I am pretty thrilled to review The Bride Collector for Hachette. Ted Dekker is my favorite male author, and I always anxiously await his next release. I’m so thankful that Hachette gave me the book to review ahead of the release. There’s a certain rush to holding an ARC of a book from a really awesome dude.
I’ll preface my review by saying that Ted is my favorite author for many reasons, but one of them is his consistency. His books can fall into many different genres, but he is consistent with perfectionist writing, a relevant theme, and unbridled passion. My least favorite Ted book is going to be much better than the best book of most authors. It’s ironic that he writes books about killers. I went to The Gathering last year and heard Ted speak and talked to him when he autographed my book. He’s soft-spoken and mild-mannered. He seemed like he would rather be with his characters in his writing cave than in front of hundreds of adoring fans- almost uncomfortable at the attention. Yet behind his calm demeanor lies a lightning fast mind and a passionate spirit. The passion he feels for his recurring theme of good versus evil keeps his books captivating.
So, yeah, I’m biased. But I’m going to be as objective as possible, and if I sound negative about it- rest assured that I found it to be a fantastic book.
Two things about this book I found especially captivating. First of all, the connection that the FBI agents had to other characters in the story and the case itself made them more important to the story than other law enforcement agents in Ted’s previous books. (Sinner, for example.) Brad Raines is not simply employed to work on this case. It becomes his life. He is changed by the encounter with the Bride Collector himself. His outlook and motivations are completely spun around by people he encounters. Usually, the victims and the killers are the ones most impacted by the case and those in law enforcement are pretty static characters. The approach to this case, however, was different and therefore refreshing.
The other aspect were the, um, “consultants” used to help solve the case. In a nutshell, the FBI asks some residents of the Center for Wellness and Intelligence (CWI) to lend some of their insight to the patterns of the killer. CWI is a posh residence for members of society who have astronomical IQs and abilities- yet are impaired by certain psychological conditions. Andrea, for example, is young, beautiful and her mind works in an almost unfathomable way with numbers. She can glance at a page of a book and know exactly how many words are on the page. Yet she is obsessed with cleanliness and takes multiple showers a day. She is manic depressive, apologizes incessantly, and hears voices telling her how stupid she is. Brilliant and broken- as are all of the residents of CWI.
As someone who holds a degree in psychology, I was absolutely fascinated by the inclusion of CWI and these characters. Ted took a leap, a big one, and it worked. They lend a layer to the story that saves it from being about yet another serial killer. I usually am most intrigued by Ted’s villains. He writes them almost too well. Slater, Marsuvees, the many foes of Thomas Hunter. Ted has a grasp of evil that most people, especially Christians, desperately avoid seeing as reality. This is why his books are so important and his theme always relevant. This time, though, the story felt like it was woven together intricately. The killer, CWI, and law enforcement were all connected through strong emotional ties. This made the so much more interesting, and in my opinion, is much better than BoneMan’s Daughters.
However, I don’t mind gong on record saying that I miss old Ted. The Ted who wrote The Circle Trilogy. The Ted who blew my 16 year old mind with Thr3e. It was the first Ted book I read (and it’s now autographed!) and I remember sitting on an airplane somewhere over the Atlantic, finishing the book, closing it, staring wide eyed into space as I contemplated the ending, and flipped back to the beginning to start the book over from a different perspective. Thr3e had a slow beginning, but at the first boom it rocketed forward and never stopped. It was slightly bogged down by some writing weirdness that isn’t visible in Ted’s work now, but it was intricately planned and the characters were almost like flesh and blood. Thinking about Slater creeps me out to this day.
Let’s not even discuss Adam this late at night.
Bride Collector? Not so much.
In some of Ted’s most recent books, the good/evil theme falls a little flat. I respect that he is trying to reach a larger audience and I’m absolutely thrilled that he is getting more recognition and appearing on bestseller lists. I don’t think that the message of the gospel needs to be shoved in the faces of readers. But I do think that he needs to focus more on the reasoning behind good and why it trumps evil. In The Bride Collector, good trumps evil because of love. It is one of the most satisfying endings Ted has ever written. But when the discussion of who is love and who is the only truly good being that has ever existed is removed, the theme loses power.
Ted, you’re still fabulous. 
