With thirty one novels to his credit, including the
popular "Circle" series (BLACK, RED, WHITE, and GREEN),
fans of Austin-based author Ted Dekker look forward to a
new release from him with anxious anticipation.
Anxious, because they know they are going to get a fast-
paced, exciting story that has all the twists and turns of
a mammoth roller-coaster ride.
In his new book, THE BRIDE COLLECTOR, Dekker doesn't
disappoint. From the first page, the action is off and
running as the story follows FBI Special Agent Brad Raines,
who is in the middle of an investigation that has everyone
on edge. Someone is methodically killing beautiful young
women around the Denver area, leaving the calling card of a
lace bridal veil draped on their suspended, blood-drained
bodies. Desperate for any clues on how this cold-blooded
killer thinks, Raines turns to a group of four mentally
gift, but mentally ill residents of a private psychiatric
hospital.
Roudy, the leader of the group who thinks he's Sherlock
Holmes reincarnate, can spot tidbits of information that
the professionals have often missed. Casanova is a ladies'
man, but he also understands the inner-workings of the
psychotic mind of one who craves women. Andrea, though an
outrageous flirt, can reduce complicated statistics to
their simplest forms in no time. And then there is Paradise.
Schizophrenic and bipolar, Paradise has the ability to
touch a dead body and learn about the person's last moments
on earth. Fragile and on edge, Paradise agrees to help
Agent Raines find the killer because he seems so
frighteningly familiar to her. As the two work together to
piece the puzzle together, Raines and Paradise find a
growing attraction to each other developing, but until the
serial killer is found, their full concentration must be on
preventing another young woman from becoming the next bride
in the Bride Collector's evil game.
I'm not usually a fan of psychological thrillers, but with
THE BRIDE COLLECTOR I found the story to be an intelligent,
fast-paced adventure without too much blood and guts to
turn the stomach. Dekker keeps the action moving, and his
characters lively and the results are a well-written story
that will keep readers mesmerized to the very last page.
FBI Special agent Brad Raines is facing his toughest case
yet. A Denver serial killer has killed four beautiful young
women, leaving a bridal veil at each crime scene, and he's
picking up his pace. Unable to crack the case, Raines
appeals for help from a most unusual source: residents of
the Center for Wellness and Intelligence, a private
psychiatric institution for mentally ill individuals whose
are extraordinarily gifted.
It's there that he meets Paradise, a young woman who
witnessed her father murder her family and barely escaped
his hand. Diagnosed with schizophrenia, Paradise may also
have an extrasensory gift: the ability to experience the
final moments of a person's life when she touches the dead body.
In a desperate attempt to find the killer, Raines enlists
Paradise's help. In an effort to win her trust, he befriends
this strange young woman and begins to see in her qualities
that most 'sane people' sorely lack. Gradually, he starts to
question whether sanity resides outside the hospital
walls...or inside.
As the Bride Collector picks up the pace-and volume-of his
gruesome crucifixions, the case becomes even more personal
to Raines when his friend and colleague, a beautiful young
forensic psychologist, becomes the Bride Collector's next
target.
The FBI believes that the killer plans to murder seven
women. Can Paradise help before it's too late?
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