“The Bride Collector” is Ted DeKker’s newest and second “New York Novel” (at least this is what he calls it on his Facebook page). What this means is this is his second novel for New York City based Hachette Book Group’s, Center Street Books. His first NY Novel was Boneman’s Daughter and was in my opinion his best novel to date. Recently I received an advance copy of this new novel "The Bride Collector" and my goodness this one did the unthinkable… It surpassed all my expectations and is now my NEW favorite! At the rate DeKker has been whipping out books recently I have reluctantly and wih held breath preparing for for a less than stellar book (because one would think it is inevitable isn't it?)... but the man keeps outdoing himself with every release!
Brad Raines is an FBI agent who has been hot on the trail of a Denver serial killer they have named “The Bride Collector”. This psychopath has murdered a slew of beautiful young women in grotesque and monstrous ways and displaying his “work”for all to see. As the death toll continues to rise Agent Raines quickly becomes desperate to catch this killer and uses and an unusual method to try and track him down. He summons the help of some residence from the Center of Well-being and Intelligence: a mental ward for the mentally ill and gifted. Paradise is one of the group that captures the attention of Brad and eventually agrees to use her “special powers” or gift to help him track down this killer before it’s too late.
“The Bride Collector” is a novel with many twists and turns that takes the reader on a roller coaster ride of emotion, suspense and tension. I was actually mentally exhausted after reading this book hence everything about this novel is superb! As if you couldn’t tell, I really enjoyed this book immensely. DeKker has crafted characters in the story that are loveable and easy to connect with. In all actuality I would love to see Ted either write a sequel or craft a series based on this motley crew of gifted residents of the CWI. In some ways they are to Brad Raines and the FBI as The Lone Gunmen were Agent Scully and Mulder on the X-Files. If you are a fan of murder/suspense fiction then “The Bride Collector” is a must for you.
Reviewed by Jeff Holton
