Ted Dekker, Showdown

Showdown

Ted Dekker

WestBow, Jan 2006, $22.99

ISBN: 1595540059

Newly arrived in the isolated town of Paradise, Colorado, Marsuvees Black claims to be a preacher and says his car broke down two miles from town. He also insists that God sent him here to provide "grace and hope" to the lost residents. He can make dreams happen; just ask Chris, whose wart behind his ear is gone after the Preacher touched it. Very quickly, to the locals, the Preacher is God-sent.

Nearby Harvard University sponsors an experiment at an isolated mountain Monastery. Thirty-seven gifted young teens are undergoing a special study to understand and determine what causes evil in mankind. It is the Monastery that actually has brought Marsuvees to the mountains of Colorado, for some believe this monk is the perfect teacher of the chosen thirty-seven, but his lessons will be the ultimate test of good vs. evil.

Though the ethics behind the experiment in the Monastery are bothersome and seem unacceptable by society standards, in concession there have been plenty of "tests" in the free world and not just Nazi Germany; good and evil proves difficult to classify in the players. The two story lines keep building up the suspense, as readers anticipate the moment that the Preacher enters the Monastery. At his best weaving Christian belief within a superb storyline, Ted Dekker cleverly keeps adding to the intrigue, while the audience expect a showdown between the forces of good and that of evil, but whose who remains the mystery until the climax, and in some ways even after that.