Anywho, I am currently reading "Kiss" by Ted Dekker and Erin Healy -- not the first book he's co-authored and probably not the last. This is much better than "House," which he co-wrote with Frank Peretti a few years back. It maintains Dekker's love for psychological thrills while abandoning cheap ones, which are abundant in "House." Dekker has been around for awhile, yet much of his writing has the greenery of a newbie. Not so in "Kiss."
He (and Healy) devise a heroine who comes from a family that is all but ordinary. Though she deals with complex issues with her father, dating back to the premature death of her mother, she doesn't carry as much baggage as one might think, which is refreshing. Her problems affect everything in her life, but they don't consume her life. At the same time, the authors avoid making her lifeless and two-dimensional.
Dekker is traditionally a Christian fiction author. Many of his books are slap-you-upside-the-face straight biblical analogies, but "Kiss" isn't. Christian themes run throughout but aren't the main focus. This book is all around a good read with plenty of twists and turns for readers who don't have my curse of foresight, and I highly recommend it for someone who wants to break into reading this genre without being preached to.
Kudos to Dekker for stretching himself while staying true to who he is. I hope he writes for a long time to come. His audience will get to watch him evolve.
