The Rescue Book Review

The Rescue is a novel written by Nicholas Sparks and was first published in 2000 by the Hachette Book Group in New York, New York. It debuted at number two on the New York Times Bestsellers list on October 8, 2000 and reached number one the proceeding week. With 420 pages, this book is moderately long and the voice is third person omniscient with no bias present. The style is a romantic page-turner with all of Sparks’ trademark components of love, loss and small-town life.

Nicholas Sparks is a well known author for writing romance stories for young adults. He continued to satisfy me with this novel that I think will attract females who are seeking another romantic story with a happy ending. His writing appears to have improved from his previous books, though still fairly predictable, and he includes a hint of tenable psychology based on his own personal experiences and struggles with his son, Ryan’s, Central Auditory Processing Disorder.

It is touching and eye-opening for me to learn about the hardships of day to day life for parents of children with disorders and what they go through. This vestige also includes the secret of Taylor McAden, a 36-year-old local contractor and volunteer fireman, that is about his father's death when he was nine, and makes him retract from relationships once they begin to get serious. For all his adult years, Taylor has sought out women who need to be rescued, and then leaves as soon as their crisis is over and the relationship begins to become truly intimate. Taylor again flees from love after getting involved with Denise Holton, 29 year-old single mother, who moved from Atlanta to the small town of Edenton, North Carolina, to dedicate her time to educating her four-year-old son Kyle. They try to contest the uncommon hindrance he has which keeps him from accomplishing standard language acquisition. Denise gets in a car accident when a raging, record-breaking storm hits the small Southern town, and she is saved by Taylor. A moment that I find nerve wracking is when it is realized Kyle has strayed away from his hurt mother. Taylor then goes out on a rescue mission and succeeds in finding him. Taylor and Denise begin to fall in love throughout the weeks that follow until Taylor abruptly starts to pull away. During this time, I was frustrated with Taylor and wondered what it is that holds him back, even when Denise and him clearly love one another and he is amazing with Kyle, her son, just like the father he never had. After some near-death encounters where Taylor heroically jeopardizes his life to rescue others, much emotional balance from Denise, and the dreadful death of a beloved and loyal friend, Taylor finally divulges to Denise the horrible memory of how his father died and the overwhelming guilt that has lived with him ever since. After Taylor’s psychological breakthrough, Denise and him are able to be together and in love just as I had been hoping for all along. This guides him to his own rescue from a life lived with the absence of love and requires him to open doors to his past that were slammed shut by pain. I think Taylor learns to live life to the fullest by taking the risk to fearlessly love.

To me, this romance drama is classic Nicholas Sparks. I enjoyed the moments of his characters’ amplified emotions that forced inordinate actions. As I expected, based on reading previous Sparks books, two people fall in love, overcome their struggles as a couple, and one of the favorite characters dies. The hero cycle was evident with the main male character, Taylor, who comes to terms with his past and saves the lives of others. I thought Taylor believed he didn’t deserve happiness and that is why he would sabotage all of his relationships. In the end, I am glad Denise helps him to realize why he had been holding back all these years. In 'The Rescue' Nicholas Sparks composed a matchless spell, which engages any reader in the intense and raw intricacies of modern relationships, while at the same time teaching them something about their own.