“You’re wrong. Many do believe, or they wouldn’t be frightened of movies on the subject, now, would they? Jaws terrified the country because people knew that shark attacks were real. The reason so many details of exorcism have become cliches in the movies is because they, too, are real. Any researcher will tell you that. Spiderman, Superman… not frightening, make-believe. But the movie The Exorcist? Except for a few details, amazingly accurate. And it terrifies us all.” -Father Robert Seymour
So Adam is the first Dekker book I’ve read in a while that wasn’t part of the series that started with the Circle Trilogy (before it became the Circle Series with Green). The quality of his writing hasn’t waned at all. I was still staying up late to read just one more chapter, to the detriment of my sleep.
Here’s the breakdown.
Characters
The main characters are Daniel Clark, lead FBI agent on the Eve case, Heather Clark, Daniel’s ex-wife, Lori Ames, Daniel’s new partner, and Eve, a psycopathic killer who has killed 15 women at the beginning of the story. Throughout the story Dekker threw in what looks like newspaper clippings about the past of a serial killer named Alex Price. As you read through you realize that the clippings are all about Eve’s past, except that Eve isn’t what the FBI would expect. Almost no one in the story, except Father Robert Seymour, Alex Price’s priest, believe in Heaven and Hell, God and Satan, or even good and evil. So when they discover the truth behind Eve, they are wholly unprepared to deal with it.
Story
The story starts with Daniel finding Eve’s 16th victim… and becoming the 17th himself. After nearly 20 minutes of being dead, he comes back to life. He is the only person who has seen Eve and now cannot remember what he looks like, but keeps getting racked with these intense bouts of fear that physically knock him to the floor. Then he learns that Eve has broken his pattern and taken his next victim early. This victim? His ex-wife, who he still loves.
It’s an awesome book and, as with all of his books that I’ve read, shows the battle between good and evil very well. The way Dekker writes this story, you’d almost think he’s seen someone in Alex’s place. The way he wrote from David’s point of view at the end makes you wonder if he hasn’t seen it first hand, himself.
It is well worth the time it takes to find and read it. Do so, if you get the chance.
