With some trepidation, author Sherry Halperin reentered the dating scene in 1994 at age 51, several months after her husband of 26 years passed away. At first she thinks the dating game isn't for her, until she gets set up by a friend and begins to feel some long-lost emotions. Halperin goes on 40 dates, which she finds through web sites like match.com, professional services that cost up to $5000, blind dates, singles parties, and more. Each chapter is a short vignette — often funny and poignant, sometimes sad, and always candid — with a humorous caricature of the featured man. Though most of her dates can be considered calamities, with partners such as Moose Hat, Turkey Neck, and Rich Old Man, she also dates several younger "studmuffins," gets hit on by a woman, and even falls in love again. Rescue Me hits a nerve by shelling out the real deal on what being single again truly means. As Halperin continually revises her Perfect Man list, she is transformed from idealist to realist, eventually coming to terms with being single. Meanwhile, she's still tackling her inexhaustible dating options with gusto, humor, and an energy that outpaces any 20-year-old dating enthusiast.