Healer

Barry Evans meets Pinkie Proudfoot when he's twelve and she's six: Pinkie's soothing touch somehow frees Barry of his unbearable migraine pain; Barry protects shy Pinkie at school, takes her for visits to her irascible grandfather Mr. Stott (a legless WW II vet and super-gardener), and becomes something of a brother/father substitute for Pinkie - whose mother is possessive, even faintly hostile. Now, however, it's four years later - and ten-year-old Pinkie has become the precious "Healer" for the Harmonic Energy Foundation run by her new stepfather, Moses-like guru Mr. Freeman. Pinkie lives under heavy protection at the Foundation compound; her mother - supposedly a distracting influence on Pinkie's healing powers - has been sent off to America as a Foundation missionary. So 16-year-old Barry, funded by Mr. Stott, infiltrates the Foundation (first as a patient, then as an employee) to size up Pinkie's situation. Is she being exploited, mistreated, or manipulated? Would she like to be rescued? It seems that she would - especially after Barry realizes that Pinkie is being regularly drugged to keep her compliant. And a fine escape/flight sequence soon follows - from elevator-shaft peril. . . to a rainstorm bicycle-ordeal. . . to train-hoppings at dawn. But fanatical Mr. Freeman and two fierce aides (one human, one canine) cleverly track down the fugitives almost immediately; so there's a bloody showdown/finale - during which Barry finds the submerged, violent side of his personality (a.k.a. "Bear") coming to the surface. Throughout, this notion of Barry's disturbing, schizoid nature remains murkily unconvincing. Blurry, too, are such matters as Pinkie's actual healing powers and her guru/stepfather's motivations. Still, British suspense-veteran Dickinson recycles the familiar rescue-thriller scenario with snazzy details and solid tension - while the unusual Barry/Pinkie relationship and eccentric Mr. Stott provide charming, English-accented colorations along the way. (Kirkus Reviews)