The Healer

By: Dee Henderson

Narrated by: Tom Stechschulte

Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©2002 Dee Henderson (P)2005 Recorded Books, LLC

A beautiful ending

The Healer does a beautiful job of wrapping up the story of the O'Malley family. Even so, how about one more book book, Dee? Tell us about the second generation of O'Malleys.

Heart-wrenching parts

I love the O'Malley series. The characters, the story, the writing and the Christian message sprinkled in are wonderful. But this story has a lot of heart-wrenching parts. The narration is mostly good, but I didn't like the voice for Cole. He sounded like an old man.

Must read!!!!!!

Henderson is a great Christian author . So glad I discovered her work. Have listened to them each several times. She brings faith into her books that uplift you and give you hope!!!

The Best Love Story Besides Christ

I really enjoyed this book. The ending wad so beautiful, brought tears to my eyes.

Good series

I love a good series & this is excellent! I highly recommend all the the O’Malley series.

emotional

I love listening to the narration of Tom Stechschulte! He makes her books come alive. I found myself both laughing and crying and really getting into her characters - and they have so much character! I love her writing and wish Mr. Stechschulte was still narrating for her. Keeps you wanting to read the end of the book first!!!!

This one made me emotional.

This series is so worth your time. Good stories and good character development. Wonderful stories. This one made me cry though. Rough. I just wish the recording was done more carefully. There were people lounging in some bits. You could tell they weren’t supposed to be there.

Love this writer!

Fantastic Book! Dee's books are real life issues we deal with every day. She also provide a solution. She has several series that I have enjoyed!

Long way to go

I give the story 4 stars because it is good at what it does. It shows very well- developed characters from a female perspective. Henderson intersperses a crime mystery plot with insights about coping skills and spiritual truths that have the goal of uplifting and challenging the reader / listeners. The book presents real problems that could be lifted from today’s news stories and explores how people can deal effectively with these stressors as well as what happens when they do not. I enjoyed the uplifting content and distraction the story brought.

The plot moves very slowly. Characters advance slowly. The book is not for those who like concise stories. If you like character driven stories which present interesting characters but take a long time to come to the point, this book is for you.

For me, I thought the story was a bit too long, rehashing some points too often. In addition, this recording was odd in places, as if parts of it skipped forward and missed some words. In previous books, there were log pauses between passages and chapters. Not sure what is going on in with this one.

I also thought the story was overly dramatic. I am not sure what is gained by telling details of a funeral or repeatedly using phrases like these: “she handed her a tissue” “he rubbed her back” “she grabbed his arm” “he wanted to take away the pain” “we can’t lose her” “I can’t do this” “Dear Jesus…” “I’m tired…” These phrases are repeated often with different people many times throughout the story. There are other issues. People don’t touch each other that much. Opposite sex friends don’t often hug and kiss each other like these do. Do people really call each other at all times of night like this, too? I found myself sometimes hitting the 30 second advance without missing anything important, but I understand why others like this book. The detailed writing lets people “see” the story vividly, like a television show or movie.

There is no metaphor here, no symbolism to force the audience’s mind to engage. We do not need to read between the lines to gain meaning. I think I just prefer a more complex tale, but I can appreciate what this series does do well. This is not Jane Austen. What Henderson gives us instead is straightforward evangelism, for the whole series is openly evangelical Christian with a lot of emphasis on making a decision to believe in Jesus as Savior for forgiveness of sins and promise of heaven. In this book, Henderson also tries to steer the audience towards healthy relationships when she has characters learn true to life communication, trust, and coping skills. The writing carries this off fairly well and makes for a book that feels good despite overly emotional and sad situations.

So sad but enlightening

I did a lot of crying in this book. It’s very much about death and dying, but the message is life and living. It’s a very hard listen, but a very powerful message.