Review and tour: The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker

My apologies!! I wrote down the wrong date for my day to host the tour. My review was suppose to be posted yesterday, April 12th.

He loves them because they are beautiful.
He kills them because he loves them.

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?

Review
When I was asked to participate in this tour I jumped at the chance. I'm a newer fan to Ted Dekker's books and I was happy to read and review this one. The action starts on the very first page as the Bride Collector's fourth victim is discovered. Her body was left hanging on the wall of an abandoned shed - beautiful, angelic, drained of all blood and wearing a wedding veil. Her killer is careful and special Agent Brad Raines and forensic psychologist Nikki Holden are frustrated. They know there are plans for three more "brides" and time is running out.

Author Ted Dekker takes us along for the ride as the authorities race to prevent any more woman from becoming victims. The early chapters place an emphasis on the forensics of the case with the police and pathologist searching for clues and evidence. The killer is smart and his mistakes are rare. He does leave poems expressing his intentions and his deep religious beliefs. His plans are to love these women and to find the perfect bride. Now Brad and Nikki decide to try a new approach and follow a link and enlist the help of the residents of a private institution for the mentally ill and exceptionally gifted. The story shifts to a psychological approach as we meet the quirky characters who reside at the Center for Wellness and Intelligence. Each of them struggles with various mental illnesses but most of them are also geniuses. Their environment is allowing them to cope and flourish in ways that they have not been able to in the outside world.

In alternating chapters we delve into the mind of Quinton, the Bride Collector. We are allowed to follow his madness and his reasoning as he carries out his plans to provide God with seven brides. As a reward for his loyal service he feels he will then be rewarded with a bride of his own. He must adapt and change his routine as Brad and Nikki begin to unravel his plan and he will make it personal.

The action and suspense is nonstop and it was hard to put down this book. The occasional surprise kept me on my toes. I enjoyed getting to know these characters and what haunted them. They were interesting, unusual and a great addition to the story. Thiller fans will be captivated by this shocking murder mystery.

Author
Ted Dekker (born October 24, 1962) is a New York Times best-selling author of more than twenty novels. He is best known for stories which could be broadly described as suspense thrillers with major twists and unforgettable characters, though he has also made a name for himself among fantasy fans.

Early in his career he wrote a number of spiritual thrillers and his novels were lumped in with ‘Christian Fiction’ a surprisingly large category. His later novels are a mix of mainstream novels such as Adam, Thr3e, Skin, Obsessed and BoneMan’s Daughters, and Fantasy thrillers that metaphorically explore faith. Best known among these is his Circle Series: Green, Black, Red, White and The Paradise Books: Showdown, Saint, and Sinner.

Now, eight years from the publication of his first novel, Dekker’s novels had sold over 3.4 million copies worldwide. Two of his novels, Thr3e and House, have been made into movies with more in production. Dekker resides in Austin, Texas with his wife Lee Ann and two of their daughters.

www.facebook.com/teddekker
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www.teddekker.com

Recent tours
4/8 www.cherylsbooknook.blogspot.com
4/9 www.booksiesblog.blogspot.com
4/10 www.kaylafinley.com
4/11 www.lovingheartmommy.com

Publisher: Center Street
Release date: 4/13/10
Pages: 448
Price/format: $24.99/hardcover
Type: fiction, suspense, thriller

Thank you to Hatchette Books for providing me with a review copy of this book.