キャミー・タング著「戌年」連載小説 プロのドッグトレーナーであるマリ・ムトウは、厄年を迎えている。 犬小屋と訓練所の改築をしながら、いつも不服そうにしている家族と同居することになった。母と姉に言わせれば、犬の毛とよだれかけにまみれる仕事は、家族にとって恥ずべきものだという。彼女は元カレを説得し、数ヶ月間犬を預かってもらうことにした。しかし、彼の兄は、数週間前に彼女が誤って車に追突した、怒り狂ったセキュリティ専門家であることが判明する。 アシュウィン・ケイトウは十分な問題を抱えている。叔母が玄関先に現れ、同居を希望している。彼は彼女にすべてを借りているので、断ることができません。母親が家を出て行った後、ネルおばさんはアシュウィンと弟を引き取り、愛のあるキリスト教の家庭で育てた。しかも、弟のダスティもアパートを追い出され、居場所を求めている。しかし、彼は犬を飼っている。そして、その犬の飼い主は誰だと思いますか? しかし、旧友でオアフ島のノースショアでデイスパを経営する私立探偵のエディサ・ゲレロから依頼を受ける。マリの施設で奇妙な破壊行為があり、3年前に失踪したエディサの妹の財布を発見する。エディサはマリが危険な目に遭っているのではと心配する。警備の専門家であるアシュウィンがすでにマリを知っていることを知ったエディサは、忙しい若い女性を密かに監視することを彼に依頼する。 アシュウィンは、活発でのんびりとしたドッグトレーナーに不本意ながら惹かれていく。彼女は、幸せそうな母親を思い出させる。その母親の裏切りによって、彼は人と距離を置くようになったのだ。マリは、アシュウィンの冷たい外見を見抜き、彼が家族に忠実な男であることを認める。彼は、彼女のキャリア選択を批判するだけの母親や姉とは違う。 マリのバラバラな家庭とアシュウィンのバラバラな家庭の中で、過去を隠そうとする人たちから、彼らの周りに危険が迫ってくるようになる。彼らは、影で動く秘密に光を当てることができるのか? 過去に発表されたパートへのリンクはこちら。 *** 第8章 - 恐ろしくも真っ白な不動産書類 『みんな仲良くできないのかな?』 マリは無用に力を込めて箱に本を投げ入れた。最近、なぜ彼女は人生の中で全員と言い争いをしているのだろう?もしかすると、これは本当に悪いアイデア
Captain's Log, Stardate 02.22.2008
Adam by Ted Dekker
He died once to stop the killer...now he's dying again to save his wife.
FBI behavioral psychologist Daniel Clark has become famous for his well-articulated arguments that religion is one of society’s greatest antagonists. What Daniel doesn’t know is that his obsessive pursuit of a serial killer known only as “Eve” is about to end abruptly with an unexpected death--his own.
Twenty minutes later Daniel is resuscitated, only to be haunted by the loss of memory of the events immediately preceding his death.
Daniel becomes convinced that the only way to stop Eve is to recover those missing minutes during which he alone saw the killer’s face. And the only way to access them is to trigger his brain’s memory dump that occurs at the time of death by simulating his death again…and again. So begins a carefully researched psychological thriller which delves deep into the haunting realities of near-death experiences, demon possession, and the human psyche.
"As always with a Ted Dekker thriller, the details of ADAM are stunning, pointing to meticulous research in a raft of areas: police and FBI methods, forensic medicine, psychological profiling-in short, all that accompanies a Federal hunt for a serial killer. But Dekker fully reveals his magic in the latter part of the book, when he subtly introduces his darker and more frightening theme. It's all too creepily convincing. We have to keep telling ourselves that this is fiction. At the same time, we can't help thinking that not only could it happen, but that it will happen if we're not careful."
New York Times best-selling author Ted Dekker unleashes his most riveting novel yet...an elusive serial killer whose victims die of unknown causes and the psychologist obsessed with catching him.
Camy here:
I’m almost ashamed to admit this is the first Ted Dekker book I’ve ever read. (I have tried to read Thr3e a couple times, but I kept getting bogged down by the first few pages, plus I already know about the explosion early in the book so it’s not a surprise.)
Anyway, Adam was an amazing page-turner that kept me reading to find out how it ends. I know now why he’s a best-selling author—his pacing is amazing and he reveals information in tantalizing pieces, riveting my attention to the page.
His storyline seems well-researched and is completely plausible to someone like me, who is not an FBI agent, medical doctor or forensic pathologist. People “in the know” might start arguing about points in the story, but I’m not one of the types of people who complain that CSI doesn’t portray real crime scenes or procedures—I just enjoy the stories! And I did that with this book.
Alex and Daniel seemed a bit too much alike in personality, and sometimes I got them a bit muddled in my head, but that might also be because I was reading at such a fast pace to finish the book.
People expecting the deep characterization of a women’s fiction novel will not find it here (then again, I would hope readers would realize before picking this book up that it’s a thriller and not a women’s fiction, and not judge it based on the criteria of what it’s not—sorry, a pet peeve of mine), but the characters are fleshed out enough for the reader to want to follow them through the story.
I’ve heard the author speak at Mount Hermon and have read several interviews with him, and I know he shows the darkness of evil in order to show the power of light—God’s power, God’s light.
However, this book is very dark, and I think he could have shown a bit more light.
The spiritual thread is very realistic—nothing cheesy or unbelievable to me, which I think is Dekker’s trademark anyway. But I do think that he could have infused a bit more hope, a bit more of Christ’s power, a bit more of Christ’s light.
I would not give this book to one of my high school students for that reason. Most teenagers that I’ve worked with don’t have a good conception of their own mortality, and therefore not a strong conception of God’s power and sovereignty. These are kids who are either frightened by the supernatural things they see in movies or contemptuous of demons, and neither type of teen is ready for a book like this, which is very graphic about demon possession.
So while this book is an incredible read, it also leaves me with a slightly haunted feeling that I don’t think is completely glorifying to God. My suggestion is to read cautiously and give all glory to our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Adam by Ted Dekker
He died once to stop the killer...now he's dying again to save his wife.
FBI behavioral psychologist Daniel Clark has become famous for his well-articulated arguments that religion is one of society’s greatest antagonists. What Daniel doesn’t know is that his obsessive pursuit of a serial killer known only as “Eve” is about to end abruptly with an unexpected death--his own.
Twenty minutes later Daniel is resuscitated, only to be haunted by the loss of memory of the events immediately preceding his death.
Daniel becomes convinced that the only way to stop Eve is to recover those missing minutes during which he alone saw the killer’s face. And the only way to access them is to trigger his brain’s memory dump that occurs at the time of death by simulating his death again…and again. So begins a carefully researched psychological thriller which delves deep into the haunting realities of near-death experiences, demon possession, and the human psyche.
"As always with a Ted Dekker thriller, the details of ADAM are stunning, pointing to meticulous research in a raft of areas: police and FBI methods, forensic medicine, psychological profiling-in short, all that accompanies a Federal hunt for a serial killer. But Dekker fully reveals his magic in the latter part of the book, when he subtly introduces his darker and more frightening theme. It's all too creepily convincing. We have to keep telling ourselves that this is fiction. At the same time, we can't help thinking that not only could it happen, but that it will happen if we're not careful."
New York Times best-selling author Ted Dekker unleashes his most riveting novel yet...an elusive serial killer whose victims die of unknown causes and the psychologist obsessed with catching him.
Camy here:
I’m almost ashamed to admit this is the first Ted Dekker book I’ve ever read. (I have tried to read Thr3e a couple times, but I kept getting bogged down by the first few pages, plus I already know about the explosion early in the book so it’s not a surprise.)
Anyway, Adam was an amazing page-turner that kept me reading to find out how it ends. I know now why he’s a best-selling author—his pacing is amazing and he reveals information in tantalizing pieces, riveting my attention to the page.
His storyline seems well-researched and is completely plausible to someone like me, who is not an FBI agent, medical doctor or forensic pathologist. People “in the know” might start arguing about points in the story, but I’m not one of the types of people who complain that CSI doesn’t portray real crime scenes or procedures—I just enjoy the stories! And I did that with this book.
Alex and Daniel seemed a bit too much alike in personality, and sometimes I got them a bit muddled in my head, but that might also be because I was reading at such a fast pace to finish the book.
People expecting the deep characterization of a women’s fiction novel will not find it here (then again, I would hope readers would realize before picking this book up that it’s a thriller and not a women’s fiction, and not judge it based on the criteria of what it’s not—sorry, a pet peeve of mine), but the characters are fleshed out enough for the reader to want to follow them through the story.
I’ve heard the author speak at Mount Hermon and have read several interviews with him, and I know he shows the darkness of evil in order to show the power of light—God’s power, God’s light.
However, this book is very dark, and I think he could have shown a bit more light.
The spiritual thread is very realistic—nothing cheesy or unbelievable to me, which I think is Dekker’s trademark anyway. But I do think that he could have infused a bit more hope, a bit more of Christ’s power, a bit more of Christ’s light.
I would not give this book to one of my high school students for that reason. Most teenagers that I’ve worked with don’t have a good conception of their own mortality, and therefore not a strong conception of God’s power and sovereignty. These are kids who are either frightened by the supernatural things they see in movies or contemptuous of demons, and neither type of teen is ready for a book like this, which is very graphic about demon possession.
So while this book is an incredible read, it also leaves me with a slightly haunted feeling that I don’t think is completely glorifying to God. My suggestion is to read cautiously and give all glory to our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Comments
Missy
About Thr3e, the explosion doesn't ruin any part of the book and it gets really good! If you like suspense and Ted Dekker, I would read House (which is coauthored by Frank Peretti). It doesn't have a really strong Jesus theme but it does have some incredible supernatural ideas in it. Don't read it at night though! Okay, I'm done yammering on and on! Your Sister, Sarah :-)
Camy