dark but thought provoking

Ted Dekker has the ability to keep the reading fast-paced, suspenseful, and mind-twisting. Every time I thought the jig was up, Dekker puts a whole new spin to it. Personally, and really as a compliment, I think Dekker is a sick pup; but that's what makes his books so good. Adam is no different. That said, I do have one complaint: the ending was not satisfying to me from a Christian perspective. He does not make clear, although he does mention Jesus Christ, that it is the power of Christ who overcomes the evil powers and frees those possessed by it. For me, he kind of makes it a mixed bag of things that overcome the demon-possession; however, he seems to waffle or obscure the name of Christ as the determining factor in healing. But, of course, my complaint is from a Christian perspective. In all other respects the ending was great in that it was also quite wild, wierd, and unexpected; not at all a typical ending, Christian or not. ( )

And it started out so good...

I'll start with the good point: the first half to 3/4 of the story is quite engaging.

Then the religion comes in... but it's not really religion, it's some sort of demon possession mish-mash. This would have been ok, if it had been blended in as part of the story, but it becomes the whole story some time after the halfway point. No more detecting, no more solving, no more chasing, just lots of "in-my-head dealing-with-possession" type of silliness - long passages of descriptions of "Evil" as an entity.

It's like a thriller/detective story crossed with a bad horror book, but it's not scary, just sorta silly. Demon possession? Sure... but not with characters that ALL act outside of normal parameters. A serial killer might behave like this, and, maybe, so would an experienced FBI investigator having a breakdown, but would a forensic pathologist and a lawyer ALSO behave so abnormally? Naw...

I waffled between 2 and 3 stars because, essentially, the last 1/4 of it is junk even though it starts with such promise. ( )

Daniel Clark is an FBI psychologist on the trail of Eve, a serial killer who has killed 15 woman by poisoning them with a disease very like meningitis. When Daniel catches Eve in the act of his sixteenth killing, Eve shoots Daniel and kills him; kills him for about 20 minutes anyway. Daniel is resuscitated by his new partner, pathologist Lori Ames. After being resuscitated, Daniel doesn't remember what Eve looked like, and when Daniel's ex-wife Heather becomes Eve's next potential victim, Daniel decides he must die again to unlock the memory of Eve's appearance and save Heather.

Alternating with Daniel and Eve's story is a 9-part magazine story of the life of Alex Price. It doesn't take long to figure out that Eve and Alex Price are one in the same, and as Alex's history unfolds many of Eve's secrets are revealed to the reader. But the climax of ADAM occurs when those secrets are revealed to Daniel

Without offering too much of a spoiler, I have to disclose up front that this novel is a paranormal thriller. And the reason I'm offering that tidbit is because I'm not a big fan of the paranormal subgenre. A friend recommend the book and I wasn't aware of that element of the novel, and my friend wasn't aware that I wasn't a fan. That being said (in as many words as I could possibly say it in)...

The book started out great for me. Daniel is your typical loner law-enforcement-type. His marriage ended because he consistently put his job first. And no one can do the job as well as Daniel can (rich sarcasm here). At the onset of the novel, Daniel's partner is dead from a questionable car accident and he is trying to get permission to "go dark" in an attempt to catch Eve. Meanwhile, the reader is learning about the abduction of Alex and Jessica Price through the magazine articles.

But the problems for me as the reader start when Daniel is shot and killed, then revived after 20 plus minutes. (I can handle that element; that's fine.) Daniel not only gets up and walks out of the hospital, but he talks his forensic pathologist partner, Lori, into killing him two more times - THAT WEEK! So, now I'm thinking that Daniel really needs to hook up with Jack Reacher because they would make an indestructible team.

O.k., so if you're a paranormal fan and you can swallow the three near-death experiences in one week, I think you will really enjoy this book. The writing style is strong; with the exception of Lori, I think the characterization is decent. The Adam and Eve parallel was quite creative and rather deep. It was just the over-the-top plot events that left me less than enthused with Dekker's novel. I also think it was the over-the-topness that lead me to figure out the "big shocker" twist at the end of the novel long before the end arrived. ( )

The author has followed in the footsteps of pioneer Frank Perriti, and to be frank, Dekker's books are way better and easier to read!
I really enjoyed the insight given in Adam's life. He is a serial killer and demon-possed by Eve.

A word of advise: don't read this book at night, and more specifically, don't read it when you're all alone at home!

This book opened my mind to the fact that there are spiritual wars amongst us all the time, and we never are aware of it.
Pretty scary fact. ( )