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The nightmare has just begun... your world has changed forever. "Evil is beyond the reach of no man." "But can a man remove himself beyond the reach of evil?" Kevin asked. "Indeed," Dr. Francis said. "Can man step beyond evil's reach? I think not. Not in this lifetime." "Then all men are condemned to a life of evil," Kevin said. "A lifetime struggle with evil, not a life of evil," Dr. Francis clarified. Imagine answering your cell phone one day to a male voice that gives you three minutes to confess your sin. If you don't, the madman, Slater, will blow your car to smithereens. You barely manage to exit heavy traffic and ditch the car when, precisely three minutes later, your car blows sky high. The media and police descend on the scene; your world has just changed forever. So begins the nightmare that grows with progressively higher stakes. There ís another phone call, another riddle. The cycle will not stop until the world discovers the secret of your sin, but you don't...
Dekker delivers another page-turner with this psychological Christian thriller about Kevin Parson, a 28-year-old seminary student who suddenly becomes the target of an evil nemesis called Slater. Obsessed both with Kevin's downfall and the number 3, Slater initiates a game in which Kevin must answer riddles to avoid Slater's destructive, potentially murderous retribution. Slater particularly wants Kevin to publicly confess a secret sin, and Kevin is at a loss as to what that sin might be. Once Dekker establishes this premise, he masterfully takes readers on a ride full of plot twists and turns. Not only does he spin a compelling tale of cat and mouse, but he also creates a narrative world in which it's possible that no one is quite who he or she seems. Dekker gradually discloses his protagonist's nightmarish childhood and delivers an almost perfect blend of suspense, mystery and horror. Dekker's prose is strong, putting him in a league above many other evangelical Christian writers and showing improvement over his previous work. Aside from following certain Christian fiction guidelines such as making his gorgeous 20-something characters entirely virginal, Dekker eschews most of the conventions of evangelical fiction. His spiritual message is subtle and devoid of the theologically and politically conservative agenda present in other novels. (May) Forecast: Five of Dekker's six novels have found a spot on the CBA fiction bestseller list, and the up-and-coming novelist has a total of 350,000 copies of his books in print. This is Dekker's first hardcover release. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
| Price | Condition | Delivery | Seller | Action |
| $99.99 | Digital |
| WonderClub |
Douglas M Mac Millan
reviewed Three (Thr3e) on July 04, 2008
Three (Thr3e)
Ted Dekker, Thr3e (Thomas Nelson, 2003)
Going into this book and knowing it was "Christian fiction", I really have to admit I didn't expect a great deal (read: anything) from it. There are really, really good Christian writers, but in general, they are writers who happen to be Christian (Madeleine L'Engle is an obvious example, as is Francois Mauriac); as with every other type of message, the really good ones just kind of let the message come through subconsciously and don't beat the reader over the head with it. I haven't encountered someone who does that consistently, and well, in quite a while, and so I wasn't expecting much from Ted Dekker.
More fool me, because no matter how awful its film adaptation may have been (as, unfortunately, all adaptations of Dekker novels seem to be), but as a thriller, Thr3e is the real deal.
Kevin Parson is a seminary student who's on his way home from class one day when he gets a call on his new cell phone from someone who calls himself Slater. Slater tells him he has three minutes to confess his sin to the world or his car will explode. He doesn't. It does. Kevin, who was smart enough to get out of the car before it blew, has to both figure out who Slater is and what the sin is that he's supposed to confess. Assuming the sin is from his childhood and he's somehow vlocked the memory of it, he calls his childhood friend Samantha Sheer, who comes to town to help him. Also aiding him is FBI agent Jennifer Peters, whose brother may have been Slater's last victim-- all the signs from slater's call and Kevin's car bomb point to this being the work of the same maniac. The question is, can the three of them solve the puzzle before Slater kills Kevin-- or all three of them?
Once the situation is laid out, you should have the Big Reveal in the back of your mind, and when Dekker goes exactly that way, there's probably going to be a bit of disappointment along with the self-satisfaction you'll feel for figuring it out early, but don't get too complacent-- Dekker still has some traps to spring, and the last few pages of the book blindsided me. I was very impressed at how well Dekker had set things up here, and as I intimated at the beginning of this review, the spiritual aspects of the work are there, but they're never jumping up and down on your spleen screaming "RECOGNIZE ME!". Which, of course, always makes for a more pleasant reading experience. Dekker's characters are well-thought-out and well-presented, and the plotting here is pretty durned close to genius (I'm always reminded of the test mine two of the trainees put together in Robb White's Up Periscope that nails the sergeant when I come across plotting like this). What a pleasant surprise Thr3e was, and I'm looking forward to reading more of Mr. Dekker's work. ****
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