Christian Psychological Thrillers....YEAH ITS A THING! The Bookbabe reviews The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker

I was first introduced to Ted Dekker a few years ago; at the time I was seeing his books everywhere specifically The Circle Series. And I had also had a chance to watch Thr3e - a movie based on another of his psychological thrillers (I would recommend everyone see the movie it was really good). Some time ago I picked up the mass market paper back of The Bride Collector. The story had it all and I had every intention to reading it last summer while I was on a mystery kick. But it ended up on the TBR for June of this year. And honestly it was the fastest book I have read in a while. In the Bride Collector we are introduced to Federal Agent Brad Raines; he is a man with a singular focus - to catch the killer known as the Bride Collector before he can kill seven victims. Each of the women the killer selects fits the profile of the perfect bride and each are stepping stones to the woman who he believes to perfect. The Killer is clearly psychotic and is a religious nut.
He uses a warped sense of God's love to justify the killing of each of the women; because they are the most loved they need to die. God is calling these women home - he wants his brides and only the killer can give God what he wants. We begin to see that the killer is focused on revenge when he goes after a woman Brad is involved in. It is the one act in the story that lets us know the true motives of the killer. Little does Brad know but he is walking into the killers trap and he has to get help from an unlikely source (who is connected to the killer) in order to not only bring him down but to identify him.
I enjoyed the pace of this book. I could not wait to see what else Dekker had in store. The most moving part of this book for me was the way in which Dekker approached mental health and the treatment of those afflicted with mental illnesses. In the book we are introduced to The Center for Wellness and Intelligence which is an institution that caters specifically to those with mental illnesses that are highly intelligent. I found this interesting because a week or so before reading the book I had read an article linking intelligence to mental illness. I believe that Dekker was hip to something other people seemed to have been ignoring when this book was published in 2010. I would love to see Dekker tackle another serial killer; and I may get my chance as I own several of his books.
I gave The Bride Collector five out of five stars on Goodreads.

Sweet Summer Reads....

The summer of 2016 has by far been my best and most bookish summer to date. I came in at 17 books read ;)! Four more than I read last year!!!! While most of them where great, eight books really stood out. Here they are:

1)1984 by George Orwell

2) Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

3) Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

4) The Bourbon Kings by J.R. Ward

5) The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith 

6) A.D. 30 by Ted Dekker

7) The Girl with all the Gifts by M.R. Carey

8) A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

You can find my no spoiler reviews of these books here on my blog. How many books did you read this summer? What books would you recommend for me to read is fall? Please feel free to leave a comment. Happy Reading 🤓

Strong women come from the Desert: Bookbabe reviews A.D. 30 by Ted Dekker

A.D. 30 was my first experience reading a Ted Dekker novel, and the first real historical fiction novel I can say I really enjoyed. The book takes us into the life of Maviah; who is the daughter of a tribal leader. However, she is so much more than that. Maviah is a woman that has been thrown away by her father; sold into slavery, and sent back to her father in disgrace. She lives in a time where women are seen as property and have no rights. Its is during this story that we watch Maviah grow into a powerful woman who is fully willing aware of the fact that she is the daughter of a King. The most powerful part of this book is that Maviah is forced to help a father that does not care for her. She could be bitter, hateful and only look out for herself but she wants to be honored in the eyes of a man that cast her aside. 

So when he father is taken captive, and even though she loses her child, she decides to take a dangerous trip across the desert to meet with Herod. She walks into Herod's presence completely unsure on how she will be perceived or even if she will get the help that she seeks. It is there that she meets Phasa; Herod's first wife. It is through this meeting that things really begin to shift. As Maviah is waiting on Herod to come back from Rome she and Phasa become close; so much so that she feels comfortable enough to ask the young queen to help her in keeping her traveling companions safe. Phasa agrees to help, after Judah (one of Maviah's companions) kills a guard. It is only after this happens that Judah, Maviah, Saba and Phasa partake in a journey to meet Yeshua. It is during Maviah's first experience with Yeshua that I was reminded of how deeply personal and beautiful following Yeshua can be. It was during her experience with him that you are reminded that Yeshua is caring and deeply interested in the lives and well beings of his followers. He had the power to make every interaction personal; even though he was in room full of people. It is after this meeting that something in Maviah begins to shift. She begins to think about herself differently and she begins to think about life differently. After there journey and upon their return to the palace Maviah is entrusted with information that can drastically change the course of everything; especially since she now knows Herod had no interest in helping her. This change is circumstances sets her on a journey that takes her directly into the heart of the home of her fathers enemies. It is here that she slow emerges as the Queen that Judah always thought that she was.

What I loved the most about this book: I enjoyed the way Dekker wove the beauty of Yeshua's words into the story of a lost woman. This book truly is about the power and importance of faith. Its also about the struggle to stay the course and hold tight to your faith through even in the hardest times. 

I gave A.D. 30 5/5 stars on goodreads.com.

Quotes that I loved:

"The Stars do not lie"

"I was plunged beneath the waters of the Galilean sea a dirtied slave and emerged a queen fit for a king"

"You must understand...to have faith is to let go of knowledge as the means to salvation. To do so, one must embrace trust and mystery rather than make knowledge one's God...It is not where that matters so much as simply following? Faith, you see? Trust, like a child"

"You have heard me say, Do not store up for yourself treasures on earth where moths and vermin destroy...but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven...for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also"

"The eye is the lamp of the body, if your eye is clear, you whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness"

"Put your faith in me, not the storm, nor the boat. I and the Father are one. You can not truly forgive until you surrender your belief in this storm and trust me instead"

Newest Aquistions....

🤓 New Book Alert*****

I wanted to share with you my most recent acquisitions! 

1) A.D. 30 by Ted Dekker:

 A sweeping epic set in the harsh deserts of Arabia and ancient Palestine. A war that rages between kingdoms on the earth and in the heart. The harrowing journey of the woman at the center of it all. Step back in time to the year of our Lord...A.D. 30.

The outcast daughter of one of the most powerful Bedouin sheikhs in Arabia, Maviah is called on to protect the very people who rejected her. When their enemies launch a sudden attack with devastating consequences, Maviah escapes with the help of two of her father's warriors--Saba who speaks more with is sword than his voice and Judah, a Jew who comes from a tribe that can read the stars. Their journey will be fraught with terrible danger. If they can survive the vast forbidding sands of a desert that is deadly to most, they will reach a brutal world subjugated by kings and emperors. There Maviah must secure an unlikely alliance with King Herod of the Jews. 

But Maviah's path leads her unexpectedly to another man. An enigmatic teacher who speaks of a way in this life which offers greater power than any kingdom. His name is Yeshua, and his words turn everything known on its head. Though following him may present even greater danger, his may be the only way for Maviah to save her people--and herself.

2) Medical Apartheid by Harriet A. Washington: 

This groundbreaking study documents that the infamous Tuskegee experiments, in which black syphilitic men were studied but not treated, was simply the most publicized in a long, and continuing, history of the American medical establishment using African-Americans as unwitting or unwilling human guinea pigs. Washington, a journalist and bioethicist who has worked at Harvard Medical School and Tuskegee University, has accumulated a wealth of documentation, beginning with Thomas Jefferson exposing hundreds of slaves to an untried smallpox vaccine before using it on whites, to the 1990s, when the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University ran drug experiments on African-American and black Dominican boys to determine a genetic predisposition for "disruptive behavior." Washington is a great storyteller, and in addition to giving us an abundance of information on "scientific racism," the book, even at its most distressing, is compulsively readable. It covers a wide range of topics—the history of hospitals not charging black patients so that, after death, their bodies could be used for anatomy classes; the exhaustive research done on black prisoners throughout the 20th century—and paints a powerful and disturbing portrait of medicine, race, sex and the abuse of power.

 

3) Thin, Rich, Pretty by Beth Harbison- this lovely book was a gift from my buddy Angel, I will put it on my summer reading list! Here is the synopsis:

Twenty years ago, Holly and Nicola were the outsiders at summer camp. Holly, the plump one, was a dreamer who longed to be an artist. Nicola, the shy, plain one, wanted nothing more than to be beautiful. Their cabin nemesis was Lexi. Rich, spoiled, evil Lexi. One night, Holly and Nicola teamed up to pull one daring act of vengeance. But they never considered that this one act would have repercussions for decades. 

Today Holly is a successful gallery owner who has put her own artistic dreams on hold. She still struggles with her weight and for approval from her overly critical boyfriend. Nicola is an almost-famous actress who believes that one little plastic surgery fix is just what she needs to put her over the edge into fame. And Lexi . . . Lexi is down on her luck and totally broke. 

Holly will do anything to be thin. Lexi will do anything to be rich. And Nicola will do anything to be pretty. But at what cost? Hilarious, heartwarming, and full of truth, Thin, Rich, Pretty will strike a chord with any woman who has ever looked in the mirror, or at their bank statement, and said, "If only . . . "

4) Elizabeth 1 by Margaret George - this one was also a gift from Angel, I had been talking about this book for Ages and I always missed an opportunity to purchase it! I am really excited to dive into. Mainly due to the fact that Elizabeth 1 is one of my favorite women in history!

Here is the synopsis:

Personal and political conflicts among such larger-than-life historical figures as Francis Bacon, Walter Raleigh, Francis Drake, and Will Shakespeare intertwine in George's meticulously envisioned portrait of Elizabeth I during the last 25 years of her reign. Unlike most contemporary depictions of the Virgin Queen, this one is actually a virgin; she's married to England, whose interests she pursues with shrewdness, courage, and wisdom borne of surviving the deaths of her family. Readers see the queen through her own eyes and those of her cousin, Lettice Knollys, wife of Elizabethan heartthrob Robert Dudley, aka the earl of Leicester. Elizabeth's antithesis, thrice-married and much-bedded Lettice, is driven by passion and self-interest, easily evidenced by the story's beginnings: it's 1588, and Elizabeth meets the threat of the Spanish Armada head-on while Lettice calculates how her son might benefit. Like her heroine, George (The Autobiography of Henry VIII) possesses an eye for beauty and a knack for detail, creating a vibrant story that, for nearly 700 pages, enables readers to experience firsthand Elizabeth's decisions, triumphs, and losses. Rather than turn Elizabeth I into a romantic heroine, George painstakingly reveals a monarch who defined an era.