Kiss

Kiss, by Ted Dekker and Erin Healey, is more of a psychological mystery instead of the on-the-edge-of-your-seat spiritual warfare thriller this Dekker fan enjoys. However, the book did have some suspense elements and a mystery to solve so it was still a good story.

The main character, Shauna, wakes up from a comma and struggles to regain her memories from the previous six months, including the terrible accident that has left her brother barely alive. As she struggles to sort the good guys from the bad guys, she realizes that recalling those memories may get her killed.

When she discovers through a kiss (thus the title of the book) that the medically-induced comma and subsequently prescribed drugs has brought about an unusual ability, she uses it to search for the truth about her past and the accident before an unknown assassin takes her out.

Green

Ted Dekker's Green is part of his Circle Series and he notes that this book can be read first or last as part of that circle. Since I read it last, I had to skim back over Black, Red, and White to understand the circle theory and place Green into the circle's sequence.

Thomas Hunter, the main character, continues to travel between the past and the future with dire consequences to both worlds. In the histories, the fall of mankind keeps good and evil in the spiritual realm. But, in the future world, good and evil can be seen, touched and tasted until mankind once again rejects that reality creating apocalyptic results.

The circle's story continues with the The Books of History Chronicles broken down into two additional series: The Lost Books (Chosen, Infidel, Renegade, Chaos) and The Paradise Novels (Showdown, Saint, Sinner).

Obsessed

In Ted Dekker's Obsessed, the death of a Holocaust survivor provides a clue that seemingly makes Stephen Friedman the heir to an incredible treasure. The story flashes back and forth between the 1940s, where two pregnant concentration camp inmates are tormented, and the 1970s, where Stephen becomes obsessed with learning his mother's secrets.

As a fan of Ted Dekker's books, I agree with some reviewers that this wasn't his best book. The characters make weird decisions along the way and it doesn't have that "wow, I didn't see that coming" ending I've come to expect. But, it did give the reader a chilling reminder of the evil of the Holocaust.

And, I disagree with a reviewer that felt this book crossed the line exploring the darkness of evil by portraying characters involved in satanic rituals. Since the "sheer depravity of the deeds" made the reviewer uncomfortable, wasn't that the point? Ted Dekker is known for his confrontations between good and evil so readers that are uncomfortable with spiritual warfare should steer clear of them.

Silent Thunder

After Silent Thunder, a Russian nuclear submarine, is purchased by the U.S. government, Hannah Bryson is hired to make sure it is safe for use as a maritime museum. However, American and Russian operatives have a specific interest in the submarine so when Hannah's brother makes an unusual discovery, a deadly attack follows. One of the Russians, Nicolas Kirov, and Hannah eventually team up to find the killer and uncover the mystery surrounding the discovery.

This was another library sale find and would have been a good international thriller read. Since the book was mainstream and the story revolved around submarine sailors and espionage, I didn't expect it to be profanity-free; however, the use of the Lord's name as an expletive sprinkled throughout the book was offensive and unnecessary.

Dead Heat

Joel C. Rosenberg's Dead Heat is the fifth and final novel in his geopolitical thriller series. The author's note prefacing the first chapter reiterates that the novel is fiction, but it still makes one wonder about the turbulent world we live in and what role, if any, the United States will play in the end times.

President MacPherson's second term in office is ending, a new dictator is rising in Iraq, Israel is on a urgent quest to complete the Third Temple, China and North Korea forces appear ready to strike and  the world is on the verge of a mammoth disaster. After terrorists attack the United States, Jon Bennett is called upon again to help. But this time he is in a remote Jordanian refugee camp with his wife, Erin, who has contracted a potentially fatal illness.

Although it is a fast-paced, action-packed and thought-provoking read, I add my prayer to the author's that the events stay fictional.

The Last Days

The Last Days is one of  Joel C. Rosenberg's geopolitical thrillers where Jon Bennett, a former Wall Street strategist, becomes the point man for an Arab-Israeli peace plan. With the world watching, Jon and his beautiful CIA partner, Erin McCoy, arrive in the Middle East to meet with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

However, before the historic meeting can take place, explosive events send Jon and Erin underground where they facilitate a peace plan in secret. The plan would harness vast supplies of oil and natural gas and make every Muslin, Christian, and Jew in Israel and Palestine wealthy. But men with evil hearts and the countries that support them want no part of peace in the Middle East and launch assaults aimed to kill all those involved with the peace plan.

The scary part about this fictional story is that you can easily imagine it tomorrow's headlines.

Scream

Scream, by Mike Dellosso, is a thriller that will keep you glued to the pages. The main character, Mark Stone, has his phone calls interrupted by otherworldly screams, the kind of screams that remind him of the weeping and gnashing of teeth describing hell.

When Mark realizes that the people on the other end of his phone calls die shortly after hearing the screams, he begins to search for their meaning. While struggling with his own broken faith and marriage, he receives a phone call from Cheryl, his kidnapped estranged wife. That phone call sends Mark racing to save Cheryl from both the kidnapper and the screams.

A final note from the author points out that while the book was written to entertain, it was also written to challenge us to think about life and death, heaven and hell, and where we will spend eternity. He also gives a call to action: to accept Jesus and then tell everyone about it. A good reminder that the Christian supernatural thriller I'm working on also has that dual purpose.



 

Just Take My Heart

JUST TAKE MY HEART is another entertaining mystery by Mary Higgins Clark. In this story, a famous actress is murdered in her home and her estranged husband becomes the primary suspect, but he is not charged with her murder until two years later.

Once Gregg Aldrich is formally charged, Emily Wallace, the assistant prosecutor, begins spending hours preparing for the trial and she finds herself needing a dog sitter. When a new neighbor offers to help, she gives him a key to her house to take care of her dog and unknowingly puts her own life at risk.

A quick, easy read with some courtroom drama and a few unexpected twists and turns.

BoneMan's Daughters

Ted Dekker's BoneMan's Daughters is about a serial killer looking for the perfect daughter. He kidnaps teenage girls and then kills them by breaking their bones when they fail to live up to his expectations.

The main character, Ryan, is an intelligence officer who is kidnapped while in Iraq. After he escapes from his captors, he returns stateside to face the challenges of an unforgiving family. However, when his estranged daughter is kidnapped by the real BoneMan, the hunt is on to find her before she is killed and he is sent to prison for the murders.

Like his other books, this one takes you through a series of twists and turns without knowing how it will end. Once you get past the first sentence, it is a good read. The words "might have begun" were unnecessary and confusing ... not how you want to start out reading a book. However, since I'm a big fan I continued reading and was soon lost in the story. I was also glad to see it in paperback. Most of the time Christian fiction is in hardback or a large paperback edition that costs a lot more. This one was affordable without having to head to the clearance rack.

Saint

I attempted to listen to the audio book version of Ted Dekker's Saint several months ago to no avail. My attention span for listening I soon discovered is much shorter than it is for reading so I put the audio book aside and read the actual book.

Those who enjoy supernatural suspense will be glued to the pages while anticipating the next move. I enjoyed this book, like many of Ted Dekker's books, because I kept thinking I had it figured out until the final chapters  took an unexpected turn in another direction.

The main character is Carl Strople, a professional killer, trained as part of a covert secret group in Hungary. He begins his journey of betrayal, government cover-ups, and political conspiracy in New York, but  in his search for truth ends up in an unexpected place confronting unexpected forces.

Saint (audio book)

Sometimes a great idea turns into a not-so-great reality. I thought buying an audio version of Ted Dekker's book, Saint,would be ideal for a multitasking fanatic like me. Wrong.

The first time I listened to the audio my mind began to wonder after about three minutes and I stopped hearing the words. The second attempt ended in frustration when I realized the book was in the middle of the second chapter and I had no idea what it was about. Finally, I decided to give the audio book the same attention I give to reading a book so I popped in the CD, settled back, and listened for several minutes before I fell asleep.

Although I can read a book for hours and hours, I quickly learned that listening to an audio book is not for me so I'll be reading this one in the future.

The Associate

The Associate by John Grisham is another vintage law thriller. If you like Grisham's books, you'll enjoy this one about a law student who ends up in the middle of a conspiracy - complete with a prestigious law firm, government defense contractors, the FBI, and dark secrets.

While I enjoyed reading the novel, I also saw it as a reflection of reality. With the financial problems, power plays, and corrupt government antics playing out in the media these days, the potential for this reality is probably just the tip of the iceberg. It was particularly chilling when the main character, Kyle, said near the end of the book that he didn't believe goons were blackmailing him. He thought they worked for "... the same government you and I send our taxes to."

In true Grisham style, he also has a Christian character in the storyline, which I always appreciate. While the last chapter answers most of the questions, it also leaves a loose end that may or may not end up in another book. How I aspire to master the art of storytelling like he has.

Adam

Adam by Ted Dekker is about a serial killer known as Eve and the FBI agent who is tracking him, Daniel Clark. This one had me hooked from the opening pages and I read the entire book on a Saturday afternoon while doing laundry. Thankfully, stopping periodically to check the clothes gave my eyes enough rest to avoid blurred vision and red eyes.

Daniel Clark is obsessed with finding the serial killer until he becomes one of the killer's victims. When Daniel experiences death and is brought back to life, the case becomes more than a hunt for a serial killer. In the end, Daniel is forced to fight for his life, his sanity and his very soul while battling forces much greater than the mind of a deranged serial killer.

If you enjoy supernatural suspense thrillers, this book will let you (as stated on the inside cover) "Enter a world ... that blurs the lines between fiction and reality ... that will leave you stunned."

The Circle Trilogy

The Circle Trilogy by Ted Dekker consists of three books: Black, Red, and White. The trilogy is about the main character, Thomas Hunter, living in two worlds. He falls asleep in one world and wakes up in another. Although he isn't sure which world is the real one and which world is the dream one until the very end, he comes to realize his actions in one world has an impact on the other.

I must admit I struggled reading Black in the beginning and had to get past the first several chapters before I was hooked. Once I reached that point I spent several late nights (too late I'd discover the next morning) absorbed in the books and racing to find answers to Thomas Hunter's questions.

The story continues with the The Books of History Chronicles broken down into two additional series: The Lost Books (Chosen, Infidel, Renegade, Chaos) and The Paradise Novels(Showdown, Saint, Sinner). I didn't realize Showdown was part of the this story and read it many months ago. It will fun to go back and scan through it in the context of the chronicles.

Spiritual Thrillers

Although This Present Darkness, Piercing the Darkness, and Prophet were written years ago, the reprints were packaged together and provided hours of action-packed suspense and thought-provoking entertainment.

This Present Darkness takes the reader to the small town of Ashton where a troubled pastor and a reporter team up together to fight the escalating spiritual warfare gripping their town. The angels and the demons watch over the battlefield and also engage in warfare. The book demonstrates how much power and influence demons have over the thoughts and actions of humans. However, in the end, prayer strengthened many of the angels and changed the balance of power.

The sequel, Piercing the Darkness, takes place in Bacon's Corner where a silent and undetected warfare is in the schools as demons attempt to take over the entire town. The reader is thrown into a world of a covered-up murder, a bizarre lawsuit, the search for a missing woman, the appearance of the reporter and his wife from This Present Darkness, and yet another demonic battlefield.

Prophet is a thought-provoking book addressing a controversial issue. An anchorman investigates his dad’s accidental death and discovers a corrupt business being kept secret by the government and the media. This book is very different from the first two, but it still looks at spiritual warfare from a different perspective.

Great books for the supernatural thriller and suspense enthusiast.

Hunter's Moon

Hunter's Moon was the 14th book in the Doc Ford novels written by Randy Wayne White, a local Southwest Florida author. I've always been drawn his books because they are mystery novels with a familiar local setting. Instead of reading about some far away exotic location or imaginary place, it is amusing to read about places I grew up around.

In this novel, Doc Ford saves a former United States president from assassination on one of the local private islands. He then springs the former president loose from his security team and travels with him to South America to prove the president's wife was murdered by an arsonist instead of killed in a plane crash as reported. Adventure and suspense follow the two of them from Southwest Florida to the Florida Keys to South America and back to the States.

I enjoyed the story - the mystery and suspense. However, like many other secular novels - including previous Doc novels - I found the foul language, sparse as it was, distracting and unnecessary.

"Vanish" Book Review

Tom Pawlik's "Vanish" is the Christian Writers Guild 2006 Operation First Novel winner. Since it is in the supernatural thriller genre I love to read and write, I fully expected to enjoy this book and it didn't disappoint.

It was top notch. In my opinion, it was as good as any Ted Dekker or Frank Peretti book I've read. It drew me in so much that I kept turning the pages to see what was going to happen next and I even finished reading it in one evening.

I love a suspense thriller that leads me down a road where I think I know what is going on, encourages me to figure out where it is going and how it is going to end, and then either totally catches me by surprise or is similar yet different than I imagined.

"Vanish" is just such a book. My thought process was anticipating the true identity of the creatures as spiritual beings, but the circumstances were completely different than I thought they were and the ending was a surprise.

Thank you Tom. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel.