The Healer FROM OUR EDITORS
For years, Rachel O'Malley has helped others with their grief. Counseling children through trauma, she had gained the confidence that she could cope with disaster. But when her own sister begins to slip away with a virulent form of cancer, Rachel finds herself affected in a different, deeper way. Can she continue to pursue her occupation when the life of a person she loves so much is on the line?
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Rachel O'Malley works disasters for a living. Her specialty is helping children through trauma. For years Rachel has touched grief as she helps others through it, but now grief is something very personal -- she is losing her own sister to cancer. Helping the other O'Malleys through the crisis is taking everything Rachel has to give. When a school shooting rips through her community, she must lean hard against God to find the strength to help the children. For there is more than just sorrow confronting her, there's a secret. One of the students was there. One of them witnessed the shooting. And the murder weapon is still missing . . .
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Few Christian novelists are currently as hot as Henderson, who is burning up CBA bestseller charts with two different series and earning a reputation for her action-packed stories of suspense, romance and courage. But this fifth installment in the O'Malley series shows a bit of wear and tear. Rachel O'Malley is a trauma psychologist specializing in helping victims of disasters obtain closure and heal spiritually. Her emotions are drained by assisting refugees after an Illinois flood and by her grief over her sister Jennifer, who is dying of cancer. As Rachel works to repair flood-damaged psyches and homes while exploring romance with Capt. Cole Parker, another sister, Lisa, a forensic pathologist, tries to decipher clues at a possible double murder scene. The murder weapon turns up again in a rather clich d Columbine-esque school shooting that improbably finds Rachel and Jennifer arriving at its onset. It's a dizzying read: the strained plot never seems fully fleshed out, and there are some odd moments, such as when Rachel and Jennifer plan a "surprise wedding" for their sister Kate. Henderson's writing can have a magical quality that keeps readers turning the pages, though, even as they're scrambling to remember the more than two dozen featured characters, their occupations and their relationships to one another. Loyal Henderson fans will likely snatch up this latest O'Malley tale, but new readers won't get the flavor for the quality of some of her previous offerings. (June) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal
Following The Protector, Henderson tackles the issue of faith in a person touched daily by tragedy. A trauma psychologist for the Red Cross, Rachel O'Malley can be called at a moment's notice into areas where disasters, natural or human, can turn an ordinary day into a nightmare. Battling her growing feelings for Capt. Cole Parker, a firefighter who works with her brother, Rachel also wrestles with her ambivalence toward a God who is letting her beloved sister, Jennifer, slowly die of cancer. When three kids are killed at a local school and a ruptured dam floods the area, Rachel doesn't know where she'll find the strength to continue, but her family and Cole lend her their faith. Expect high demand from fans, as Henderson turns in her most powerful, moving entry in the series yet. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
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