'BoneMan's Daughters' by Ted Dekker

When I find out that one of my most favorite authors comes out with a new book I am both very excited and anxious. That was the case with BoneMan’s Daughters by Ted Dekker. Among the contemporary thriller writers he holds the top spot and I truly couldn’t wait to read this book. But I also had some second thoughts, a reader angst I would call it. I expect from Mr. Dekker always the best and before I started BoneMan’s Daughters I had thought about what was going to happen if it was not as good as his previous ones, if somehow it would leave me disappointed or not quite sated. Well, having read it I now can tell that my worry was, as usual, for naught.

The story starts with Ryan Evans, naval captain being kidnapped and held hostage after one of the intelligence missions near Fallujah went awry. The hell he’s put through left him mentally damaged, with a severe case of post traumatic stress disorder. But it also gave him a renewed sense of love for his sixteen-year-old daughter, Bethany whom he pretty much abandoned and neglected long time ago for the sake of his job and his country. He comes home, ready to do what it takes to repair the damage and hurt he caused his beloved daughter. He has no idea how much really he will have to do to get Bethany to love her father back. BoneMan, a serial killer who murdered six girls in search for that one perfect daughter, is on the prowl again and Bethany is the daughter he was looking for all this time. He kidnaps Ryan’s daughter and gives Ryan seven days to get her back. Now Ryan has to go after BoneMan on his own because the FBI and DA think he’s the killer.

From the first pages I was taken for a spin ride. Ted Dekker’s talent for writing a meaningful thriller really shines through. I write meaningful because he not only plots an awesome suspense, but also manages to make me think through the difference between good and evil, the ends people will go to and means they will and will not use to get what they want in their desperation. The questions put forth in BoneMan’s Daughters are many: How much is one life worth?, Who decides which people die and which live?, How far can a person go to retrieve love they sacrificed long time ago?, and Mr. Dekker knows how to make you think and analyze them all while being caught up in the whirl of events that do not stop happening until the end.

BoneMan’s Daughters was honestly a book I could not put down. It is over 400 pages long and I read it within one day and a little bit of night. Probably the best part was that just when I thought I knew exactly what was going to happen, it of course didn’t. It usually wasn’t anywhere near what I thought would end up happening. I finally gave up guessing and let the book do its amazing job. And that it did to the last page.

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Special Thanks to Miriam P. from Hachette Book Group for providing me a copy of this book.