when the hero is...the bad guy?

Yes, I happen to like Ted Dekker. You can't say that I like all his books, because I don't always like them. For example, his Martyr's Song series isn't one that I particularly enjoy.

However, as he's been writing, he has steadily gotten better. To date, his best novel is The Priest's Graveyard. In this book, it's extremely difficult to tell who the good guy is. Our two main characters, Danny and Renee, don't seem to be heroes. They are extremely flawed individuals who have depth, purpose, and more than a little bit of flawed reasoning behind their actions. No character pops out as the villain. The plot is intriguing, drawing you into their lives as you chase them along, both repulsed by their actions and yet unable to turn away. Expect the unexpected in this book. Page after page will whistle by as you frantically flip pages to find out what will happen next. I finished this book in 3 hours - and the book is approximately 360 pages long. This is a mind-blower.

As in Immanuel's Veins, Dekker started using the first person interspersed with third person narrative. However, unlike in Immanuel's Veins, the character using first person was a woman. This is something new for Dekker, as the only time he's ever used first person narrative style with a woman was when he co-authored with a woman. This book was a work he did on his own and with a woman in first-person narrative. However, for the story, it works very well. Once again, this is something that he's not used before Immanuel's Veins, but it works quite well and doesn't detract from the story in any way. In fact, I rather think it adds to the story.

Many times as I've read Dekker's books, I've come to a question: is Dekker Catholic? There are times it seems he is - he certainly seems to have an in-depth knowledge and understanding of Catholic teachings and whatnot, as is portrayed in The Priest's Graveyard. But some of the things he says makes me question whether or not he is Catholic, or has just researched extensively. This is just a curiosity that I've found and would dearly love to know the answer to.

For The Priest's Graveyard, I offer two thumbs up! Go find this book and either listen to it or read it. It will blow your mind and make you think twice about what you do. Definitely Dekker's best work to date - and he has a lot of them. Nor is this just my opinion. Go find a copy of this book. You won't regret it.

-enna