The Cure

In a futuristic society, all pain has been eliminated (along with art, music, love, etc.), and one boy, deemed dangerous because he sings, submits to an unusual "cure" in which he must live as a Jewish boy during the plague years in Germany, where he feels passion, sorrow, and fear. This unique blend of futuristic and historical fiction tells a riveting tale that raises hard questions about the human condition. Suzanne Toren's voice, mellifluous but never monotonous, is the perfect vehicle for this suspenseful journey into future and past. Its reassuring quality carries listeners through some painfully authentic passages as Toren captures the joy of first love and the loss of innocence. In a subtle and sensitive dramatization, the combined strengths of author and narrator make the characters seem as alive and familiar as old friends. In fact, this listener was sorry to part with them at tape's end. E.S. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine

July 2, 2007
In his follow-up to the Christy Award-winning River Rising, Dickson focuses on a missionary, Riley Keep, who becomes an alcoholic after a devastating experience in the mission field. Blending science fiction and suspense, Dickson sets his novel in the small fishing town of Dublin, Maine. Rich with local dialect and scenery, the novel explores what happens to this bucolic village when dozens, then hundreds, of desperate homeless people descend upon it, having heard that someone there has a miracle cure for alcoholism. As Dublin becomes increasingly dystopic, Riley and the people in his life experience one crisis after another. Dickson's approach is thought-provoking, and his prose beautifully evokes the taciturn spirit of the Mainers who people this novel. As a suspense novel, however, it suffers from a series of implausible misunderstandings. Far too many of the novel's crises involve characters not having discovered facts the reader has known or surmised for some time. Mistaken assumptions about identities, relationships, motives, and culpability for evil deeds serve as a tiresome framework for much of Dickson's plot. His characters seem too smart to not make certain discoveries sooner, and this problem slows down an otherwise well-paced novel that is full of interesting ideas and well-developed characters.