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Volunteer fireman Taylor McAden is driven to take terrifying, heroic risks to save lives. But there's one leap into the unknown he cant bring himself to make: He can't fall in love. A man who likes to rescue troubled women, he inevitably leaves them as soon as they want more from him. Then,... read more

Summary edit see section history

When confronted by raging fires or deadly accidents, volunteer fireman Taylor McAden feels compelled to take terrifying risks - risks no one else in the department would ever take - to save lives. But there is one leap of faith Taylor can't bring himself to make: He can't fall in love. For all... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

When confronted by raging fires or deadly accidents, volunteer fireman Taylor McAden feels compelled to take terrifying risks - risks no one else in the department would ever take - to save lives. But there is one leap of faith Taylor can't bring himself to make: He can't fall in love. For all his adult years, Taylor has sought out women who need to be rescued, women he leaves as soon as their crisis is over, as soon as the relationship starts to become truly intimate.

Then, one day, a raging, record-breaking storm hits his small Southern town. Denise Holton, a young single mother, is driving through it when her car skids off the road. With her is her four-year-old son, Kyle, a boy with severe learning disabilities and for whom she has sacrificed everything. Unconscious and bleeding, she-but not Kyle-will be found by Taylor McAden. And when she wakes, the chilling truth becomes clear to both of them: Kyle is gone.

During the search for Kyle, the connection, the lifeline, between Taylor and Denise takes root. Taylor doesn't know that this rescue will be different from all the others, demanding far more than raw physical courage. That it will lead him to the possibility of his own rescue from a life lived without love. That it will require him to open doors to his past that were slammed shut by pain. That it will dare him to live life to the fullest by daring to love.

In The Rescue Nicholas Sparks weaves his inimitable spell, immersing us in the passions and the surprising complexities of modern relationships-and in doing so, teaching us something about our own.

Characters/People edit see section history

  • Denise Holton: Mother of Kyle Holton, she is 30 as the book opens. She did not plan Kyle- she had a roll in the sack with a man whom she only met at a bar that night...a few weeks later she was pregnant and he told her he wanted no part of a child. Denise had taught 2nd grade for 3 years at that point- continued teaching till she had Kyle. He was born 4 years to the day after her mother dies of cancer. Denise adores Kyle- she raised him, and has found it challenging in ways she never expected!
  • Kyle Holton: Son of Denise Holton. He has Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD). He can talk but not that well. So he is a very special little boy, who needs lots of help from his mom.
  • Taylor McAden: He's a volunteer fireman who is passionate about saving each person at a fire- because his own father died in a burning house. His friend Mitch knows him better than anyone- perhaps better than Taylor knows himself. Taylor has a 6th sense at rescues and we meet him at the rescue of a young boy who has wandered away into a swamp from a wrecked car, on a dark stormy night. And that is just the beginning...
  • Mitch: Long-time friend of Taylor. They went to school together, and now volunteer for the Edenton fire department. Owns a successful hardware store, and comes home each night to a loving wife, Melissa, who Taylor thinks Mitch loves even more, after 4 sons and many years of marriage.
  • Judy Mcaden: Mother of Taylor McAden and childhood friend of Denise Holton's mother.
  • Melissa: Mitch's wife. Met her in college, never loved anybody else. Patient, but is losing patience with Taylor's FOC (fear of commitment) with women.
  • Joe Bell: The chief and only paid member of the fire department in Edenton.
  • Rhonda: Works at Eights diner with Denise and sometimes give Denise rides to and from work.
  • Valerie: A woman Taylor used to date.
  • Carl Huddle: A police officer.
  • Lori: A woman Taylor used to date.
  • Ray Toler: The owner of Eights diner where Denise works. He has children of his own and is understanding of Denise's situation.
  • Taylor: Volunteer firefighter. A man battling the demons surrounding his father's death.
  • Taylor McAden: He is a total wreck with his emotions, but you can't really see it until you get close to him. He always tries to rescue people and leaves them after. But nobody has tried to rescue him from himself.
  • Kim: Add a description of this character.
  • Brett Cosgrove
  • Judy: Taylor's mother
  • Mitch Johnson: Taylor's best friend
  • Mason Thomas McAden: Taylor's father
  • Cameron
  • Mommy
  • Bea
  • Mike Harris: Denise's boss at Eights where she works
Show all 23 characters
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Quotes edit see section history

  • “Loving someone and having them love you back is the most precious thing in the world”
  • “...There was something inside her that longed to be desired, to be cared for and protected, to be listened to and accepted without judgment. To be loved.”
    Denise Holton
  • Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
  • “You’re going to come across people in your life who say all the right words at all the right times. But in the end, it’s always their actions you should judge them by. It’s actions, not words, that matter.”
    Highlighted by 155 Kindle customers
  • People come, people go—they’ll drift in and out of your life, almost like characters in a favorite book. When you finally close the cover, the characters have told their story and you start up again with another book, complete with new characters and adventures. Then you find yourself focusing on the new ones, not the ones from the past.”
    Highlighted by 141 Kindle customers
  • Youth offers the promise of happiness, but life offers the realities of grief.
    Highlighted by 91 Kindle customers
  • Loving someone and having them love you back is the most precious thing in the world.
    Highlighted by 86 Kindle customers
  • There was something inside her that longed to be desired, to be cared for and protected, to be listened to and accepted without judgment. To be loved.
    Highlighted by 69 Kindle customers
  • the initial feelings associated with love were almost like an ocean wave in their intensity, acting as the magnetic force that drew two people together. It was possible to be washed away in the emotion, but the wave wouldn’t last forever. It couldn’t—nor was it meant to be—but if two people were right for each other, a truer kind of love could last forever in its wake.
    Highlighted by 50 Kindle customers
  • Everyone has crap in their background, everyone has things they wish they could undo. But most people don’t go around doing their best to screw up their present lives because of it.”
    Highlighted by 47 Kindle customers
  • life was like manure. When used in a garden, manure was fertilizer. Effective and inexpensive, it provided nourishment to the soil and helped the garden become as beautiful as it could be. But outside of the garden—in a pasture, for instance—when stepped in inadvertently, manure was nothing more than crap.
    Highlighted by 44 Kindle customers
  • It wasn’t until later that I realized the things my mom said weren’t meant to hold me back, they were for my own benefit so that all my own dreams could come true.”
    Highlighted by 41 Kindle customers
  • Her mother had once told her that there were men who kept secrets bottled up inside and that it spelled trouble for the women who loved them.
    Highlighted by 24 Kindle customers
Show all 12 quotes from this book

First Sentence edit see section history

It would later be called one of the most violent storms in North Carolina history.

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

  • Theme: The theme that is found in almost all of Nicholas Sparks' books is that the characters are a reflection about someone in his life or family. For example A Walk to Remember the story about Janie is about his own sister.

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 7 of 10 in Publishers Weekly Bestselling Novels In 2000. (authoritative list)
This book is in Nicholas Spark Books. (community list)

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Nicholas Sparks (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Warner Books, Inc.
Country: United States
Publication Date: August 2001
ISBN: 0-446-61039-9
Page Count: 420

Classification edit see section history

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • The Guardian
  • Three Weeks with My Brother
  • The Last Song
  • The Choice
  • The Lucky One
  • A Bend in the Road
  • Dear John
  • At First Sight
  • True Believer
  • A Walk to Remember
  • The Notebook
  • The Wedding
  • Nights in Rodanthe
  • Message in a Bottle

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