A New Sherrif In Town
Monday April 7, 2008
As I might have mentioned previously, I love a good book. And so I was delighted to discover Ted Dekker’s books recently. I first read his “Skin” book which totally freaked me out and made me think that I couldn’t handle any more of his books. But I took a chance on Saint next and absolutely loved it. Looking for more, I found Showdown, which turns out to be the previous book in Dekker’s excellent Paradise series. The third book, Sinner
So, excellent author: yes! But what really impressed me about Showdown was the intensity of the story that Dekker weaved and the underlying parallels that he was subtly building. It is a very different type of story, and I was tempted to put it down at first because it was a little graphic, bloody, and freaky. And I was so engrossed in the story that not only could I not put it down for hours at a time (and I LOVE books like that!), but I was completely unaware of the deeper story that he was telling until it hit me like a ton of bricks about 4 chapters from the end. I can’t recall the last time an author has been so good at his craft as to have that effect on me. Maybe not even since Arthur Conan Doyle’s tomes!
WOW!
I can’t really explain much more than that or I’ll give away the story, but if you’re looking for a good book and a good author, I can wholeheartedly recommend both in Ted Dekker’s Showdown
I first read Dekker in his collaboration with Peretti (one of my all-time favorite authors), “House”.
I definitely enjoyed it, and will probably be looking into some of Dekker’s other works soon!
Hey Chip! I still haven’t read House yet. I heard it was a little disjointed being that Dekker and Peretti (ALSO one of my all-time favorite authors!!!) have different writing styles and it kind of didn’t fit together in the middle, where the one stopped and the other took over. Did you like House? I might have to break down and get it anyway. =:)
I did like House – though I should probably read one of Dekker’s solo books, so I can compare. I’d like to be able to determine based on writing style, what parts were Dekker’s contributions and what were Peretti’s.
With House, I picked up on the hook/analogy pretty early, which let me see a lot of the foreshadowing (and guess part of the outcome). I found one part to be a bit of a stretch (within the bounds of the plot/style of the book), but otherwise I thought everything fit pretty well together.
Oh, and I forgot to mention in my first comment: what a pleasant surprise, to find a fan of this genre on KDE Planet!
Hey again Chip! =:)
I’ll have to read it now! =:) From what the lady at my church told me, Peretti wrote the first half and Dekker wrote the second (or vice versa… I forget). I thought that that was a really cool idea!
And it’s equally as nice to find a reader of KDE Planet who appreciates really talented and relevant Christian authors!! =:D