attention in the first few pages of his novels. Characters and settings are fully developed. Story lines connect and resolve into reality-based conclusions. Most important, Sparks captures the essence of human commonality.
In "The Rescue" he introduces his protagonist, Denise Holton, experiencing every reader's worst nightmare. From that point on there is no "putting down place." Imagination engaged, you are compelled to read on knowing the worst is yet to come.
Denise's story is one that many readers will relate to. Her little son has a learning disability that requires all of her time. His I.Q. is normal, but the doctors have told her he has a central auditory processing disorder. She sacrifices her teaching career in Atlanta to return to a small country home near Edenton where she can teach Kyle herself. He's making progress, but has far to go and Denise is determined to sacrifice herself so that Kyle can have a normal life.
Denise is discovered unconscious and bleeding by Taylor McAden, a volunteer fireman from Edenton. He'd been out in the storm helping to find downed power lines when he chanced upon the wrecked car and Denise behind the wheel. When she regains consciousness, she asks about her son. The boy is not in the car. Denise is taken to a nearby hospital while rescuers search the swamp for the child.
During the search for Kyle, the connection, the lifeline, between Taylor and Denise takes root. Taylor who has always felt compelled to take terrifying risks -- risks no one else in the department would ever take -- to save lives doesn't know that this rescue will be different from all the others. Different and demanding far more than the usual raw physical courage.
Taylor is a man who knows no fear, with one exception. In all his adult life, he's never been able to fall in love. He's sought out women who need to be rescued and leaves them as soon as their crisis is over. The big questions are, will Denise be just another woman in need of Taylor's assistance only to be discarded as Taylor goes on repeating past mistakes? Or will she be the one who can bring him to open doors left locked too long?
The premise seems almost too simple to provide a good novel. It isn't. The complexities Sparks addresses are life questions many people need to face, yet cannot. Love is never as easy as we'd like it to be. Love requires more than most are willing or able to give. Denise and Taylor are not as different as they seem. Beneath their charming personalities lie depths of turmoil that left alone will change the course of their lives even more than the raging storm that brought them together.
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Patricia Jones is a published writer and literary critic.
COPYRIGHT OCTOBER 30, 2000, PATRICIA A. JONES, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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