The Rescue was his fourth novel and the firstl by Nicholas Sparks to reach Number 1 on the New York Times Best-seller List.

Read the Flap of The Rescue . . .

THE RESCUE

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.

General Information on The Rescue

WHO

The Rescue was a story inspired by Nicholas's son.

The Rescue tells the story of Denise Holton and Taylor McAden. Written in third-person, the primary narrative emphasis is equally split between the two characters.

WHAT

The Rescue is a love story that tells the story of Denise, a waitress who works with her son who has trouble speaking, and Taylor, a volunteer fireman.

The Rescue, Nicholas Sparks's fourth novel, is approximately 94,000 words

WHERE

The Rescue was written in North Carolina.

The setting of the novel is Edenton, North Carolina.

WHEN

The Rescue was written in the spring and summer of 1999, and it was published in the fall of 2000. Negotiations are underway to adapt the novel into a television series. It spent nearly five months on the best-seller list in hard cover, and an additional four months on the paperback best-seller list.

The story is contemporary.

THEME

Love as rescue; how love can save a person.

GENRE / SUB-GENRE

Dramatic Fiction/Love story