From Publishers Weekly
In the 10th installment of the John Francis Cuddy series, the Boston PI infiltrates a fundamentalist church compound to try and rescue an abducted little boy. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
If there's one thing we've learned in nine previous John Cuddy novels, it's that the Boston private eye keeps his promises. When Cuddy stops to help a young woman change a flat, the woman's companion, 10-year-old Eddie, extracts a promise: if Eddie is ever lost, Cuddy will find him. Shortly thereafter, the car is found abandoned and the woman dead, but there's no sign of Eddie. A promise is a promise, and Cuddy takes up the search, which takes him initially to New Hampshire, where he endures a chilling encounter with Eddie's fundamentalist parents and a deadly encounter with a backwoods zealot who makes those Deliverance guys seem downright agreeable. From there, it's down to Florida to the world headquarters of the Church of the Lord Vigilant. Something's wrong at the church compound, and Cuddy is positive Eddie is inside. With the aid of a retired military man, Cuddy does his damndest to keep his promise to a frightened little boy. We should all have such a guardian angel. One of the best entries in a consistently outstanding series. Wes Lukowsky

ANNOTATION

Ten-year-old Eddie Haldon's sister is dead--and John Cuddy is compelled to keep a promise to help the boy. But first Cuddy will have to find him. From his native Boston to backwoods New Hampshire to the sin and surf of Florida, Cuddy searches--uncovering a swamp of deadly greed and madness that may or may not lead to the missing boy.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Driving home to Boston after a day's surveillance in the suburbs, John Cuddy is enjoying the sweet September air and looking forward to a dinner-and-scuba-class evening with his lady, assistant D.A. Nancy Meagher. But when he sees the old Dodge Swinger by the side of the road, two kids staring helplessly at its flat tire, he has to stop. "If I ever got lost or anything, would you come help me?" The boy's entreaty triggers a long-buried memory from Vietnam, and Cuddy makes him a solemn promise. Eddie seems a typical ten-year-old, but for the red birthmark that runs across his face like a map of Texas. His companion, a teenage girl named Melinda, is scared yet defiant. Cuddy changes their tire and soon they are back on the road. Except for the blue New Hampshire pick-up that briefly pulls over, its driver a rough, inquisitive character sporting a southern twang, Cuddy doesn't give the event much thought - until the next day, when the Globe reports the body of a young woman fished out of a South Boston channel. In the background of the photo accompanying the article is a Dodge Swinger. There is no mention of a boy. Some basic detective work sends Cuddy north to the hardscrabble town of Elton, New Hampshire, where Polly and Thomas Haldon, Eddie's fundamentalist parents, insist their son - with the devil's Mark of Cain upon his face - is now safe in the hands of the Lord at a Christian institute. Reluctantly, the Dr. Pepper-drinking chief of police tips Cuddy off about Lonnie Severn, the mysterious driver of the pick-up. Breaking into Severn's lonely trailer, Cuddy finds trouble - the serious kind. With fake I.D. provided by an old pro called Sneezer, Cuddy heads south to the Florida Keys...to a church on the remote island of Little Mercy, where the faithfuls' practiced smiles conceal a blood-chilling secret. A lovely Conch barmaid - who ruefully admires his unshakeable commitment to Nancy - becomes a staunch ally, although defending her from a drunk almost costs Cu

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Healy's John Cuddy, the Boston-based PI with an old-fashioned code of honor, has starred now in 10 books, and his latest is a humdinger. Stopping on the highway to help a young woman change a tire, Cuddy is reminded by the awkward kid with her of a buddy he lost in Vietnam-and always felt guilty about-and promises to help if the boy should ever need it. Next day the driver is found dead and the boy has disappeared. Without missing a beat, Cuddy takes up the case, finds the boy's uptight religious parents and finds also a scary Southerner who may have killed the girl and who seems obsessed with a tub-thumping religious evangelist based in the Florida Keys. True to his code, Cuddy is off to Florida and, eventually, after a lot of skilfully laid-on local color and another murder, to a slam-bang climax as the horrible secret of what has appeared to be a run-of-the-mill sect is revealed. The plot is no more than serviceable, and the religious-right villain may be over the top. But the writing is deft and clean, the moments of violent action blood-curdlingly convincing and the zany Keys atmosphere is caught better than anyone has done it since John D. Macdonald. An elderly retired Navy man and his wife, who help out in the crunch, are beautifully drawn and deeply touching. Only a certain sexual complacency about Cuddy (he thinks he's catnip to women) prevents him from being an ideal Eye. Rights: Jed Mattes. (Mar.)

BookList - Wes Lukowsky

If there's one thing we've learned in nine previous John Cuddy novels, it's that the Boston private eye keeps his promises. When Cuddy stops to help a young woman change a flat, the woman's companion, 10-year-old Eddie, extracts a promise: if Eddie is ever lost, Cuddy will find him. Shortly thereafter, the car is found abandoned and the woman dead, but there's no sign of Eddie. A promise is a promise, and Cuddy takes up the search, which takes him initially to New Hampshire, where he endures a chilling encounter with Eddie's fundamentalist parents and a deadly encounter with a backwoods zealot who makes those "Deliverance" guys seem downright agreeable. From there, it's down to Florida to the world headquarters of the Church of the Lord Vigilant. Something's wrong at the church compound, and Cuddy is positive Eddie is inside. With the aid of a retired military man, Cuddy does his damndest to keep his promise to a frightened little boy. We should all have such a guardian angel. One of the best entries in a consistently outstanding series.

Robert A. Carter

Healy is a marvelous writer, one of the finest craftsmen working the mystery beat....Rescue is Healy at his best -- a richly textured, superbly unfolded tale. -- Houston Chronicle

Paul Skenazy