The Girl Behind the Red Rope

1- Do I recommend Ted Dekker?

Yes...for a secular, on-the-clean-side thriller.

2- Can I recommend this book?

No, not really. It wears a Christian label but offers generic truth with an emphasis on love and banishing fear, but without specifically presenting Jesus as the only Redeemer and light of the world...a few references to God. I felt like there were a lot of missed opportunities.

3- Age range

I'd hand it over to adults or to teens who are already grounded in their faith and are more of the target audience for dystopian.

No star rating yet....

Too dark; descriptions of torture; not sure it is doctrinally sound as demons cannot read minds.

Grace lives with her mother and brother in the sequestered community of Haven Valley, Tennessee. They moved there ten years ago when their leader received a message that they needed to hide and follow strict rules in order to be saved from the Furies that were coming. As the story opens, Grace is helping her brother, Jamie, explore outside the boundaries established for their safety. She is terrified, but helps him anyway. Jamie in particular is questioning whether the boundary is needed, whether the Furies still exist. He speaks up in their assembly one day, and when Grace supports him, they are both sent outside the boundary to come back with proof, one way or the other. Jamie is horribly attacked, and becomes more vigilant than ever in insisting that their boundary, their fear, keeps them safe. Grace, though, begins to question more than ever.

Grace's father, Ben, questioned from the start. He left the community and has been living outside the boundary. He travels with a boy, Eli, and he is dying. He is desperate to make his way back, to see his children before he dies. He tells Grace that Eli is there to show them the truth. But what is truth?

Ted Dekker teams up with his daughter, Rachelle, to write this book. As with every other Dekker story I've read, there is the story you read with your eyes. And as always, it's a thrill ride. There is tension, there is excitement, there is danger lurking, and it's a heck of a read. It did seem to slow just a little in the first third, but after that, I could hardly put it down.

There's also the story beneath the story, the one you read with your heart. The theme of fear keeping us safe is prevalent in this tale. Fear keeps us from being burned by the fire, keeps us from racing out in to traffic, keeps us from doing something stupid that will bring us harm. But when taken to extremes, fear also imprisons us, becomes a god unto itself, and blinds us to the truth. Grace had to face her fears in many forms, and she could not do that in her own strength. So it is with us. We can't fight our fears alone, but with the power of God's light and love, we can face them and conquer them. This book is a marvelous reminder of that truth.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher, Revell. All opinions here are mine, and I don't say nice things about books I don't actually like.