The Bride Collector: A Book Review

APU students: You can borrow the book
from Links PLus if you are interested in reading it!

I believe book reviews are helpful and fun and therefore have decided to write my own :)  I was encouraged that a book I recommended to one of my roommates became one of her favorites, so maybe this review can be of some help to someone.

So as my previous blog stated, one of my goals for 2011 is to create a book list and read all of the books on there.  I currently only have 6 books on the list, but I have already read 2 and hope to be adding a lot more. Today, it is 81 degrees outside and was the perfect day to grab a naked juice popsicle (APU students... you have to try them!) and finish the last 100 pages of my most current Ted Dekker novel.

Ted Dekker is not a new name to me as I became addicted to his work after a good friend recommended Thr3e to me.  It has been a few years since and I have now read over 5 of his novels.  The one that I happened to finish today is entitled The Bride Collector.

The reason I love his novels is because they are very much like CSI episodes.  I love the whole crime scene aspect each novel brings and they always keep me in an investigator mindset of trying to find out the ending.  Each novel also always has a "no way!" factor.  This is the part of the book where you set it down and are in awe because you did not see whatever just happened coming.  I love that!  But, besides all of the really good writing aspects, I love how he relates everything to the battle of God and satan.  Every book is about facing our sin and demons.  You grow attached to one character and follow them on their journey as they come to realizations about the dark spots in their hearts and finally surrender them to God.  Dekker just happens to be able to weave this battle into amazing stories.

To be more specific about The Bride Collector, the story is about a psychotic man who believes he was sent by God to bring Him His "favorites."  He does this by taking a woman, sedating her, perfecting her appearance, and then glueing her to a wall while blood drains from drill holes in her heels.  He then leaves her with a veil over her face.  Sounds "wonderful" right? I promise it gets better. The story is all about the chase to find this killer and understanding the spiritual connections in the phrase, "God's favorites."  Without giving away too much of the story, I found myself pondering how I really believe God views me and who I am as a woman of Christ.

My favorite part of the novel is always the ending.  Dekker always ends his novel with a passage of scripture that encompasses his story.  This book ends with a passage out of Song of Songs.  I felt it was perfect and applicable for my life because I just finished listening to a podcast on the book of Song of Songs.  It is always fun to see how God will use multiple tools to tie lessons together in your life.  Hopefully someone will be encouraged to read this book.  It is excellent, challenging, and a great leisure read.  It is fiction and it allows us students to remember what it is like to enjoy reading :)  I hope you get the chance to enjoy it and maybe discover Dekker has a lot to pour into your life as well.