Telliesmingus’s Weblog

• Written by Ted Dekker
• Copyright 2003
• Suspense/Christian/thriller
• Made into a major motion picture

The action begins early on in this story. The first paragraph begins with a religious discussion of good versus evil and by the second paragraph there is a crime scene. The main character is Kevin and the author goes out of his way to make Kevin seem like an innocent and good man. He goes so far to convince the reader of this that you being to think Kevin might not be the hero of the story, he may be the damsel in distress. I like my main characters to be hero material and I just couldn’t see Kevin in that role.

There is of course a villain, who is a voice on the phone through out the better part of the book. He seems to be obsessed with bombs, riddles, and the number three. He calls Kevin introduces himself as Slater and then tells Kevin that he must confess his sin or his car will blow up. Slater then gives him the riddle and three minutes. It goes something like this:

1. Slater calls Kevin
2. Kevin gets the riddle
3. The time limit is stated

It looks like a great formula but I was left feeling very confused at times and fighting the urge to put the book down for good. The biggest problem with this formula was the riddle itself. Our villain explains that each riddle’s answer not only tells what the target will be, it’s answer is also connected with the sin that Kevin must confess to end the game. The first riddle was simple, easy to solve,  and since Slater already told Kevin that his car was the target that wasn’t part of the riddle.  The second and third were along the same vein. However, without giving anything away it became apparent that at times the characters were really reaching for the answers and the answers did not always follow the rules laid down by our villain. I   found that frustrating.

The author then starts to bait the story with interesting little tidbits of information to keep you engrossed.  He goes on to introduce a mysterious “boy” that may or may not be Slater. He doesn’t explain right away what happened with this boy then drags the reveal out to the point of frustration. The author then goes on and on, hinting around about Kevin’s traumatic childhood. I began to expect something truly evil and a mind shattering revelation. However, compared to today’s standards and horrors his childhood was not as traumatic as I was lead to believe.

There is so much foreshadowing that by the time you get three fourths of the way through the book you’ve already worked out who the villain is. Reading the rest of the book is just to fill in the blanks. The author tries to give it a twist at the end that I’m sure he was hoping would knock the socks off his readers. Anyone who is paying attention to the plot and the title of the book ,along with the massive amount of foreshadowing, will not be impressed. I got the impression that Ted Dekker felt his audience may not be quite as intelligent as he considers himself.

The idea behind the plot is intresting, to my knowledge it’s not been done this way before. The characters are believable and likeable for the most part. I wasn’t biting my nails in suspense or even glued to the book, so to speak. So with all that in mind I would have to say this book is not one that I would suggest to a friend or read agian.