Book Review – The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker
I was excited to read Ted Dekker’s new book, The Bride Collector, because, as you probably know, I’m a huge fan of mystery/suspense/thriller books. I know Ted Dekker has quite a few fans, and I was interested to see for myself how great (or not) he is.
In The Bride Collector, Brad Raines is an FBI special agent who is tasked with finding the serial killer that’s been dubbed The Bride Collector for his use of putting a bridal veil on the head of his victims. While working on the case, Brad and his partner, Nikki, uncover a connection between the serial killer and a private psychiatric institution for mentally ill people who are extraordinarily gifted. Brad and Nikki enlist the help of some of the more gifted residents: Roudy, a man who is able to see patterns others can’t, and Paradise, a young women who can sometimes see the last few moments of a person’s life if she touches their dead body.
Brad is racing against the clock to find this serial killer, as not only is he regularly killing women, but he target’s Brad’s partner, Nikki.
The narration alternates between Brad and the serial killer, Quinton. Quinton has a God complex and is trying to send these women to be brides of God. He thinks he’s doing them a favor. He’s a genius intellectually, so it always seems that he’s one step ahead of Brad.
My favorite part of the book was when Dekker showed the mentally ill patients interacting. I don’t think Dekker exploited this thread enough in the craziness of the mentally ill patients.
There’s a point in the book where I was like OH MY GOD Dekker went THERE. I was thrilled at the unpredictability I was finding, though it was at that point, about half way through the book, that the story went far more predictable than I like. I thought the ending was a little too tidy, and so it was the second half of the book and the ending that made it less than stellar. All in all, I liked the book, but found Brad Raines to ultimately be forgettable, particularly in comparison to Joe Pike or Elvis Cole.
Rating: 82 out of 100
Other reviews (there’s quite a few, so I just grabbed the first few):
This isn’t just any ordinary countdown widget! Click on sweepstakes and check out the cool contest! Also, if you pre-order a copy of The Bride Collector from Amazon, you’ll get a .pdf copy of Dekker’s first unpublished novel.
Book source: I received this book from the publisher.
| Tags: mystery, serial killers, suspense, thriller 16 comments »
March 29th, 2010 at 2:59 am
Great review…. my review goes up on this tomorrow. I enjoyed Decker p- he has some fantastic books out there – not all are great but many are
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trish Reply:
March 29th, 2010 at 4:43 pm
Oh, what other books have you liked by him?
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March 29th, 2010 at 3:58 am
This sounds like one of his books that I would enjoy Trish. Thanks for the great review.
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trish Reply:
March 29th, 2010 at 4:43 pm
I hope you like it!
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March 29th, 2010 at 5:03 am
I’ve only read one Dekker book and I enjoyed it, but probably felt about the same way you did about this one.
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trish Reply:
March 29th, 2010 at 4:44 pm
Good to know. It was enjoyable, and certainly wasn’t a chore to read! Just, well, you know.
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March 29th, 2010 at 9:33 am
I enjoy pretty much every Dekker book I read, but yeah, most of them aren’t brilliant, imo.
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trish Reply:
March 29th, 2010 at 4:46 pm
Oh, good to know! I trust your judgement.
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March 29th, 2010 at 1:20 pm
I have read some of Dekker’s older work, and think he’s a pretty good author. As a matter of fact, there is a movie that is on my shelf that was also written by him called Three, which I have not watched as of yet. Your review intrigues me and I am going to have to try to pick this book up. It sounds like the weirdness factor is pretty high, which always interests me! Great review!
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trish Reply:
March 29th, 2010 at 4:46 pm
Yeah, the weirdness factor *is* pretty high, which is always a plus for me too!
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Robin of My Two Blessings Reply:
March 29th, 2010 at 6:19 pm
I have the movie, thr3e. Creepy good with major weirdness factor!
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March 29th, 2010 at 4:42 pm
I enjoy Dekker’s books. I did like Boneman’s Daughters more than this one though. I have to say that I agree – Raines is an unforgettable character. I remember more the patients from the psych ward than him.
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trish Reply:
March 29th, 2010 at 4:45 pm
EXACLTY! I thought the patients were done well, and didn’t become caricatures.
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March 29th, 2010 at 6:20 pm
I love Dekker. Have read all his books and going to read “burn” soon. Your review is challenging my buying ban. I want it!
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trish Reply:
March 29th, 2010 at 7:27 pm
HAHA! Sorry to tempt you during your book buying ban! I promise to try to post about really terrible books until your ban is over.
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April 3rd, 2010 at 5:27 pm
I saw that this book was coming out this month. Dekker is an author I’ve wanted to try out for awhile and haven’t gotten around to it. But it sounds like I may want to start out with some of his others.
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