Book Review: Showdown

Dekker, Ted. Showdown. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006. Jacketed Hardcover, 384 pages. $22.99.

Purchase: Thomas Nelson | CBD | Amazon

ISBNs: 1595540059 / 9781595540058

Subjects: Christian Fiction, Suspense/Mystery
Chapter Excerpt

Ted 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.

The Gist

Marsuvees Black, a self-proclaimed preacher, strides into Paradise, a small town in Colorado, claiming that God sent him to bring “grace and hope.” Black looks more like a stereotypical gunslinger and behaves more like a magician. After calling a town meeting to proclaim his message, he pulls an apple out of the air. A moment later, he turns it into a snake. Then, while everyone watches, he makes a man’s wart disappear.

The people are instantly enamored by his charisma and enchanted by his miracles, but who is this guy? Is he really who he claims to be? The only one who seems to be asking the important questions is Johnny Drake, a boy who lives in Paradise. Everyone else has fallen to Black’s charms; his good looks especially make the women swoon.

But Johnny knows something is wrong. The first person to question Black is now dead, apparently from a heart attack. Johnny witnessed the man’s violent death and knows Black is responsible. That’s only for starters. Black admits that he introduced a gel-like substance into the town’s water system to make people more receptive to his message, and he is passing around a bottle of the stuff. The gel seems harmless, or is it? People begin seeing strange visions and acting out their most carnal and violent tendencies. Has Black brought grace and hope or led the town to the dark side?

Meanwhile, in a monastery in the nearby mountains, 37 children have been isolated from the evils of the world and taught God’s Word in a test project sponsored by Harvard University and directed by David Abraham. But even isolation from the world can’t protect them from the evil in their own hearts. When one student, Billy, ventures into the forbidden dungeons, he crosses the line into evil, putting the student body and the future of the school into peril. When the school leaders allow a public debate between good and evil, Billy wins the day. More students head for the dungeons, which are inhabited by mammoth, gel-secreting worms that slither along the walls. If these ingredients seem creepy, just wait.

Page Appeal

What does the monastery have to do with the problems in Paradise? And what can Johnny Drake do to save his town from Black? These questions create a fun but dark good-versus-evil tale by supernatural thriller author Ted Dekker. Anyone who has read Dekker, author of Christy-Award-winning Thr3e, knows he is no ordinary Christian author. He isn’t afraid to try something daring, maybe even a little weird and on the edge. He is especially good at writing suspense and action sequences and at creating mind-stretching plots that are filled with allegory depicting the universal war between good and evil. Showdown is no departure from his usual style, but is it a worthy read?

I enjoy Dekker’s writing style. His way with words is fun and engaging, and his novels are hard to put down. He is also to be applauded for his desire to probe the tough questions of our faith and our understanding of God and His ways. His allegories don’t always work for me, but I can appreciate his intent; and his motives are commendable.

Darker and Edgier

As with other reviews, I like to be honest with readers, especially more traditional and conservative readers who are wary of what’s “new and hot” in Christian publishing. There is good reason to be wary. Best-selling author Dekker is part of a movement in Christian publishing that seeks to confront readers with a more realistic world than did many Christian novels of the past. These novels tend to be less overtly “Christian” in an attempt to attract secular readers. Authors Leonard G. Goss and Don M. Aycock (The Little Handbook to Perfecting the Art of Christian Writing [Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2006], p. 198) write, “One of the trends in Christian fiction publishing is the production of what some call ‘unsanitized’ novels.” Dudley Delffs, an editor at WaterBrook, Dekker’s publisher, says, “Readers are tired of novels driven by a dogmatic evangelical agenda in which flat characters interact in a sanitized world” (Goss and Aycock, p. 198). Allen Arnold, publisher of WestBow, says, “We don’t shy away from the edgy elements—or sugarcoat them… . The darker it is, the more repulsive it is—and the more powerful God is… . When we create stories that don’t shy away from reality, God’s power is even more visible as the true light in our fallen world” (Goss and Aycock, pp. 198-199).

Perhaps because of the novel’s target audience, the content in this novel might not pass the Philippians 4:8 test for some discerning readers. The violence, in particular, leaps off the page in several scenes and seems more graphic than necessary. At the beginning of the story, for example, Black kills the first person who might object to his message by plucking the man’s eyes out (in graphic detail) and causing the man to have a heart attack. As we learn later in the novel, things may not be quite what they seem; but that fact doesn’t erase the graphic description. The novel’s ending is also extremely graphic and over the top, in my opinion. Some reviewers at Amazon.com said a movie version of the novel would certainly garner an R rating for violence.

Other content may also be objectionable. In one scene, Black makes advances on one of the women. The description flirts dangerously close to the edge, and it’s no secret that her desire for him is driven by sexual lust. Several times in the novel, the dialogue includes crude references; and on numerous occasions, characters say “in God’s name” during conversations.

The Mysterious Books

[Spoiler Warning] So what’s the bridge between Paradise and the monastery? In a nutshell, what the children write in a set of mysterious blank Books of History happens in real life. Billy, the disobedient student who ventured into the forbidden dungeons, has chosen to write a story about Paradise. Therefore, the entire story about Marsuvees Black’s seduction of the town, the reader learns, is only a figment of Billy’s twisted imagination; only the characters and the town itself are real. The problem is that what Billy is writing is happening in the real world.

The only way to undo the harm of Billy’s story is for another child to write another character into the story about Paradise and to defeat Black. Hence, the classic story of good versus evil. The revelation of this mind-stretching scenario is where the reader’s suspension of disbelief is severely tested. Those who struggle in the imagination or fantasy department may find the novel falling apart at this point. When the monastery’s director’s “only son,” Samuel, goes to the town to save it from Black—not as a fictional character written into the story but as himself—the outcome and the parallels to the biblical story of redemption become obvious.

The Bottom Line

Due to Dekker’s pacing and way with words, I had a hard time putting Showdown down. But this dark, violent, and sometimes gross Christian horror novel didn’t live up to my expectations. When I realized that the story up to the first half of the novel was just something a kid had dreamed up and written in a magical book, I felt cheated.

Beyond obvious content problems, the novel’s other flaws only added to my displeasure. The allegory was strained, the plot had numerous holes, and the ending was too predictable, disturbing, and implausible. How could Samuel’s dying for Paradise do anything to save the town? Also, Jesus Christ’s crucifixion was one of the most violent deaths imaginable. Dekker’s decision to subject a child to a similar level of violence pushes the novel past the line of credibility and into the realm of the distasteful. I respect Dekker’s desire to communicate the message of salvation through a picture of sacrificial love, and I can appreciate the hard work that went into this project. But the novel was a disappointment for me. Some readers may enjoy the dark ride, but more conservative readers should be cautioned.

Adam Blumer is a freelance writer, a contract editor, and SI’s managing editor. A Bob Jones University graduate with a B.A. in Print Journalism, he served as an editor and writer for 14 years at Northland Baptist Bible College (Dunbar, WI) and Awana Clubs International Headquarters (Streamwood, IL). A graduate of the Writer’s Digest Novel Writing Course, he has published short stories and articles. Kregel Publications (Grand Rapids, MI) plans to release his first novel in fall 2008. In his spare time, he enjoys writing, reading, playing the piano, and hiking in the woods. God has blessed him and his wife, Kim, with two daughters. See his ministry website and his author’s blog.

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