The Scare Bear

Healing Force is a novel of adventure and mystery, set in the American Southeast. It depicts the discovery deep in the woods of Tennessee of a hermit with prodigious healing powers. The action is seen through the eyes of Harrigan McCall, a fifty-something engineer at a major aerospace corporation who develops computerized war-gaming systems that are used to train US Army officers in the art of high-tech battle.

The story is told how McCall, while going through a period in his life where he is overcome by the onslaught of the negative aspects of growing old, becomes enchanted with the sport of rock climbing. He meets a famous rock climber, Steve Black, who is well known for climbing the most “virgin cliffs” and gets involved in the sport when he discovers an unclimbed cliff deep in a Tennessee thicket. McCall persuades Black to go to Tennessee to make the climb, and during this climb, the famous climber falls and breaks his back. Trying to get help, the climbing party accidentally finds a cabin occupied by a hermit where they leave Steve Black while they go for help. On return, they find Steve Black totally healed. The rest of the book explores the international political and military significance of the existence of a man that can consistently heal people.

One of the underlying themes in the book is the over-willingness of the human mind to believe in the supernatural, such as the Loch Ness monster, Big Foot, flying saucers, etc. This willingness to believe causes large groups of very intelligent people to be deceived. On the other side of the coin, these same very smart people may miss events that involve true miracles. The book ending overthrows all understanding of the healing hermit. In the end, in conjunction with the world-renown healer, Harrigan McCall evolves in human significance but comes to the reality that it is harder to escape the world’s attention than to gain it in the first place.