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Gelin Koleksiyoncusu
Kutsa Beni Tanrim, Isledigim Ve Isleyecegim Gunahlar Icin... FBI ozel ajani Brad Raines kariyerinin en karmasik davasiyla karsi karsiyadir. Davanin ucunda dort genc kadini oldurmus, sapik ruhlu ve bir o kadar da zeki bir seri katil vardir. Her sey, terk edilmis bir ahirda bulunan genc bir kadin cesediyle baslar. Olu beden cirilciplak soyulmus, basina bir gelin duvagi konulmus ve koltuk altlarindan desteklenerek duvara sirtindan yapistirilmistir. Topuklari matkapla delinen cesedin en buyuk ozelligi ise, hl cok guzel gorunuyor olmasidir. FBI'in Gelin Koleksiyoncusu olarak adlandirdigi katilin hedefi, mukemmelligin sayisina yani Tanri'nin rakami olan "yedi"ye ulasmaktir. Bunun icin sirada olumu bekleyen uc masum ve guzel kadin daha vardir. Katili bulmak artik tam bir zaman yarisina donusmustur. Davayi cozmekte zorlanan Brad'in son umudu ise, yardim almak icin basvurdugu sira disi kisi, sizofren tanisi konulan Paradise'tir. Cesede dokundugunda, o kisinin olmeden onceki son dakikalarini y
567 pages, Paperback
First published April 13, 2009
525 people are currently reading
6192 people want to read
About the author
Ted Dekker
186 books9,977 followersTed Dekker is known for novels that combine adrenaline-laced stories with unexpected plot twists, unforgettable characters, and incredible confrontations between good and evil. Ted lives in Austin with his wife LeeAnn and their four children.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,246 reviews
January 8, 2017
Not for the faint of heart this is a dark, deeply disturbing tour-de-force of good versus evil, told in bone chillng, graphic detail. Make no mistake he will take you there and hold you hard and long into the night. My hat is off, Mr. DeKker. Bring it on!
February 26, 2013
Did you ever want to read a book that was part psychological thriller, part Twilight-esque love story, and part Christian literature? Then this is the book for you.
I liked the first 2/3rd of the story. A psychotic killer is hunting beautiful women, leaving their bodies drained of blood, with bridal veils draped over their faces. And the FBI is called in. There's some sexy tension between the FBI agents working the case. There are also some colorful characters from a nearby mental institution who, despite their illness, have astounding gifts of perception; some of their gifts even border on the supernatural.
The killer's crime was murder. The author's crime was laziness.
The killer is psychotic, so of course his killing ritual has some wacky rationale like he is the messenger of God. Because he's crazy, he can predict every action that anyone ever will take, so he is always about 67 steps ahead of the FBI agents. He also can find out where random people live and work and who they love.
The FBI agent, Brad, loves his girlfriend who killed herself and will never love another. No, wait, he has a second chance for love with his sexy partner. Oh no, she died, how will he ever love again? Well, how about this mental patient? This is the woman he can love for all eternity. And also, he has lots of money and is insanely handsome.
The mental patient, whose name is Paradise (the name is kind of like being clubbed in the head with The Hammer of Metaphor) and is basically the most perfect human on the planet. She is deeply insightful and witty, but damaged. She has one flaw: a mental illness that's completely understandable since she saw her father kill other members of her family while she hid in a closet. And she thinks she's ugly because she wears dorky clothes and foregoes makeup. (Don't worry, she gets a makeover. No one in this book gets to be ugly!)
She and Brad fall in love after knowing each other for about 5 seconds.
The mental patients all save the day because Society needs to treat them better.
There was also some religious pontificating about how God loves us all. As the point of view switches between characters, we hear them cover the exact. same. theology. Over and over and over. It's a lovely concept, but it really did start to grate after a while.
The worst part is that this book really did show promise. It wouldn't have won any awards for writing, but it built sufficient tension and the fact that Dekker doesn't mind ratcheting up the body count is only more terrifying. Then there is near-instantaneous True Love and We Are All God's Favorite and the Perfect Girl who is so perfect SHE CURES HER OWN MENTAL ILLNESS. IN A DAY.
That said, a lot of people liked this book. If you were intrigued by the first sentence, then by all means, scoop this book up for your next vacation. At worst, you'll get about 250 pages of entertainment out of it.
I liked the first 2/3rd of the story. A psychotic killer is hunting beautiful women, leaving their bodies drained of blood, with bridal veils draped over their faces. And the FBI is called in. There's some sexy tension between the FBI agents working the case. There are also some colorful characters from a nearby mental institution who, despite their illness, have astounding gifts of perception; some of their gifts even border on the supernatural.
The killer's crime was murder. The author's crime was laziness.
The killer is psychotic, so of course his killing ritual has some wacky rationale like he is the messenger of God. Because he's crazy, he can predict every action that anyone ever will take, so he is always about 67 steps ahead of the FBI agents. He also can find out where random people live and work and who they love.
The FBI agent, Brad, loves his girlfriend who killed herself and will never love another. No, wait, he has a second chance for love with his sexy partner. Oh no, she died, how will he ever love again? Well, how about this mental patient? This is the woman he can love for all eternity. And also, he has lots of money and is insanely handsome.
The mental patient, whose name is Paradise (the name is kind of like being clubbed in the head with The Hammer of Metaphor) and is basically the most perfect human on the planet. She is deeply insightful and witty, but damaged. She has one flaw: a mental illness that's completely understandable since she saw her father kill other members of her family while she hid in a closet. And she thinks she's ugly because she wears dorky clothes and foregoes makeup. (Don't worry, she gets a makeover. No one in this book gets to be ugly!)
She and Brad fall in love after knowing each other for about 5 seconds.
The mental patients all save the day because Society needs to treat them better.
There was also some religious pontificating about how God loves us all. As the point of view switches between characters, we hear them cover the exact. same. theology. Over and over and over. It's a lovely concept, but it really did start to grate after a while.
The worst part is that this book really did show promise. It wouldn't have won any awards for writing, but it built sufficient tension and the fact that Dekker doesn't mind ratcheting up the body count is only more terrifying. Then there is near-instantaneous True Love and We Are All God's Favorite and the Perfect Girl who is so perfect SHE CURES HER OWN MENTAL ILLNESS. IN A DAY.
That said, a lot of people liked this book. If you were intrigued by the first sentence, then by all means, scoop this book up for your next vacation. At worst, you'll get about 250 pages of entertainment out of it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 20, 2014
Bullet Review:
Pretty awful, but I was only gonna rate 2 stars until I skimmed to the last two chapters and read them. What I learned there dropped this to a 1-star DNF.
Full Review:
Brad Raines is a blond George Clooney. He's a womanizer, a slut (because "male slut" is sexist) and has been placed on the case of the Bride Collector, a serial killer who drains women's blood before killing them. Oh, and he lusts after Nikki, his partner, because she's hot. Nikki also lusts after him too.
DNF at 82 pages.
NOTE: I received this as part of the Amazon Vine program, which didn't influence my opinion AT ALL.
I really truly tried. I selected this book as part of the Vine program because my dad likes Ted Dekker. But I should realize that just because we both happen to like science fiction and fantasy does NOT mean all our interests overlap - for instance, he likes a crapton of weird 60's and 70's action/scifi movies that no one has ever heard of.
The 82 pages I read and 130-odd pages I skimmed were not that great - really close to "bad" but not quite there. The characters were pretty vapid and boring from blond George Clooney to his moony-eyed partner to the baddie. (Good lord, what a bad call to have a third person POV from the baddie - talk about getting rid of all suspense!) The plot was interesting, but honestly, the idiot FBI agents just didn't convince me they knew how to actually solve crimes instead of going all 90210 soap opera on us. (Oh how original, blonde George Clooney and his partner are moony-eyed for each other, but because of their TWAMATIC history, they just can't screw each other and be done with it! Oh boohoo, blonde George Clooney was in lurve with a woman who committed suicide!)
NOTE: This is NOT me undermining suicide! It is me being upset at how badly written it was.
Instead, these jokers floop around for 80 pages, admiring the victim's perfect breasts (yes, this happens!) before deciding that the killer MUST be an intelligent mentally ill person because...he hasn't been caught yet??? Because of a "poem" he wrote that maybe kinda vaguely relates to the name of a mental institution??? NOT CONVINCING EVIDENCE PEEPS. And then when they go to the Center of Wellness Insitute, we spend way too much time with "quirky" patients than with competent agents directing an investigation. With the additional questionable mentality that "mental illness" and "patients" are wrong to say, but "retardation" and "monkeys" are.
Question: Mental institutes for the intelligent? What does this mean???
That's when I started skipping every other chapter and then skimming. And still nothing was convincing me to get invested, so I jumped to the last two chapters.
That ending...the treatment of people with mental illnesses...the treatment of sexual assault/rape/violating...that is what bumped this down to 1-star.
I am not impressed with Ted Dekker after this book and wouldn't read anything else he wrote. I was seriously hoping that it would end up that Brad "blonde George Clooney" Raines was Quinton the murderer, but that was way too clever for this book. Maybe this was something he wrote on an off day, but considering he was a well-published author at the time of this publication (2010!) does not make me hopeful about the rest of his books.
Sorry, Dad, we'll just have to agree to disagree.
Pretty awful, but I was only gonna rate 2 stars until I skimmed to the last two chapters and read them. What I learned there dropped this to a 1-star DNF.
Full Review:
Brad Raines is a blond George Clooney. He's a womanizer, a slut (because "male slut" is sexist) and has been placed on the case of the Bride Collector, a serial killer who drains women's blood before killing them. Oh, and he lusts after Nikki, his partner, because she's hot. Nikki also lusts after him too.
DNF at 82 pages.
NOTE: I received this as part of the Amazon Vine program, which didn't influence my opinion AT ALL.
I really truly tried. I selected this book as part of the Vine program because my dad likes Ted Dekker. But I should realize that just because we both happen to like science fiction and fantasy does NOT mean all our interests overlap - for instance, he likes a crapton of weird 60's and 70's action/scifi movies that no one has ever heard of.
The 82 pages I read and 130-odd pages I skimmed were not that great - really close to "bad" but not quite there. The characters were pretty vapid and boring from blond George Clooney to his moony-eyed partner to the baddie. (Good lord, what a bad call to have a third person POV from the baddie - talk about getting rid of all suspense!) The plot was interesting, but honestly, the idiot FBI agents just didn't convince me they knew how to actually solve crimes instead of going all 90210 soap opera on us. (Oh how original, blonde George Clooney and his partner are moony-eyed for each other, but because of their TWAMATIC history, they just can't screw each other and be done with it! Oh boohoo, blonde George Clooney was in lurve with a woman who committed suicide!)
NOTE: This is NOT me undermining suicide! It is me being upset at how badly written it was.
Instead, these jokers floop around for 80 pages, admiring the victim's perfect breasts (yes, this happens!) before deciding that the killer MUST be an intelligent mentally ill person because...he hasn't been caught yet??? Because of a "poem" he wrote that maybe kinda vaguely relates to the name of a mental institution??? NOT CONVINCING EVIDENCE PEEPS. And then when they go to the Center of Wellness Insitute, we spend way too much time with "quirky" patients than with competent agents directing an investigation. With the additional questionable mentality that "mental illness" and "patients" are wrong to say, but "retardation" and "monkeys" are.
Question: Mental institutes for the intelligent? What does this mean???
That's when I started skipping every other chapter and then skimming. And still nothing was convincing me to get invested, so I jumped to the last two chapters.
That ending...the treatment of people with mental illnesses...the treatment of sexual assault/rape/violating...that is what bumped this down to 1-star.
I am not impressed with Ted Dekker after this book and wouldn't read anything else he wrote. I was seriously hoping that it would end up that Brad "blonde George Clooney" Raines was Quinton the murderer, but that was way too clever for this book. Maybe this was something he wrote on an off day, but considering he was a well-published author at the time of this publication (2010!) does not make me hopeful about the rest of his books.
Sorry, Dad, we'll just have to agree to disagree.
June 5, 2012
I had high hopes for this book. I love mysteries. I love me a good serial killer story.
The protagonist is attracted to his model-lookalike partner. Are you tired of that storyline yet? I am. He also has a broken heart that has yet to heal fro about 10 years ago, and of course, this means that he is hard to ensnare into a relationship. All men like this are attractive to women, because we love a challenge.
The killer is a bit more interesting. He is killing young beautiful women (of course! No uglies!), and leaving a bridal veil at each scene. Now, if you can read between the lines, you can guess part of what happens without ever reading this book.
However, a curveball (and one that is pretty good, I might add) is thrown in by the form of characters from a local mental institution, who help out with the crime. Now, I will say that this is a positive representation of the mentally ill. It does show that just because someone is schizophrenic or bipolar that they are still smart. AND it also shows how often people who are bipolar are misdiagnosed as schizophrenic and vice versa.
But overall, this book was a huge disappointment. I just didn't buy into the relationships. I didn't buy into the protagonist's tale of woe
The protagonist is attracted to his model-lookalike partner. Are you tired of that storyline yet? I am. He also has a broken heart that has yet to heal fro about 10 years ago, and of course, this means that he is hard to ensnare into a relationship. All men like this are attractive to women, because we love a challenge.
The killer is a bit more interesting. He is killing young beautiful women (of course! No uglies!), and leaving a bridal veil at each scene. Now, if you can read between the lines, you can guess part of what happens without ever reading this book.
However, a curveball (and one that is pretty good, I might add) is thrown in by the form of characters from a local mental institution, who help out with the crime. Now, I will say that this is a positive representation of the mentally ill. It does show that just because someone is schizophrenic or bipolar that they are still smart. AND it also shows how often people who are bipolar are misdiagnosed as schizophrenic and vice versa.
But overall, this book was a huge disappointment. I just didn't buy into the relationships. I didn't buy into the protagonist's tale of woe
February 27, 2014
Three words: piece of crap! Literally so unbelievable in relationships, in coincidences, in everything. Like the plot itself sounds fantastic, then you start reading and the author is such a bore and such a cliche writer. It doesn't even deserve one star it was so bad.
March 5, 2011
The Bride Collector / 978-1-599-95196-6
I picked this up at the library, and it's my first Ted Dekker novel. I understand he's quite famous, and I don't want to be overly negative, but I just really didn't enjoy this novel, and it didn't hold my interest. I really like crime dramas on television, and this novel definitely doesn't seem to fit that demographic.
There seems to be very little emphasis on either the physical hunt or the psychological chase. CODIS and AFIS are mentioned about once each, very perfunctorily, and after that it seems like every crime scene is described (and dismissed) with a quick "Brad knew the killer was too smart to leave any X behind" where X is biologicals, fingerprints, useful fibers, etc. This gets sort of frustrating after a time, as if Brad has a direct line to the author; even on CSI when the clues don't pan out, we still get to read about the search. The psychological profiling is almost as flimsy - the detectives operate by a stream-of-consciousness rapid-fire profiling, where they just say the first thing that comes to their mind, because rapid guesses are "more real" or something. It's all very mystical.
For the first 100+ pages, the only detective work we really see is that the FBI detectives consult a psychic! This is kind of hand-waved by her being some kind of mentally gifted savant who "sees" ghosts as a way of processing all the extra information she picks up that other people miss, but at the end of the day that "extra information" isn't being processed by anyone except the psychic, so that's what she fundamentally is, within the boundaries of the story. Since this thread seemed so tenuous, it didn't hold my interest at all, I'm afraid.
A lot of this is written like a romance novel to me. The lead investigator is a "blond George Clooney" (and please can authors stop writing like this? I can count on one hand the number of Hollywood dead-ringers I've met in my life. I'd really rather go back to "tall, dark, and handsome" than these Tom Cruise, George Clooney, and Matt Damon lookalikes in all my books), and pages and pages and pages are spent describing the women in the novel studying him, thinking about him, desiring him, and feeling like they aren't worth his time, etc. Also, one of the female main characters is named "Paradise", which makes me feel like I'm being beat about the head with Meaningful Names.
Little details are missing that bug me. When the serial killer breaks into a woman's house, he carefully cuts through the window glass to avoid triggering the alarm contacts that she has on all her doors and windows. At the end of the chapter, though, he strolls out the back door. What happened to the alarm system? He can't have turned it off from the inside, because modern alarm systems require a code - there's not just an "off" button. Maybe he cut the wires or something, but it's a strange thing to omit.
Anyway, I'm sorry to be so negative, but I just couldn't get into this novel the way I wanted to. The lack of "investigative meat" bugged me. I'm sure this would be a great novel for anyone looking for a romance / thriller-lite novel, as long as you don't expect forensics and don't mind the psychic consultations.
~ Ana Mardoll
I picked this up at the library, and it's my first Ted Dekker novel. I understand he's quite famous, and I don't want to be overly negative, but I just really didn't enjoy this novel, and it didn't hold my interest. I really like crime dramas on television, and this novel definitely doesn't seem to fit that demographic.
There seems to be very little emphasis on either the physical hunt or the psychological chase. CODIS and AFIS are mentioned about once each, very perfunctorily, and after that it seems like every crime scene is described (and dismissed) with a quick "Brad knew the killer was too smart to leave any X behind" where X is biologicals, fingerprints, useful fibers, etc. This gets sort of frustrating after a time, as if Brad has a direct line to the author; even on CSI when the clues don't pan out, we still get to read about the search. The psychological profiling is almost as flimsy - the detectives operate by a stream-of-consciousness rapid-fire profiling, where they just say the first thing that comes to their mind, because rapid guesses are "more real" or something. It's all very mystical.
For the first 100+ pages, the only detective work we really see is that the FBI detectives consult a psychic! This is kind of hand-waved by her being some kind of mentally gifted savant who "sees" ghosts as a way of processing all the extra information she picks up that other people miss, but at the end of the day that "extra information" isn't being processed by anyone except the psychic, so that's what she fundamentally is, within the boundaries of the story. Since this thread seemed so tenuous, it didn't hold my interest at all, I'm afraid.
A lot of this is written like a romance novel to me. The lead investigator is a "blond George Clooney" (and please can authors stop writing like this? I can count on one hand the number of Hollywood dead-ringers I've met in my life. I'd really rather go back to "tall, dark, and handsome" than these Tom Cruise, George Clooney, and Matt Damon lookalikes in all my books), and pages and pages and pages are spent describing the women in the novel studying him, thinking about him, desiring him, and feeling like they aren't worth his time, etc. Also, one of the female main characters is named "Paradise", which makes me feel like I'm being beat about the head with Meaningful Names.
Little details are missing that bug me. When the serial killer breaks into a woman's house, he carefully cuts through the window glass to avoid triggering the alarm contacts that she has on all her doors and windows. At the end of the chapter, though, he strolls out the back door. What happened to the alarm system? He can't have turned it off from the inside, because modern alarm systems require a code - there's not just an "off" button. Maybe he cut the wires or something, but it's a strange thing to omit.
Anyway, I'm sorry to be so negative, but I just couldn't get into this novel the way I wanted to. The lack of "investigative meat" bugged me. I'm sure this would be a great novel for anyone looking for a romance / thriller-lite novel, as long as you don't expect forensics and don't mind the psychic consultations.
~ Ana Mardoll
March 25, 2011
“An eerie, engaging novel bringing to the light a unique view of those we judge as mental ill.”
Being a fan of Ted Dekker, I knew the type of novel I would be reading when I selected The Bride Collector. Dekker is one of my favorite fiction authors. For instance, I knew I would find dark suspense (often not for the squeamish), tight well-written plot and dialogue, and a focus on some component of Christianity.What I did not expect was to begin to question my perception or at least to reconsider my perspective on what is truly considered ‘mentally ill.’
The story centers around Brad Raines, an FBI agent in pursuit of a deranged serial killer, who engages a select group of residents at the Center for Wellness and Intelligence, a facility for the highly intelligent mentally ill.
The killers identity is revealed early in the novel giving the reader an ‘insiders view’ of the mind of such a psychopath. He is on a mission from God, or so he believes. He kills beautiful women believing that he is delivering them to God and arranges the crime scene to display the victim as a perfect bride.
The backdrop of the story is the interaction of Brad Raines with those we call mentally ill. These are exceptional bright people with mental disorders. This comparison of ideologies, the intelligent and the insane, intrigued me.
The element of frankness, innocence, and an untainted outlook on life is revealed in one of the most engaging characters, Paradise Foundry. She is intelligent but also damaged by events in her life. She doesn’t consider herself mentally ill but has no desire to leave the facility. Fear is her mental illness.
Loved this novel and appreciated that it contained no profanity or vulgarity. The best writers have no need for such things in their novels. I recommend it for those that love suspense and/or thrillers but I do warn those that are squeamish. I am looking forward to the next Dekker novel.
Being a fan of Ted Dekker, I knew the type of novel I would be reading when I selected The Bride Collector. Dekker is one of my favorite fiction authors. For instance, I knew I would find dark suspense (often not for the squeamish), tight well-written plot and dialogue, and a focus on some component of Christianity.What I did not expect was to begin to question my perception or at least to reconsider my perspective on what is truly considered ‘mentally ill.’
The story centers around Brad Raines, an FBI agent in pursuit of a deranged serial killer, who engages a select group of residents at the Center for Wellness and Intelligence, a facility for the highly intelligent mentally ill.
The killers identity is revealed early in the novel giving the reader an ‘insiders view’ of the mind of such a psychopath. He is on a mission from God, or so he believes. He kills beautiful women believing that he is delivering them to God and arranges the crime scene to display the victim as a perfect bride.
The backdrop of the story is the interaction of Brad Raines with those we call mentally ill. These are exceptional bright people with mental disorders. This comparison of ideologies, the intelligent and the insane, intrigued me.
The element of frankness, innocence, and an untainted outlook on life is revealed in one of the most engaging characters, Paradise Foundry. She is intelligent but also damaged by events in her life. She doesn’t consider herself mentally ill but has no desire to leave the facility. Fear is her mental illness.
Loved this novel and appreciated that it contained no profanity or vulgarity. The best writers have no need for such things in their novels. I recommend it for those that love suspense and/or thrillers but I do warn those that are squeamish. I am looking forward to the next Dekker novel.
April 4, 2022
What a weird little book!
The Bride Collector is yet another book a buddy read with my friend Kelsea and like the last we book we read together this one is another wild read. I don't really know how I feel about this book. I liked it because it was intensely readable and I didn't want to put the book down. But I didn't like the "romance" in this book. It made both me and my friend feel uncomfortable. I don't want to spoil anything but the "romance" felt predatory and not well fleshed out. It was the most insta lovey "romance" I've read that wasn't in a YA novel.
Overall I mostly enjoyed it because it felt like an episode of Criminal Minds(Kelsea said that first) and who doesn't love Criminal Minds. There's another show I want to compare it to but that might be spoilery.
Ted Dekker is an OG in the game so I don't need to recommend him to anyone... but if you have a similar reading taste to me, you might like it.
The Bride Collector is yet another book a buddy read with my friend Kelsea and like the last we book we read together this one is another wild read. I don't really know how I feel about this book. I liked it because it was intensely readable and I didn't want to put the book down. But I didn't like the "romance" in this book. It made both me and my friend feel uncomfortable. I don't want to spoil anything but the "romance" felt predatory and not well fleshed out. It was the most insta lovey "romance" I've read that wasn't in a YA novel.
Overall I mostly enjoyed it because it felt like an episode of Criminal Minds(Kelsea said that first) and who doesn't love Criminal Minds. There's another show I want to compare it to but that might be spoilery.
Ted Dekker is an OG in the game so I don't need to recommend him to anyone... but if you have a similar reading taste to me, you might like it.
November 26, 2010
I've never read a Ted Dekker book, yet I'd been told great things about him & his work. When I got the chance to review this, I figured that this would be a great chance to experience the author. I just wish that this had lived up to all of the hype.
The book follows the character of FBI agent Brad Raines, a man who is no stranger to loss. With his own dark past looming over him, he attempts to uncover the identity of a killer known only as the Bride Collector. The Bride Collector has tracked down several extraordinarily beautiful women, then murdered them & left them in a macabre pose. Searching for answers, Raines travels to a local mental institution where he meets the enigmatic Paradise- a woman who has the unique talent of drawing out the last memories of the dead.
(Might be considered spoilers by some)
Where do I begin? First off, there's far too many coincidences in this book. The killer just so happens to be able to not only ID the FBI agents working the case, but he also manages to find out where they live- & manages to do all of this without gaining any attention to himself. That I'd be willing to overlook. BUT there's something else that bugged me more. It irked me that just about everyone not only accepted that Paradise- a patient in a mental institution- was able to read dead bodies, but that they brought one of the bodies to the institute for her to read. Really? Seriously now... even if Raines was the type to believe in the supernatural, it would be near impossible for them to move the body to a mental institution for an inmate to touch- just on the say so that she was able to read the dead. Now if there'd been some sort of buildup where Raines & his FBI partners had researched Paradise, discovered that the stories all checked out & then mentioned how they had to sneak the body away, then I'd be less skeptical. I was also skeptical about the romance that I was supposed to believe was developing between Paradise & Raines. There just wasn't any chemistry between the two of them & as such, it all felt a little forced to me.
I can't help but think that if Dekker had fleshed out the romance & tried to eliminate some of the plot holes, the story would have been far better. Too much of the story is spent on the main characters re-hashing their own personal angsts over & over again.
Now I will say that Dekker does know how to write in order to entertain. As far as entertainment value went, as long as I was willing to ignore the HUGE gaping plot holes & farfetched ideas, I was able to finish the book. This wasn't the worst thing I've read in the thriller genre, but I've read far better by other authors. This might make for an ok beach read, but if you really want a tightly written & semi-plausible storyline, you aren't going to find it in this book. But if you just want something to while away a few hours, this might satisfy you. Offhand, I can't muster enough enthusiasm over this book to give it anything more than 2 stars. I found it entertaining enough to read & finish, but in the end this is just a mediocre book.
(ARC provided by amazon vine)
The book follows the character of FBI agent Brad Raines, a man who is no stranger to loss. With his own dark past looming over him, he attempts to uncover the identity of a killer known only as the Bride Collector. The Bride Collector has tracked down several extraordinarily beautiful women, then murdered them & left them in a macabre pose. Searching for answers, Raines travels to a local mental institution where he meets the enigmatic Paradise- a woman who has the unique talent of drawing out the last memories of the dead.
(Might be considered spoilers by some)
Where do I begin? First off, there's far too many coincidences in this book. The killer just so happens to be able to not only ID the FBI agents working the case, but he also manages to find out where they live- & manages to do all of this without gaining any attention to himself. That I'd be willing to overlook. BUT there's something else that bugged me more. It irked me that just about everyone not only accepted that Paradise- a patient in a mental institution- was able to read dead bodies, but that they brought one of the bodies to the institute for her to read. Really? Seriously now... even if Raines was the type to believe in the supernatural, it would be near impossible for them to move the body to a mental institution for an inmate to touch- just on the say so that she was able to read the dead. Now if there'd been some sort of buildup where Raines & his FBI partners had researched Paradise, discovered that the stories all checked out & then mentioned how they had to sneak the body away, then I'd be less skeptical. I was also skeptical about the romance that I was supposed to believe was developing between Paradise & Raines. There just wasn't any chemistry between the two of them & as such, it all felt a little forced to me.
I can't help but think that if Dekker had fleshed out the romance & tried to eliminate some of the plot holes, the story would have been far better. Too much of the story is spent on the main characters re-hashing their own personal angsts over & over again.
Now I will say that Dekker does know how to write in order to entertain. As far as entertainment value went, as long as I was willing to ignore the HUGE gaping plot holes & farfetched ideas, I was able to finish the book. This wasn't the worst thing I've read in the thriller genre, but I've read far better by other authors. This might make for an ok beach read, but if you really want a tightly written & semi-plausible storyline, you aren't going to find it in this book. But if you just want something to while away a few hours, this might satisfy you. Offhand, I can't muster enough enthusiasm over this book to give it anything more than 2 stars. I found it entertaining enough to read & finish, but in the end this is just a mediocre book.
(ARC provided by amazon vine)
September 1, 2014
It has been a while since I read a thriller, or anything Dekker, and I assumed picking one up would help get me back into reading something besides teen fiction and manga.
The Bride Collector proved to be a poor choice. The plot follows a fairly standard serial-killer/thriller model with some unfortunate additions. Any time the novel shifted to the serial killer's POV I wanted to throw it against a wall. It also included random POVs from the main FBI agent, his partner, and a girl who struggles with psychosis.
The characters lack depth and sustain grueling back-stories to push them along. The suicide of a fiance. A failed marriage. A murdering father. Everyone struggles with debilitating issues that quickly find resolution (all it takes is a little love and a good cry-fest). All the characters lacked depth.
Because the reader has access to the serial killer's thoughts, I didn't find it particularly suspenseful. I forced myself to zip through the novel or I never would have finished it.
An entirely mediocre novel. It reads like a cheap thriller but lacks suspense. I would even argue it borderline insults with its 'totally normal' psychosis patients.
I was to distracted by the plot to care for the moral undertones and message of God's love. At any rate, it barely changes with the characters.
A book I will forget as quickly as I read.
The Bride Collector proved to be a poor choice. The plot follows a fairly standard serial-killer/thriller model with some unfortunate additions. Any time the novel shifted to the serial killer's POV I wanted to throw it against a wall. It also included random POVs from the main FBI agent, his partner, and a girl who struggles with psychosis.
The characters lack depth and sustain grueling back-stories to push them along. The suicide of a fiance. A failed marriage. A murdering father. Everyone struggles with debilitating issues that quickly find resolution (all it takes is a little love and a good cry-fest). All the characters lacked depth.
Because the reader has access to the serial killer's thoughts, I didn't find it particularly suspenseful. I forced myself to zip through the novel or I never would have finished it.
An entirely mediocre novel. It reads like a cheap thriller but lacks suspense. I would even argue it borderline insults with its 'totally normal' psychosis patients.
I was to distracted by the plot to care for the moral undertones and message of God's love. At any rate, it barely changes with the characters.
A book I will forget as quickly as I read.
October 20, 2012
I won't go into the plot of the book, which was interesting enough. It was the relationships between the characters that made the book so blah to me. At the beginning of the book, there are hints that the main character has feelings for a co-worker. Later, another character is introduced who he develops feelings for. Instead of making the main character have to confront his conflicted feelings, the first love interest is unceremoniously killed off to make way for the second, and while the main character professes being "close" to her, he mourns her death for all of five minutes, and then fall in love with the new girl in the same amount of time.
The fact that the main character is also built up to be so irresistible to women was also kind of annoying. There wasn't a single female character with more than two lines who didn't sing the praises of his "godlike beauty." Seriously.
The pseudo-theological overtones of the book also didn't do anything for me. Still, I was interested enough to finish the book, so I wouldn't say I disliked it as a whole. Still, the writing was mediocre at best.
The fact that the main character is also built up to be so irresistible to women was also kind of annoying. There wasn't a single female character with more than two lines who didn't sing the praises of his "godlike beauty." Seriously.
The pseudo-theological overtones of the book also didn't do anything for me. Still, I was interested enough to finish the book, so I wouldn't say I disliked it as a whole. Still, the writing was mediocre at best.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 29, 2025
another 4 star read!
The ladies at my pool was talking to Ted Dekker and had to read one of my favorites from him. I love the storyline of the mentally ill in this book. Ted shows them to be people that are worth to know. Paradise our main character is woman with bipolar who helps the police find and capture a killer who is killing beautiful woman. He killed 6 woman but who is the 7th and can our FBI agent Brad find him before its to late. Will Brad follow his feelings for Paradise and can he save her when things goes wrong? I have to say I didn't like this book as much as I did the first time I read it but it is still a great read. It did drag some at the beginning but all in all the book is still worth the read!! I just reread this book again and it still stands up. Love the narrator from the audiobook. If you want to read this book definitely would recommend you listening to it! Great book!!
The ladies at my pool was talking to Ted Dekker and had to read one of my favorites from him. I love the storyline of the mentally ill in this book. Ted shows them to be people that are worth to know. Paradise our main character is woman with bipolar who helps the police find and capture a killer who is killing beautiful woman. He killed 6 woman but who is the 7th and can our FBI agent Brad find him before its to late. Will Brad follow his feelings for Paradise and can he save her when things goes wrong? I have to say I didn't like this book as much as I did the first time I read it but it is still a great read. It did drag some at the beginning but all in all the book is still worth the read!! I just reread this book again and it still stands up. Love the narrator from the audiobook. If you want to read this book definitely would recommend you listening to it! Great book!!
October 21, 2012
An absolutely terrible book. It uses the "mentally ill as geniuses" formula, setting up the protagonist with four mental patients, each of whom are gifted in their own particular way. It was supposed to be a thriller, but there was nothing to keep you turning the pages, except the hope they'd ALL be killed in the end. There was no suspense to it, and though some authors can use a formula and still be good, this one just relied on formula and brought nothing new to it. Just bad writing.
August 18, 2019
UGH. I hated the main characters so much that I started rooting for The Bride Collector.
August 8, 2010
What makes a good Thriller/Mystery books? It has to have:
1. A killer/s
2. The victim/s
3. FBI protagonist
4. cliff hanger endings in every chapter.
5. surprising twist/s in the story
I'm a fan of this genre, so it means I read a lot of books in this niche, and I confess that I'm already used to the plots of this kind of stories, and that made the story a cliche for me.
The story is all about Brad Raine, a FBI agent who will investigate the killings of the so called "Brides". The killer left a note that lead Raine in an asylum. He will eventually meet the patients of CWI and will ask the help of those “insane” people. As the story goes, he'll meet Paradise, a patient who can see ghosts and who happens to be the last "bride".
When I'm reading the The Bride Collector, I almost know what will going to happen and who ends with whom and who the killer is, coz it is already told in chapter 2 who the killer is, so the guessing game for the killer's name will stop in that chapter. What made me finish the book is that I want to know how The Rain Man stopped the killings, though there's no major twist in the story that shocked me.
It is not that exciting story but this book made me to contemplate on to something... The questions of "How can we say that a person is normal?" Can we say that he/she is not normal because she can see a ghost? Are the patients in asylum not really a normal people? Do the psychotics think the "outside people" are also insane because we can't understand "their world"? Is being normal means being ordinary? It is really hard to answer those questions, I might need to ask Dra. Ranee for the answers.
I bought 2 copies of the book because of my high expectations for The Bride Collector, though it failed me, I still had fun reading it... And I'm still looking forward to reading the other works of Dekker.
1. A killer/s
2. The victim/s
3. FBI protagonist
4. cliff hanger endings in every chapter.
5. surprising twist/s in the story
I'm a fan of this genre, so it means I read a lot of books in this niche, and I confess that I'm already used to the plots of this kind of stories, and that made the story a cliche for me.
The story is all about Brad Raine, a FBI agent who will investigate the killings of the so called "Brides". The killer left a note that lead Raine in an asylum. He will eventually meet the patients of CWI and will ask the help of those “insane” people. As the story goes, he'll meet Paradise, a patient who can see ghosts and who happens to be the last "bride".
When I'm reading the The Bride Collector, I almost know what will going to happen and who ends with whom and who the killer is, coz it is already told in chapter 2 who the killer is, so the guessing game for the killer's name will stop in that chapter. What made me finish the book is that I want to know how The Rain Man stopped the killings, though there's no major twist in the story that shocked me.
It is not that exciting story but this book made me to contemplate on to something... The questions of "How can we say that a person is normal?" Can we say that he/she is not normal because she can see a ghost? Are the patients in asylum not really a normal people? Do the psychotics think the "outside people" are also insane because we can't understand "their world"? Is being normal means being ordinary? It is really hard to answer those questions, I might need to ask Dra. Ranee for the answers.
I bought 2 copies of the book because of my high expectations for The Bride Collector, though it failed me, I still had fun reading it... And I'm still looking forward to reading the other works of Dekker.
June 2, 2010
There is a seriel killer out there, he targets beautiful young women, women who don't have any flaws. He kills in the name of God, well he thinks that he is God. He drains the bodies of these women and hangs them up in sheds and old farm houses, he applies makeup to them. I could only make it half way through this book. I know what's going to happen and I can't stand that...he's going to abduct and try to kill one of the main characters, Nikki. Plus there is some sort of backstory with this girl named Paradise who lives at an insane asylum. I just couldn't get into it enough to care about what happened to these crappy characters.
August 2, 2014
I have to say the idea for it was a great plot, the characters were okay and interesting. I do like the dialogue between the people in the wellness center but beyond that I really didn't like it. I skipped a lot of pages to be honest because it bore me so I just skimmed it to get the general idea.
I think it would have been better if the main characters hadn't been so closely related in personality. At first I thought the main character WAS the killer, I figured it was a split personality, that would have been an interesting twist.
I think it would have been better if the main characters hadn't been so closely related in personality. At first I thought the main character WAS the killer, I figured it was a split personality, that would have been an interesting twist.
September 10, 2016
Kitabın başında hemen katille irtibatta bulunması pek hoşuma gitmedi. Bu kadar başlarda böyle yapması gizemi biraz azaltmış. Sanki birde çok gereksiz yere konuyu bu kadar uzatmış gibi geldi bana.
October 27, 2017
Tüm kitap severlere merhaba! Bir polisiyenin daha sonuna geldim ve şimdi yorum sırası! Ted Dekker’ın daha önce Çember serisine başlamıştım. Tıpkı Çember serisinin ilk kitabında olduğu gibi bu kitapta da bir miktar hayal kırıklığına uğrattı beni yazar. Bu yazarın sıkıntısı şu galiba: Bir yere kadar kafasında çok iyi kurgu yapıyor. Konu güzel, karakterler on numara ama yolun geri kalanını planlamadan, akışına bırakarak hareket ediyor. Ve belli yerden sonra o güzelim kurgu bir anda karmakarışık ve saçma bir hale dönüşüveriyor. Okuduğum eserlerinde ilk başta onaylayarak ve severek başlarken sonunda sürekli eksikler ve saçmalıklar arasında buluyorum kendimi. Bu kitapta da tam olarak olan buydu zannedersem.
Kitapta arka kapaktan da anlayabileceğiniz gibi bir seri katilin öldürmek üzere kurban seçtiği gelinler ve onların peşindeki dedektiflerden bahsediliyor. Buraya kadar klasik bir polisiye olduğunu düşünebilirsiniz ama işin aslında öyle olmadığını hatta polisiyenin diğer unsurlar yanında bariz şekilde sönük kaldığını okudukça fark ediyorsunuz. Kitapta psikolojik-gerilim ve aşk yönlerinin daha ağır olduğunu söyleyebilirim. Bu yüzden onu sıradan bir polisiye olarak düşünerek okumaya başlamamanızı tavsiye ederim.
Spoiler vermeden anlatamayacaktım. İnsanların sırf güzel olduğu için tehlikede olması mümkün mü bu kitaptaki gibi 20-25 yaş arası genç ve güzel bayanları gözüne kestiren psikopat bir seri katil söz konusuysa evet gerçi kitapta felsefi yönden baktığımızda güzellik algısının kişiden kişiye değişebileceğini düşünürsek güzellik tanımının ucunu açık bırakarak herkes için ortak bir güzellik algısı sunduğunda ötürü kitaba bir miktar kızgınım. Her neyse. Öncelikle sizi baş karakterlerden biriyle yani seri katille tanıştırmadan önce seri katillerin en temel özelliklerinden kısaca bahsetmek isterim ki bu özelliğe çoğu polisiye kitabında rastlamanız mümkün. Seri katiller yapmış oldukları şeyleri, bir görev bilinci ile yaparlar. Bu görev genellikle onlara tanrı dedikleri üstün bir güç tarafından verilmiştir. Kendilerinin toplumdaki herkesten farklı, üstün ve seçilmiş olduklarına inanırlar. Tanrı ile konuştuklarını zannederek ayinler yaparak tanrıya kurban verirler öldürdükleri kişileri ve bununla huzur bulduklarına inanırlar. Bu kitapta işte tam böyle bir ruh hastasının psikolojisi insanlara bakış açısı, ruhi durumu öyle güzel anlatılmış ki başarılı bir polisiye okuduğunuzu hissediyorsunuz.
Ben şahsen psikolojik hastalıklara, şizofreni, bipolarlık gibi psikotik hastalıkların insanın zihnine neler yapabileceğini merak eden bir insan olarak kitapta bunun çok güzel şekilde aktarıldığını düşünüyorum. Yazarın muhtemelen bu kitabı yazarken bununla ilgili detaylı araştırmalar yaptığı belli oluyor. Bir şizofreni hastasının aklından neler geçtiği gözler önüne başarı ile serilmiş. Onların iç dünyasını kitap güzel şekilde yansıtmış, konuşurken kurdukları biz okurların bile anlamadığı cümleler, yazdıkları şiirlerde daldan dala atlayan milyonlarca düşünce kargaşası kafalarının içinde neler olup bittiğini güzel şekilde görmemize olanak sağlıyor.
Polisiye yönü çok ağır basmasa bile güzel bir gerilim kitabı idi. Kitapta ön planda olan birden çok karakterin gözünden anlatılan akıcı kitaptaki ruhsal tahlilleri çok başarılı buldum üstelik kitabın öğretici yönü de oldukça yüksekti. Yüksek puanı sırf bunun için veriyorum yoksa kurguda boşluklar ve saçmalıklar olduğunu ifade etmiştim. Okunmaya değer olduğunu düşünüyorum. İyi okumalar diliyorum! :)
Kitapta arka kapaktan da anlayabileceğiniz gibi bir seri katilin öldürmek üzere kurban seçtiği gelinler ve onların peşindeki dedektiflerden bahsediliyor. Buraya kadar klasik bir polisiye olduğunu düşünebilirsiniz ama işin aslında öyle olmadığını hatta polisiyenin diğer unsurlar yanında bariz şekilde sönük kaldığını okudukça fark ediyorsunuz. Kitapta psikolojik-gerilim ve aşk yönlerinin daha ağır olduğunu söyleyebilirim. Bu yüzden onu sıradan bir polisiye olarak düşünerek okumaya başlamamanızı tavsiye ederim.
Spoiler vermeden anlatamayacaktım. İnsanların sırf güzel olduğu için tehlikede olması mümkün mü bu kitaptaki gibi 20-25 yaş arası genç ve güzel bayanları gözüne kestiren psikopat bir seri katil söz konusuysa evet gerçi kitapta felsefi yönden baktığımızda güzellik algısının kişiden kişiye değişebileceğini düşünürsek güzellik tanımının ucunu açık bırakarak herkes için ortak bir güzellik algısı sunduğunda ötürü kitaba bir miktar kızgınım. Her neyse. Öncelikle sizi baş karakterlerden biriyle yani seri katille tanıştırmadan önce seri katillerin en temel özelliklerinden kısaca bahsetmek isterim ki bu özelliğe çoğu polisiye kitabında rastlamanız mümkün. Seri katiller yapmış oldukları şeyleri, bir görev bilinci ile yaparlar. Bu görev genellikle onlara tanrı dedikleri üstün bir güç tarafından verilmiştir. Kendilerinin toplumdaki herkesten farklı, üstün ve seçilmiş olduklarına inanırlar. Tanrı ile konuştuklarını zannederek ayinler yaparak tanrıya kurban verirler öldürdükleri kişileri ve bununla huzur bulduklarına inanırlar. Bu kitapta işte tam böyle bir ruh hastasının psikolojisi insanlara bakış açısı, ruhi durumu öyle güzel anlatılmış ki başarılı bir polisiye okuduğunuzu hissediyorsunuz.
Ben şahsen psikolojik hastalıklara, şizofreni, bipolarlık gibi psikotik hastalıkların insanın zihnine neler yapabileceğini merak eden bir insan olarak kitapta bunun çok güzel şekilde aktarıldığını düşünüyorum. Yazarın muhtemelen bu kitabı yazarken bununla ilgili detaylı araştırmalar yaptığı belli oluyor. Bir şizofreni hastasının aklından neler geçtiği gözler önüne başarı ile serilmiş. Onların iç dünyasını kitap güzel şekilde yansıtmış, konuşurken kurdukları biz okurların bile anlamadığı cümleler, yazdıkları şiirlerde daldan dala atlayan milyonlarca düşünce kargaşası kafalarının içinde neler olup bittiğini güzel şekilde görmemize olanak sağlıyor.
Polisiye yönü çok ağır basmasa bile güzel bir gerilim kitabı idi. Kitapta ön planda olan birden çok karakterin gözünden anlatılan akıcı kitaptaki ruhsal tahlilleri çok başarılı buldum üstelik kitabın öğretici yönü de oldukça yüksekti. Yüksek puanı sırf bunun için veriyorum yoksa kurguda boşluklar ve saçmalıklar olduğunu ifade etmiştim. Okunmaya değer olduğunu düşünüyorum. İyi okumalar diliyorum! :)
December 31, 2025
This was definitely a compelling and suspenseful read. The tone reminded me a lot of Criminal Minds—especially with the deep dive into the killer’s psyche. Unfortunately, I’ve never cared for Criminal Minds as I’ve found it a bit on the dark side for my tastes. Apart from that—and the fact that I spent 70% of the book believing that the protagonist was, in fact, the killer due to a psychotic break and multiple personality disorder (thanks to Thr3e, I have trust issues, Ted)—I did enjoy this book and the ending.
A few more things I didn’t like;
• Brad didn’t strike me as a very good FBI special agent. He was pretty much bested at every turn.
• the whole investigation was a bit absurd (Brad spent more time chit chatting with a mentally ill girl he was infatuated with than actually investigating). I understand the concept was that these mentally ill patients, and especially the object of Brad’s desire, had a “special set of skills” but it bothered me that no formal investigation actually seemed to take place on the page. And I couldn’t help but feel like some characters might not have died if the FBI had done their job.
Anyhoo, that’s all I have to say about that.
Content warnings:
Sex—somewhat detailed depictions of nude female victims and a killer in his underwear as part of his ritual; references to bodily functions; references to attempted rape
Profanity—Pissed, Freaking, Hell, Damn
Violence—this is definitely a violent book and is pretty detailed; there is a high on-page death count. Some of the violence might make more sensitive readers squeamish—e.g. descriptions of the killer “drilling” into his victims bones.
A few more things I didn’t like;
• Brad didn’t strike me as a very good FBI special agent. He was pretty much bested at every turn.
• the whole investigation was a bit absurd (Brad spent more time chit chatting with a mentally ill girl he was infatuated with than actually investigating). I understand the concept was that these mentally ill patients, and especially the object of Brad’s desire, had a “special set of skills” but it bothered me that no formal investigation actually seemed to take place on the page. And I couldn’t help but feel like some characters might not have died if the FBI had done their job.
Anyhoo, that’s all I have to say about that.
Content warnings:
Sex—somewhat detailed depictions of nude female victims and a killer in his underwear as part of his ritual; references to bodily functions; references to attempted rape
Profanity—Pissed, Freaking, Hell, Damn
Violence—this is definitely a violent book and is pretty detailed; there is a high on-page death count. Some of the violence might make more sensitive readers squeamish—e.g. descriptions of the killer “drilling” into his victims bones.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 18, 2010
This was my first Ted Dekker book and after immersing myself in Mr. Dekker's prose for the last week, I feel like Augustus Gloop might have felt after drinking Willy Wonka's chocolate river - - satiated and happy to have done it, despite the messiness.
The Bride Collector is the type of genre book I have always been drawn to, a mystery/thriller. I don't mind if I solve the mysteries/thrillers before the end (provided that if the clues are obvious the hero or heroine figures it out as well). What I do mind is if the hero or heroine does something completely out of character or something that is so obviously to make him or her have a run-in with the killer or bad guy but is the type of move that defies common sense (such as taking a midnight stroll while a serial killer is on the loose, right smack in the middle of the killer's hunting ground).
Fortunately Mr. Dekker avoids illogical character actions and reveals the identity of the Bride Collector fairly early on. The mystery isn't so much the killer's identity but why he's doing what he's doing and whether or not hero Brad Raines can stop him.
I found Brad to be a hero you can root for. I liked his character and I particularly enjoyed that Mr. Dekker didn't say so much with words that Brad was a faithful and loyal man who was adept at his job, he let Brad's actions shape and mold his character. If you've read my past reviews you know that I like characters with flaws and Brad is no exception.
The Center for Wellness and Intelligence was an interesting and fascinating locale for a portion of the book. Supporting characters Allison, Andrea, Roudy and Cass added extra dimension and flavor to the story and I found the psychiatric and psychological themes to be appealing without being heavy handed or overly academic. These characters on their own formed unusual stories that could have demanded more.
As much as I liked Paradise, I also felt she was a bit weak and I wished her family storyline and connections could have been further developed and identified. I enjoyed her "ability" and I would have appreciated reading more about that.
The Bride Collector himself, however, was a powerful and satisfying character. As much as you root for Brad and hope for the Collector's failure, you also hope that these two strong men will come face to face, a good versus evil, if you will. Mr. Dekker did an outstanding job with fleshing out the Collector and making him more than just "the serial killer".
In short, I found The Bride Collector to be an intense, action-packed, and ultimately very satisfying, read. Mr. Dekker threw one or two unexpected curveballs in the book that kept this reader on her toes and anxiously flipping each page. I thought the story was absorbing, as well as Mr. Dekker's writing, which made me care about the characters and what happened to them. I plan on adding Mr. Dekker to my "must read" list and am pleased that I had this opportunity.
The Bride Collector is the type of genre book I have always been drawn to, a mystery/thriller. I don't mind if I solve the mysteries/thrillers before the end (provided that if the clues are obvious the hero or heroine figures it out as well). What I do mind is if the hero or heroine does something completely out of character or something that is so obviously to make him or her have a run-in with the killer or bad guy but is the type of move that defies common sense (such as taking a midnight stroll while a serial killer is on the loose, right smack in the middle of the killer's hunting ground).
Fortunately Mr. Dekker avoids illogical character actions and reveals the identity of the Bride Collector fairly early on. The mystery isn't so much the killer's identity but why he's doing what he's doing and whether or not hero Brad Raines can stop him.
I found Brad to be a hero you can root for. I liked his character and I particularly enjoyed that Mr. Dekker didn't say so much with words that Brad was a faithful and loyal man who was adept at his job, he let Brad's actions shape and mold his character. If you've read my past reviews you know that I like characters with flaws and Brad is no exception.
The Center for Wellness and Intelligence was an interesting and fascinating locale for a portion of the book. Supporting characters Allison, Andrea, Roudy and Cass added extra dimension and flavor to the story and I found the psychiatric and psychological themes to be appealing without being heavy handed or overly academic. These characters on their own formed unusual stories that could have demanded more.
As much as I liked Paradise, I also felt she was a bit weak and I wished her family storyline and connections could have been further developed and identified. I enjoyed her "ability" and I would have appreciated reading more about that.
The Bride Collector himself, however, was a powerful and satisfying character. As much as you root for Brad and hope for the Collector's failure, you also hope that these two strong men will come face to face, a good versus evil, if you will. Mr. Dekker did an outstanding job with fleshing out the Collector and making him more than just "the serial killer".
In short, I found The Bride Collector to be an intense, action-packed, and ultimately very satisfying, read. Mr. Dekker threw one or two unexpected curveballs in the book that kept this reader on her toes and anxiously flipping each page. I thought the story was absorbing, as well as Mr. Dekker's writing, which made me care about the characters and what happened to them. I plan on adding Mr. Dekker to my "must read" list and am pleased that I had this opportunity.
August 17, 2014
Let me start out by saying that I did not expect to love this book. My first Ted Dekker book was "Thr3e" and all the others of his that I read paled when compared to the brilliance that was Thr3e. I thought that Ted Dekker might be a kind of "one hit wonder," but this book changed my mind. The character development, the plot development, the clear and profound message; it all was fantastic and I was blown away!
The characters in this book are flawed and therefore relatable (except for the serial killer). Ted Dekker's writing style when describing the thought processes of each character is brilliant and inspiring. Each character is struggling with feelings of loneliness, love, insignificance, and insanity and all these emotions are wonderfully woven together to flesh out his characters. It is difficult for writers to switch between points of view, but Ted Dekker did this with such skill and timing that you actually looked forward to the other perspectives.
The plot was driven forward at a rapid pace with just enough pause to give you time to muse and just enough suspense to keep you from meditating. The book was replete with twists and turns that kept me wishing I had enough time for just one more chapter. SPOILER ALERT: One of the main characters dies, something that usually infuriates me, but Dekker managed to do it in such a way that I was able to better relate to the main character of the novel. I just wanted to give him props for that. END OF SPOILER: The ending did seem to drag on just a little bit, but when you can see that you only have 20 pages left, it makes it all worth it. I can't tell you how many times I would close the book to head to another activity or event and say to myself, "This is such a GOOD book!"
Finally, the message this book contains is absolutely amazing. And the funny part is that the point of the whole book is explicitly explained by none other than the killer himself. Genius! This is a book about what it truly means to love, and not just the infatuated love that newly weds experience, but the love that one can only know through a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Because of God's infinite love, we are all his favorites, and heaven waits with bated breath to see what God's favorite will do. This beautiful message is communicated throughout the entire book without being in your face.
Expertly written, beautifully crafted, this book definitely renewed my love for Ted Dekker and has equaled, if not surpassed, the craftsmanship I saw in Thr3e that originally drew me to this author. This book deserves all five stars!
The characters in this book are flawed and therefore relatable (except for the serial killer). Ted Dekker's writing style when describing the thought processes of each character is brilliant and inspiring. Each character is struggling with feelings of loneliness, love, insignificance, and insanity and all these emotions are wonderfully woven together to flesh out his characters. It is difficult for writers to switch between points of view, but Ted Dekker did this with such skill and timing that you actually looked forward to the other perspectives.
The plot was driven forward at a rapid pace with just enough pause to give you time to muse and just enough suspense to keep you from meditating. The book was replete with twists and turns that kept me wishing I had enough time for just one more chapter. SPOILER ALERT: One of the main characters dies, something that usually infuriates me, but Dekker managed to do it in such a way that I was able to better relate to the main character of the novel. I just wanted to give him props for that. END OF SPOILER: The ending did seem to drag on just a little bit, but when you can see that you only have 20 pages left, it makes it all worth it. I can't tell you how many times I would close the book to head to another activity or event and say to myself, "This is such a GOOD book!"
Finally, the message this book contains is absolutely amazing. And the funny part is that the point of the whole book is explicitly explained by none other than the killer himself. Genius! This is a book about what it truly means to love, and not just the infatuated love that newly weds experience, but the love that one can only know through a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Because of God's infinite love, we are all his favorites, and heaven waits with bated breath to see what God's favorite will do. This beautiful message is communicated throughout the entire book without being in your face.
Expertly written, beautifully crafted, this book definitely renewed my love for Ted Dekker and has equaled, if not surpassed, the craftsmanship I saw in Thr3e that originally drew me to this author. This book deserves all five stars!
May 5, 2011
Normally I love Ted Dekker's books. The writing, characters, plot; all of it. This book however, left me kind of disappointed. The first half was really strong. I've given 3 stars, should be 3.5 because the writing, as always, is awesome. I have nothing to critique until about half way through, when things fell apart. It seemed as though he were making conclusions FOR the reader, rather than leading me to them as is usually his way of writing. Things that didn't need to be explained were explained to the point it was annoying. For example, when Brad is shot, the severity, or non-severity of his wounds was repeated a few times after the fact. Once would have been sufficient for me.
Brad's character was hard to relate to as well. He was one person in the beginning, and suddenly he's this broken mess of a man. I'd have liked to see more of a transition, more foreshadowing of this inner self. It was like he met Paradise and all of a sudden we're dealing with a different character. Doing that shattered the connection I felt as a reader and distanced me from the rest of the story.
The biggest reason it fell apart for me is the 'preachy' feel. I felt near the last third that I was being preached to and that really irritates me. Very unlike Ted Dekker, so it suprised me. Yes, all of his books have an underlying theme of good vs evil, sometimes that theme is more noticeable than others, but never have I read one where I felt a set of beliefs or ideals was being thrust at me. Maybe it's just me, but I felt that Paradise's goodness and God's infinite love was being shoved down my throat. It made her character unbelievable and...unlikable for me, and it made the whole theme go sour. If it had been left to the reader to chew on so that the conclusions or ideas were my own, I think it would have made more of an impact.
Anyway, one book out of a dozen that I didn't enjoy by Ted Dekker. That's a pretty good track record. He's still one of my favorites. I'm eager to get my hands on The Priest's Graveyard . So I'll read him again. We can't like them all, right.
Brad's character was hard to relate to as well. He was one person in the beginning, and suddenly he's this broken mess of a man. I'd have liked to see more of a transition, more foreshadowing of this inner self. It was like he met Paradise and all of a sudden we're dealing with a different character. Doing that shattered the connection I felt as a reader and distanced me from the rest of the story.
The biggest reason it fell apart for me is the 'preachy' feel. I felt near the last third that I was being preached to and that really irritates me. Very unlike Ted Dekker, so it suprised me. Yes, all of his books have an underlying theme of good vs evil, sometimes that theme is more noticeable than others, but never have I read one where I felt a set of beliefs or ideals was being thrust at me. Maybe it's just me, but I felt that Paradise's goodness and God's infinite love was being shoved down my throat. It made her character unbelievable and...unlikable for me, and it made the whole theme go sour. If it had been left to the reader to chew on so that the conclusions or ideas were my own, I think it would have made more of an impact.
Anyway, one book out of a dozen that I didn't enjoy by Ted Dekker. That's a pretty good track record. He's still one of my favorites. I'm eager to get my hands on The Priest's Graveyard . So I'll read him again. We can't like them all, right.
May 21, 2024
Enjoyed it.
May 13, 2010
I see that I'm in the minority, but I have to say I didn't find this thriller very thrilling. It was extremely slow going until about the halfway point and then only picked up slightly. I'm not sure why I finished the book other than it has to be really, really bad before I quit. I put the book down for over a week before trying to chug through to the end.
Nothing rang true in this book. I mildly liked Brad Raines and even more mildly liked Paradise, but overall, I didn't feel any emotion, caring, or sympathy for these characters. The way the FBI worked the case was just unbelievable. Not that I have any personal experience with schizophrenia, but the description of Charles Gault as the serial killer didn't seem even remotely credible.
I'm not inspired to read any more books by this author. I have heard that many people enjoy Ted Dekker's writing, but I won't be joining the fan club anytime soon.
Nothing rang true in this book. I mildly liked Brad Raines and even more mildly liked Paradise, but overall, I didn't feel any emotion, caring, or sympathy for these characters. The way the FBI worked the case was just unbelievable. Not that I have any personal experience with schizophrenia, but the description of Charles Gault as the serial killer didn't seem even remotely credible.
I'm not inspired to read any more books by this author. I have heard that many people enjoy Ted Dekker's writing, but I won't be joining the fan club anytime soon.
January 24, 2016
Sorry. This book was terrible. The characters were annoying and I just could NOT buy the sudden. And I mean SUDDEN loveeeeee brad forms for paradise. What the what?? You don't even know her!? Now you're in love??
And man did the FBI suck in This book. Get your shit together feebies.
Lame. The killer was ok. I liked his MO. But the psych ward convos between those characters was nauseating. I couldn't take it. "I'm ugly" "I'm Sherlock Holmes". " I'm in love with Brad" blah blah
Sorry Ted. This was a fail.
And man did the FBI suck in This book. Get your shit together feebies.
Lame. The killer was ok. I liked his MO. But the psych ward convos between those characters was nauseating. I couldn't take it. "I'm ugly" "I'm Sherlock Holmes". " I'm in love with Brad" blah blah
Sorry Ted. This was a fail.
August 22, 2010
This book was horrible. The characters were completely unrealistic, the storyline ridiculous and the overall evangelical tone would have been fine if it weren't so overt. Pure self-indulgent tripe.
February 7, 2013
10 of 10 stars
September 20, 2024
It takes a skillful hand to weave meaningful theological truth into fiction. Maybe Ted Dekker was experiencing some metaphorical carpal tunnel, cause this ain't it.
The overt theme of "EVERYONE IS GOD'S FAVORITE!!!!" was a little hard to take seriously.
This whole book was a little hard to take seriously.
The overt theme of "EVERYONE IS GOD'S FAVORITE!!!!" was a little hard to take seriously.
This whole book was a little hard to take seriously.
April 15, 2017
Allah'ın manyağı Quinton!
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