Rescue Missions: Stories » (Reprint)

Frederick Busch (1941-2006) won numerous awards and taught at Colgate University for many years. His books include North, A Memory of War, and Don’t Tell Anyone, a New York Times Notable Book.

"A range of small human dramas evoked with emotional intelligence and perfect pitch."—Amanda Heller, Boston Sunday Globe

Publishers Weekly

American letters endured a major loss in February 2006 with the sudden death of the author of North, The Night Inspector and 23 other books. Set in the present from the battlefields of Iraq (two stories: "Good to Go" and "Patrols") to upstate New York (where Busch taught for many years) these 15 works share a common theme of people trying to provide relief to those in physical, emotional and mental peril. In "One Last Time for Old Times' Sake," a married man tries to stop his lover from ending their affair so that she can nurse her dying husband. The recently widowed grandfather of a preschooler tries to recover his grandson's lost superhero cape and winds up in an encounter with the boy's teacher in "The Small Salvation." A woman hospitalized as a suicide risk, in "Metal Fatigue," challenges her father's notions of mercy during his visit. Some rescues are successful; others appear to fail; in many cases the rescuers are in the process of saving themselves. Together they offer an incisive examination of the idea of beneficence. (Oct.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.