The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker

About the book: 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 Wellbeing 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 increases 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?

First line:Thank you Detective. We'll take it from here.

My Thoughts: This is the 4th or 5th book I've read by this author. I am a Dekker fan, but I don't think this will go down as one of my favorites. For the most part it was an edge of your seat page turner. You know the killer from the first as the author takes you into his head and thoughts through out the book. What a twisted bad guy. I said for the most part because a lot of time was spent by characters reflecting on their love for each other, repetitive conversation between the patients at the center, and the main female character, Paradise, repeatedly thinking about how worthless she thought she was. The FBI spending so much time with mental patients instead of doing their own research didn't work for me, it rang untrue and I couldn't suspend belief for this one. With that being said, I still thought it was good. The race to get to The Bride Collector before he killed his 7th woman was exciting. The story contains plot twists, character turns, scary scenes. It had horror, mystery, suspense, murder, and a little romance.

Rating:

Genre: Christian Fiction, thriller
Pages: 353
Publisher: Center Street; 1 edition (April 13, 2010)
Source: Library (Digital Branch)

Why This book?: I like this author's work and this book his been on my wishlist for awhile. I thought I'd use it as the kick off for my Christian Fiction reading challenge this year.

Quote: “You see, everyone is God’s favorite, even the mentally ill, which is most people, but don’t let me digress. They are God’s favorite, too, all of them. This is possible only because God is infinite and can therefore have more than one favorite without violating the meaning of the term. He can have multiple favorites, and each one is truly a favorite, receiving the greatest God has to offer, which is infinite.”

Links:
Author's site