I was in the mood for some fiction this past week that I could listen to on my Libby app while driving to get the kids or showering or whatever. Because the kids and I recently finished reading together The Book of Light series by Ted and Kara Dekker, I thought I’d try out one of his standalone thrillers for adults. Wish I hadn’t.

I knew going into this book what to expect: murder, mystery, demons, and spiritual warfare—all from a Christian perspective. Most of that stuff was present, and it didn’t surprise or bother me. What bothered me was the part that was missing: it definitely wasn’t from a Christian perspective! Dekker’s angle throughout the book and his conclusion were essentially a love song to the demons. I can’t believe I finished it. I guess I was hoping for a happier ending.

Summary

The present-day story is that of the FBI’s search for a serial killer named Eve whose 15-16 female victims are all dubbed “Eve” and killed with a strain of meningitis (a weird weapon in itself). Also paired with this present-day mystery is a nine-part magazine article about two Arkansas children, Alex and Jessica Price, kidnapped many years ago, and their story of abuse, escape as adults, and trials of growing up in a world they don’t recognize. The sister tries to normalize herself and move on, but the brother simply cannot, as he slowly degrades into the very person their kidnapper, Alice, had been.

In the present day, Daniel is nearly killed when he confronts Eve and, in his near-death experience, has a chemically induced hallucination which causes him to forget the face of Eve. He then pursues this same experience through drugs that literally kill him before his wife brings him back to life in hopes of catching a glimpse of Eve and stopping the madman.

There’s tons more to it, but I’ve had enough already of trying to recall the details. Let me just share a few reasons why I absolutely hated this book.

Why I Hated This Book

First off, there are no Holy-Spirit-filled Christians in this book, and the demon escapes in the end. That’s enough to say that this book is so far from having a Christian worldview that Thomas Nelson should be ashamed of itself for having published it simply because of the author’s name.

I’ve read and enjoyed Frank Peretti before, but the difference between his books and Dekker‘s is that he knows Jesus and is proud to know Jesus and very often shares Jesus in his books. They both have an unhealthy affinity for demons and angels, but their worldviews differ, and in this book, the difference is palpable. Ted Dekker is not Frank Peretti, and it doesn’t really matter what he says in interviews or writes in other books: if the crap he writes in one book is as Godless as this and gives an edge to the spiritual wickedness in this present age, his books shouldn’t be called “Christian.” At minimum, one of the characters who actually trusted in the name of Jesus rather than uses it as a curse word should have been present in the book and their fight against Eve, but there wasn’t a single believer from beginning to end (unless you count the priest; I don’t).

Second, I was shocked to see the attempts at exorcism by a Catholic priest in this book (a man who by his affiliation with the Roman Catholic Church would believe in “salvation=Faith+works” which, although accepted by millions and approved by tradition, is, according to Scripture, a damnable heresy). Not only does the priest set aside Scripture in favor of a human author’s prayer book for exorcisms; and not only does he depend on his holy water and ritualistic tools and memorized phrases to expel the demon (none of which have any basis in Scripture); but he also completely misinterprets what “in the name of Jesus” means. It’s not the Christian version of “abracadabra” that’s supposed to get us whatever we ask! Sure, I get it: this is a work of fiction, but as a book that sells itself as “Christian fiction” but is in reality “anti-Christian horror,” it’s worse than fiction. It’s a dangerous, duping lie.

Third, the demon possession itself includes the Stigmata, black blood, floating bodies, and a whole bunch of other apocryphal/Hollywood nonsense that I’d expect to see on the X-Files but not in a Thomas Nelson book. I’ve seen demon possession before with my own eyes. I fully believe in it. This book mocks it and still calls itself “Christian.” It’s deplorable.

Fourth, the demon that seeks appeasement from the non-believers (so that it can depart without killing them) does eventually leave (a.k.a. “wins”), but never at the name of “Jesus” (which was repeated often in prayer, in cursing, and in exorcism mumbo-jumbo). Instead, the demon leaves/wins when, anticlimactically, one character says that she loves the other. That’s the key to exorcism (apparently). Not Jesus or God or the Holy Spirit or the blood or the resurrection or the Word of God or the Gospel…human love from one condemned sinner to another. Ugh.

Conclusion

I hated this book for the four reasons I’ve just written and for many more. I’ve got a few other Dekker books in my Kindle and on my bookshelf, but nope. I’m done trying. Not worth my time. Shouldn’t be worth yours. There are so many better books out there, and life is too short. Even another re-read of This Present Darkness would be better than trying to read another book by Ted Dekker.

©2023, 2025 E.T.

Read More from Ted Dekker:

• The Promise (2005)
• Adam (2008)
• Into the Book of Light (2018)
• The Curse of Shadowman (2018)
• The Garden and the Serpent (2018)
• The Final Judgment (2018)