Ted Dekker. Adam. Thomas Nelson. 2008.

Adam is not your usual Christian reading. If you've read Dekker, you already know that.

The book features, first off, the Scripture John 10:10, The Thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy...

And then the story opens with one of a series of articles from a Crime Today Magazine, titled "Man of Sorrow: Journey into Darkness." This series keeps us up with the killer's life throughout the book.

Our protagonist, Daniel Clark, is an FBI behavioral psychologist obsessed with the killer who's left his calling card signed "Eve." Daniel has lost a lot during the stalk of the psychopath, but he never envisioned losing his own life.

This "high-octane thriller," dubbed by Fox News legal analyst Lis Wiehl, is a chilling tale of good versus evil. Dark, frightening evil. Ted Dekker is a master at writing fiction that reads like truth, and I found myself wondering as I read the latter part of this book exactly how much truth herein lies. It's scary for that reason alone.

Those of us who believe there is a "dark side" will stare it right in the face in this book. I didn't expect it when it surfaced in the manner it did. Sometimes a book like this will ignite your spirituality more than a passive, cozy little Christian light and happiness tale. It did for me.

Of course, Dekker also knows how to put the nitty-gritty of his research on the page, so we come away knowing more than we did, sort of like a John Grisham novel. Dekker's expertise in police methods, the FBI, forensic medicine, and obsessive psychological profiling put the icing on this book. You can't fortell what's going to happen next in this book, and that adds to the creepy, tingling sensation as you turn the pages, wanting to get to the end but almost afraid to at the same time.

Supernatural thriller fans will love this compelling story. The surprise is that it moves so fast and is so hauntingly realistic that you don't realize until the end that there was not an obscene or lurid word. Just goes to show...

Adam is available at Amazon.