Showdown was a good read, albeit definitely not as good as the Dekker’s Circle Trilogy. In my opinion, Dekker has a pretty good grasp on the art of allegory. In Showdown, you have the classic struggle of good versus evil, but Dekker has a way of mixing it up a little bit. The story centers around two locations mysteriously interwoven – a town called Paradise (oddly enough) where a man named Marsuvees Black decidedly shakes things up quite a bit and a monastery in the mountains where a special project has been under way for the past 12 or so years. Half-way through the book, Dekker introduces a key element that anyone who has read the Circle Trilogy will recognize immediately. (As a side note, if you’ve not read the Circle Trilogy, read them before you read Showdown.) In the end, there is an allegorical element of redemption and a very stirring portrayal of just a tiny bit of the agony that must have ripped the heavens when God willingly sacrificed his Son, Jesus.

The other main take-away from this book that I had was the graphic (and rather disturbing, at times) depiction of the blackness of the sin nature. As the actions and thoughts of the townspeople rapidly degenerate, through the first half of the book it appears that they really have no control over what they do, but are seemingly under the power of a hallucinogen. However, it is later revealed that while there is some outside influence, all the choices made by the townspeople (even down to the seemingly untouchable minister!) are completely their own, and almost without exception everyone chooses the wrong, all the while thinking they have been “freed.” That’s a pretty good description of the sin nature, in my opinion. ( )

An excellent read, but somewhat predictable. TED DEKkER keeps you wanting more and always seems to deliver. The main theme: love conquers all. ( )

Is Ted Dekker getting too bizarre and full of blood and gore? I really liked his earlier books but this one kind of threw me for a loop. Basically there is this town in an isolated part of Colorado called Paradise. A wierd dude shows up and starts claiming to be a prophet of some sort--a prophet who does some stage tricks and then somehow has the whole town convinced to let go of their inhibitions and give into their obsessions. So one townsperson is gorging herself on food--but that's mild compared to some of the others who are sharpening stakes to use as intruments and generally destroying the town or each other. Meanwhile there is this monastary of sorts outside of the town where there are these children who have been part of an experiment to see what happens to kids raised in a controlled environment with no contact from the outside world. One of the kids discovers some tunnels under the monastary filled with all sorts of disgusting things and also a library full of books. He is drawn to the forbiddeness of the tunnels and pretty soon has the entire school in a revolution against the teachers and order. Somehow these two are related, and many more bizarre things happen along the way.
For me this book was filled with too much unexplained violence and some of the supernatural events that drove the plot along were too bizarre for me to stomach. So if you like that sort of thing give this one a try, but otherwise it may not be for you. ( )

amazing! ( )

I love Ted Dekker. He is awesome.

That is all I have to say. ( )