Conservative Book Talk

Dekker has written some of the best Christian novels in the last few years. Strangely though, he seems to be going more esoteric and confusing in his books. For example, check out his Circle trilogy. (Disclaimer: I’m not responsible if you neglect your daily duties or lose sleep after becoming engrossed in these books….) Later, Dekker moved into books exploring various other subjects such as the value of prayer in Blink and a discussion on the three part nature of humans in Three. More recently in Showdown, Dekker attempted to expand on a portion of the Circle trilogy. Showdown was a confusing treatise on love. Saint appears to be the sequel though that wasn’t clear. In fact, it wasn’t until I searched on Ted Dekker at Amazon, that I realized it was the sequel. Strange. Saint did reference Showdown but not in a manner that indicated that it was a true sequel. It would appear that quite a few of his books are now built on the foundation of the Circle trilogy.

Anyway, what I didn’t like about Showdown was that Dekker was obviously trying to have an important discussion with the reader but I couldn’t understand what he was trying to say about love. Without that understanding, the story didn’t make a lot of sense. Saint did a much better job of storytelling until the very end when the story delved deeply into the materials of Showdown. Then things fell apart. In my opinion anyway.

Saint is about a man being trained as a super elite assassin. Part of his training involves mental discipline. This training revolves around the re-creation of his personality and memories. Consequently, he has no idea whether his current memory set is real or fake. Another assassin seeks for a reason to kill Saint.

After his training is complete, Saint receives his last training mission/first real mission: kill the president of the United States.

At this point, Dekker begins to study an intriguing idea: If a Christian’s mind is wiped and reprogrammed to be a killer, is it possible for the Christian nature to reassert itself; can a Christian stop being a Christian if his mind is reprogrammed? Intriguing idea.

Of course the absolute dumbest part of the book is the character’s reconnection with his “Christian nature.” He stands around in the desert yelling “I Believe!” What does he believe? No idea.

This reveals the problem with some of Dekker’s works: he tries to preach, but then neuters the message to be unoffensive. The result for me: confusion. Just be explicit and tell me what you are trying to say. At least that is how it appears to me. If someone knows otherwise, preferably from Dekker, I’d love to hear about it. All I know is that I find some of these books confusing.

Overall, Saint is worth reading. Showdown could be skipped in my opinion, but if you MUST read Showdown, then at least read the Circle trilogy first. For that matter read the Circle trilogy anyway.

Have you read any of Dekker’s books? What are your opinions of them? I personally enjoy have enjoyed his earlier books myself.

Tags: Matt Gardenghi, Saint, Ted Dekker, Thriller

Not for the faint of heart. Showdown makes a point and it does so well and at times in a graphic manner. Still, the best part of any Dekker novel is the intertwining of the message with the plot in a gripping manner. You can never extract the message from the plot, because the plot would die. And yet, you never quite reach the point of feeling “preached at”. Dekker does a fabulous job of making this story sufficiently allegorical to subdue the message without going overboard in the allegory.

Showdown takes place in a small town named Paradise in a Colorado valley. Paradise lies beneath a hidden and mysterious monastery. When a mysterious “Preacher” enters town with a message from God, things go from sleepy and quiet to insane in a matter of hours. Meanwhile, back at the monastery, a David Abraham leads a group of teachers who have been raising thirty-seven children. These children are being raised outside of the “wicked” influences of society in an experiment on human nature. Unfortunately, a rebellion is brewing amongst the ranks of the children. The crucible for these children and the town of Paradise is coming sooner than anyone expects. What is the place of “love” in religion and life?

Showdown lends itself to the gory in the first several chapters. After that, it tends toward unpleasant but not gross. Every character in the town of Paradise has a sin nature. One complaint is that a deacon runs the town saloon and the characters are introduced as they sit around the bar drinking. They are all church-going people. Another problem is the use of the name of God. Dekker uses the title of God in several ways that are questionable at best. There is no need for a Christian writer to write in that manner.

Overall, this isn’t his best book, but certainly better than the vast majority of Christian fiction writers. Well worth reading. Oh, and as a teaser: several elements from the Circle Trilogy show up in this book.

Tags: Matt Gardenghi, Ted Dekker