I was lucky enough to get an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) of this book at the 2009 Gathering. I think I have read this book three or four times since.
This book was co-authored by Erin Healy and it is obvious this is not all Ted. I'm not saying that as a bad thing. It was actually quite refreshing having someone another voice chime in.
It is about a Gypsy girl named Janeal Mikkado. Janeal is tired of the gypsy life when a man named Salazar Sanso abruptly enters Janeal's life. He presents her with an opportunity to escape the camp and save her father from some bad business deals he made. Janeal takes the opportunity, but at a very steep price–the lives of many that she loves.
Janeal puts the camp behind her to become a successful businesswoman. She finally has her life just the way she wants it until her past comes back to haunt her–her best friend Katie who died the day she made a deal with the devil–only, she didn't really die. Janeal must face the consequences of her actions head-on with a twist I don't think any reader will see coming.
Pick up the book and read it for yourself. If you do, or have read the book, leave a comment below on what you thought of the book. This was definitely on my top favorites in my Dekker collection, although I have a love for each book for its own reason, but I could read this one again.
I unfortunately cannot go into great detail about the graphic on the
left without giving away too much of the story. I will tell you the mesa
on the bottom represents the setting of the Gypsy camp while the heart
shows the good and evil that resides in each of our hearts. The quote is
stated a few times but the eldest member of the camp to Janeal.
The one on the bottom I have named "Million Dollar Soul" for obvious reasons. I loved the mesa so much I decided to use it in that picture as well. If you look closely, there is more going on in this picture than first meets the eye. There's the obvious money flying through the desert, but see if you can spot Salazar watching the destruction from far away as Janeal runs from the chaos she has created.
We each struggle with the chambers of our heart every single day. Do we
take the money we found on the sidewalk or turn it in? Do we extract
revenge or forgive? Do we sell our soul for a million dollars or do we
make the most of the life that has been given to us? The choice is
yours, but remember, each action has a reaction...everything comes with a
price.
The Light defeating the darkness is a recurring theme in Ted Dekker's library. One of my favorite quotes (which is also in this book) is, "the Light came into the darkness and the darkness did not understand it."
Whether you are spiritual or not, you cannot have darkness where there is light. It is a thought that is both simple yet complex at the same time.
I think Ted does his best job with this theme with Marsuvees Black. He is so dark and sinister, brought to life by a thirteen-year-old boy who was brought up to be pure of heart.
That same thirteen-year-old boy must now face his creation and choose whether he wants to allow the Light into his heart or to be forever swallowed by the darkness he allowed to take hold several years ago. As the visual above suggests, with the help of his friends, Johnny and Darcy, Billy is finally able to see the truth and accept the Light. Because Marsuvees is the darkness and has come from Billy, the two cannot co-exist and Marsuvees is banished once and for all.
For all of you that love Marsuvees as much as I do, fear not–you have not heard the last of good old Marsuvees. He kept busy between all of the showdowns in Paradise and used several pages of the Books of History to spawn some of his own evil. Pay attention when reading Ted's thrillers and you may just catch a glimpse of one the literary world's greatest villains.
Guard your hearts, keep the Light on and banish the Marsuvees Black's of the world.
I have decided to break this next stop in the Ted Dekker adventure into two parts, as is the case in this book. We begin the conclusion of the Paradise Trilogy by catching up with two of the monastery students, Billy and Darcy to find that like Johnny, they were blessed (or cursed) with significant powers thanks to their run in with the Books of History.
I'm sure most of you have heard the saying, "See No Evil. Speak No Evil. Hear No Evil."? Well this book takes that to the next level. Each of their gifts relates back to that saying, which is illustrated on the left. Johnny has the gift of making people see the truth, Darcy has the gift of speaking the truth, while Billy has the gift of hearing the truth (being everyone's thoughts).
Ted chooses to take us on an epic adventure in this conclusion, throwing the three grown children back into the past that brought them together. Once again, Paradise will be forced to face the evil in which Billy created, but on a much grander scale. In an attempt to create harmony among the melting pot that is America, laws are passed to increase religious tolerance. In other words, no one is allowed to speak of their religion while speaking against others. There is no one God, no Way is the only Way, etc. Johnny decides to bring one final showdown to Paradise and asks 3,000 believers to stand up against Billy and Darcy who have used their gifts to take over Washington D.C. (Hence the illustration on the bottom accompanied with a quote from the book).
Will Marsuvees and his evil plot finally prevail, or will the Light once again prevail? Stay tuned for the next post to find out what happens next in the Rise and Fall of Marsuvees Black.
Next in the Paradise Novels is Saint. This novel has more focus on Johnny Drake, no longer a boy, but one of the deadliest assassins in the world. His code name...Saint.
Johnny is thrown into another battle of good and evil while trying to remember what brought him to become so deadly. At the same time, he is learning to develop a power he obtained back in his hometown of Paradise.
He must return home to accomplish all of these things, throwing Paradise back into the middle of the battle which will once again change every one's lives.
Will Johnny prevail? Will he remember the original evil that once plagued his home? Will he remember who he is? I guess you will have to read to find out.
As for the graphic above, it is a favorite saying of the notorious Englishman. Englishman takes on any identity he wants and plays it well. He is many people and no one at the same time. Before Johnny became a member of the world's deadliest assassins, Englishman was the best. Being second-best doesn't sit well with Englishman and he tries to prove he is really is the deadliest of them all.
The praying hands represent the good in the battle, while the gun the hands are holding is the evil. The gun also represents the set-up of the story–the assassination training, Johnny's mission, etc.
In case you haven't seen my post for Showdown, I strongly recommend reading Showdown first. While you can read this book without reading Showdown, there are many references to occurrences of the Showdown and will make more sense after reading it.
Coming soon....Sinner
I chose Showdown next, because it has some connection to the Circle Series. You will have to read it for yourself to find out how.
Showdown is the first book within the Paradise novels. While Ted said you can read the books in any order, which you can, I found it much easier to grasp Saint, the second book after reading Showdown. This book is definitely my favorite of the three.
It takes place in a small town called Paradise, Colorado. There is a secret monastery just outside of the town where an experiment is taking place to raise children in isolation, teaching them nothing but good values through love and writing. Their core curriculum are the four rules of writing, which are featured above. Write to discover, there is no greater discovery than love, all love comes from the creator, and write what you will.
The monastery has a dungeon, which is the proverbial forbidden fruit. I hope I'm not giving too much away when I write that one student by the name of Billy, with the help of one, Marsuvees Black (the shadowy figure pictured above) guides him down below. Through his explorations of the tunnels below, Billy stumbles upon some empty journals, which he begins to pen a story that changes the town of Paradise forever unbeknownst to him. What Billy doesn't know, that when he writes in these special journals, the words become flesh, or, they actually happen.
Billy unleashes a terrible monster based off of the real Marsuvess Black on the town of Paradise where a young boy by the name of Johnny Drake must fight against all odds to save his town.
Showdown is a wonderful story of love, temptation, and the beginning of a great adventure; not only for the characters, but for the reader as well. Marsuvees Black has become my all-time favorite villain. Read the book and he will become yours, too.
