Book Review: The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker

Ted Dekker has done it again! In his newest novel The Bride Collector, to be released April 13, 2010, Dekker takes us deep into the mind of a psychotic killer and what a ride it is! I’ve been a fan of Dekkers for a while now, reading quite a few of his novels and this one is one of the best. The story builds relatively slowly giving you background on people and setting the scene. Once the story takes off though it’s hard to put this novel down and get back to real life. You just want to keep going and find out what’s coming next and those pages fly by until you find sadly that you’ve already come to the conclusion of the story.

FBI special agent Brad Raines is tracking The Bride Collector who has already killed four beautiful women. The Bride Collector, in his delusional mind, feels he is the chosen one to find and bring the perfect bride to God. The Bride Collector, thus called this because after he is finished putting the women through his horrors, he leaves them with a bridal veil. The worst thing is he leaves nothing at the crime scenes in terms of evidence; he cleans up thoroughly leaving Brad and his partner Nikki with no leads to follow.

The Bride Collector is looking for seven brides – the number of perfection. Brad and Nikki haven’t got much time to find the killer before he grabs his next victim. The situation is getting desperate, desperate enough that Brad decides to enlist the help of patients at the Center for Well-being and Intelligence – they feel that the killer may have been a patient at a mental institution at some point. These are people, who while mentally ill, are also extremely intelligent and gifted. The one person’s thoughts he’s keen on getting are those of Paradise who has the ability to touch a dead person and see the last moment’s of their lives.

Meantime Brad has become the object of The Bride Collector’s interest. Unfortunately for Brad, the killer feels he is a worthy adversary. This also doesn’t bode well for Brad’s partner Nikki as she becomes the next target of The Bride Collector’s fantasies. This has become very personal for Brad and the hunt intensifies. The patients at the Center for Well-Being and Intelligence are brought in even further in an attempt to find out who the killer may be. With their extraordinary talents and odd ways of coming to conclusions it makes for interesting reading. They need to hurry though because if they don’t, it may be TOO LATE!

Dekker has done a good job with the characters in this novel. Brad Raines is a likable guy and as the story evolves so does he. Paradise from the Center is another character I really liked. She’s had a rough childhood and with her illness, things haven’t always been easy for her. Another individual at the Center is Roudy who is actually quite amusing along with being very good at analyzing crime scenes. As well, the ex-nun Allison, who runs the Center is a great character who does everything she can to help her patients and have them treated as normal human beings.

Ted Dekker always has a message to share and his books will always make you stop and think. One other thing I have to mention about Ted Dekker novels is that you get this great suspenseful, sometimes horrific stuff going on yet there is never any bad language – this I find pretty impressive. This novel I think shows us that the mentally ill aren’t just people put away somewhere. Most often they are extremely intelligent people who just don’t have the capabilities of handling their gifts. Dekker also shows us that to love everyone is what God wants for us. This is another really great novel from Dekker and one well worth reading for those who want a suspenseful thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat!

I read The Bride Collector for Ted Dekker’s pre-publication Blog Tour with Hachette Book Group. Again, The Bride Collector by Tedd Dekker will be released April 13, 2010 and can be pre-ordered here in the US and here in Canada.

Darlene

My thanks…to Miriam with Hachette for my review copy of The Bride Collector and the opportunity to participate in Ted Dekker’s Blog Tour.