Boneman's Daughters (Ted Dekker's On Fire!)

[Lengai]

So, I just finished reading Boneman's Daughters today. As you know, Ted Dekker is a Christian author who writes a lot of suspense/thrillers that incorporate messages of the battle between good and evil, ultimate love and self-sacrifice, and faith, into his books. He's one of my favorites, to be sure. His most recent independent novel is Boneman's Daughters, which was inspired by a verse in Genesis.

"And I will put enmity between you, the serpent, and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; you will strike his heel..and he will crush your head."

I warn you: Don't read if violence disturbs you. This is not for the faint-hearted. It's graphic. Not to where I couldn't handle it (and I'm not one to run out and see violent movies or anything), but it was enough to make me feel uncomfortable.

The Set-Up:

Military intelligence officer Ryan Evans is hot on the trail of Boneman, a Texas serial killer who murders his victims by breaking their bones. Evans witnessed this torture technique when he was serving in Fallujah. Now he's a suspect and his daughter is Boneman's latest target! Can he clear himself and save his daughter?

It's a tale of love and sacrifice that a father feels for his children. How far he'd go. The parallels are amazing.

I couldn't put this book down, and I recommend it whole-heartedly. Anyone else read it yet?

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

I'm a huge fan of Ted Dekker.
The novel was inspired partly by that verse but more so by an experience Ted and his family had when his eldest daughter ran off with a 'monster' and it caused everyone a lot of pain. Intense stuff.
I'm currently reading Boneman's Daughters. It should be a great read. I'll return to this thread when I've completed it.

[ich1990]

I have read it, and I am sad to say that I did not like it. My reasons can be found in the "What Books are you Reading?" thread.

In addition to those complaints, I feel the need to add that I found the way Ryan Evans is held up as a hero quite disturbing. Sure, his motives were selfless and he did purposely cause himself pain in order to try to help another, but he also: [spoiler]purposely smashed the bones of an innocent person in order to attempt to save his daughter. In light of his actions, what makes him any better than BoneMan?

You could say that Evans had a good reason for his actions and BoneMan didn't, but then you would simply be promoting an "end justifies the means" philosophy, a kind of philosophy that leads to such practices as Eugenics. [/spoiler]

What kind of message is Dekker trying to send? If the Evans/daughter relationship is supposed to be a Christ/humanity parallel, then it is all the more disquieting.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Okay, I just finished the novel last night. I thought it was great, yet disturbing (not gratuitous though).
The whole story is quite obviously about God's love and the battle he goes through to rescue his children from Satan's clutches. Don't look for allegory in Ted Dekker's books, because it isn't allegory, but there's certainly parallels to our Christian faith.
Yes, at the end Ryan is seen as a hero because of his love for his daughter, not for doing the horrible things. There are many instances in the book where we're reminded that we are all Bone Man at times and that Ryan would, if he wasn't careful become the very monster he was trying to fight. It's obviously a cautionary tale.
I thought it was a brilliant depiction of how evil works. It loves itself and hates itself simultaneously. That really showed through. As did the tremendous power of the love of the father.
Let's not forget that this story borrows from Ted's experiences, so aspects of the character of Ryan would be the way Ted felt towards the monster who seduced his daughter away from him and his family. There's more than a little nod to Hitchcock's Psycho too.
Great novel. One of Ted's better ones. 9/10