Rescue
A Novel
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3.6 • 465 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
A rookie paramedic pulls a young woman alive from her totaled car, a first rescue that begins a lifelong tangle of love and wreckage.
Peter Webster pulls a young woman out of a car wreck that should have killed her. Sheila Arsenault haunts his thoughts, and despite his misgivings Peter is soon embroiled in an intense love affair -- and in Sheila's troubled world.
Eighteen years later, Sheila is long gone and Peter is raising their daughter, Rowan, alone. But Rowan is veering dangerously off course, and for the first time in their quiet life together Peter fears for her future. He seeks out the only person who may be able to help Rowan, although Sheila's return is sure to unleash all the questions he has carefully been keeping at bay: Why did a mother leave her family? How did the marriage of two people so deeply in love unravel?
A story about trespass and forgiveness, secrets and the seismic force of the truth, Rescue is a masterful portrayal of a family trying to understand its fractured past and begin again.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Shreve's smooth if unsurprising latest (after A Change in Altitude), EMT Peter Webster is drawn to a woman he rescues at the scene of a one-car drunk driving accident. Webster is well intentioned, but alcoholic Sheila, with her dangerous history, could prove beyond his efforts to save her, though the two embark on an affair that evolves into marriage and parenthood with the birth of their daughter, Rowan. Sheila's drinking, meanwhile, escalates until she causes another accident, this time with young Rowan in the car, causing Webster to send Sheila away to avoid jail time. Years later, with not a word from long-gone Sheila, Rowan is a typically turmoil-ridden high school senior moody, her grades slipping, drinking and her tribulations prompt Webster to reach out to Sheila to help his daughter. Webster and Sheila are more type than character good-hearted man, damaged woman incapable of love and the paramedic rescue scenes feel mostly like opportunities for Shreve to show off her research. Still, the story runs like a well-oiled machine and should sate the author's fans.
Customer Reviews
Great story, compelling but flawed
The story is good, characters well developed. I generally like characters who are flawed, who I can both admire and despise in turn, but the writing got in the way of the story telling. The awkward present tense kept tripping me up. I noticed the sentence structure- it was terse at times, just hard to negotiate at others. I really don't care for two styles of writing, first person, and present tense and worst of all, present tense first person. At least it wasn't that. It read like a screen play. Sad, because it's well researched and moving.
Very good book!
This was a very good book that I couldn't put down! It seemed like I was done with it too quickly tho! I really enjoyed it, and I can totally relate because at the moment I'm dealing with a very rough spell with my seventeen year old daughter.
Rescue
Usually not the type of book I like to read, but I could not put RESCUE down. From the very first page the story grabs you and keeps you interested until the last page.The setting is a small rural town, where a young man falls for a girl running away from her past. They have a child and that is where the story really begins. The warmth, and strength of a wonderfully devoted dad really make you enjoy reading about Webster, daughter Rowan, and her mom Sheila. I highly recommend this heartwarming story.Five stars !!!!!