My favorite books of Dekker's are the Circle Trilogy. Even though that is ALL of his that I have read. I don't think I have ever read books that grip me more that his. That is, as a thriller.

Awesome thread, by the way!

Which Ted Dekker books have you read?

The Caleb Series:
Blessed Child
A Man Called Blessed

The Martyr's Song Series:
Heaven's Wager
When Heaven Weeps
Thunder of Heaven

Blink
Thr3e
Obsessed
Adam
Kiss
BoneMan's Daughters
Burn
The Bride Collector

The Circle Series:
Black
Red
White
Green

The Paradise Novels:
Showdown
Saint
Sinner

The Lost Books:
Chosen
Infidel
Renegade
Chaos
Lunatic
Elyon

House
Skin
Immanuel's Veins

Non-Fiction:
The Slumber of Christianity: Awakening a Passion for Heaven on Earth

What's your favorite Dekker book?
Hmm... Very difficult to choose. Probably the Circle Series but I love most of his books.

Why do you like Dekker's writing?
Dekker is incredibly creative. He explores great spiritual truths through his books. They're high-concept but easy to read. His books challenge the reader to reflect on their own sinfulness and need for redemption and often explore God's love in a different light (but not in a preachy manner). I love the fact that his works are out of the box and are often unpredictable. Some parts of his Circle Trilogy are on-par with Eustace's undragoning. They're THAT good! I appreciate that his books are not standard-Christian fare. They may make the reader uncomfortable (but for a good reason) and he's not afraid to show the depravity of sin, before pointing to the hope found in Christ. His books reflect a Christianity more akin to the Bible than Modern Western 'Christianity'.

I've read just about every book that Dekker has written, with the exception of a few of the Lost Books series. My favorite book changes, but one of my top favorites is Thr3e and the Circle series.

Dekker's been one of my favorite authors for years, ever since I first read Black and the reason why I love his writing is because he's able to draw you into the story with relative ease. Many of his books are edge of your seat page turners as well and it can be incredibly difficult to put them down

Thanks to johobbit for letting me know about this thread!

Which Ted Dekker books have you read?
My goodness... all of them except the second half of When Heaven Weeps, Heaven's Wager, The Blessed Child, A Man Called Blessed, The Promise, The Drummer Boy, and Slumber of Christianity (all of which I really want to read at some point). Here's the breakdown:

The Circle:
Black
Red
White
Green

Lost Books:
Chosen
Infidel
Renegade
Chaos
Lunatic
Elyon

Martyr's Song:
The Martyr's Song
Thunder of Heaven

Paradise:
Showdown
Saint
Sinner

Stand-Alones:
Blink and Blink of an Eye (the former is much better! I'd recommend reading it even if you've already read Blink of an Eye!)
The3e
Obsessed
House
Skin
Adam
Kiss
BoneMan's Daughters
Burn
The Bride Collector
Immanuel's Veins

Non Fiction:
Tea With Hezbollah

What's your favorite Dekker book?
That's a tough one! I'd have to say it's a tie between the Circle Trilogy (excluding Green ) and Blink. The Circle is just all around amazing. I love how Dekker retells familiar stories in unfamiliar ways! How can you not love them? I am definitely due for a reread! And Blink... I just finished rereading it for the third or fourth time and fell in love with it all over again. The look at the Muslim way of life, Seth, Miriam, the humor, the faith, everything! It was the first Dekker book I ever read, and I've been a "dekkie" ever since!

And... I'll be back later to answer the last question... and add a few of my own!

Good work, Dekkie! I had to correct myself, I haven't read Blink of an Eye, just Blink (but I've heard they're rather similar). You haven't quite read all of them. You didn't mention The Promise, nor The Drummer Boy. What was Tea with Hezbollah like?

For someone who has never read anything by Ted Dekker before but is interested in doing so, which book(s) would you recommend starting with?

Hmm... that's a good question. I'd recommend that you begin with Thr3e and the Circle Trilogy (Black, Red, White). Maybe also try When Heaven Weeps. If you enjoy novels set in WW2, you may like Obsessed.

Thanks for pointing that out, Warrior. I corrected my list as well. I'd forgotten that he had written those two Christmas books! I was using the list of his books from his website to make my list and for some reason they weren't listed. And yes, Blink and Blink of an Eye are extremely similar. Though I'm sure there were others, the only main difference I can remember between the two is is cut out. I was not a fan of this change since that's one of my favorite scenes in the book! As for Tea With Hezbollah... I enjoyed it? I honestly have a pretty bad memory when it comes to books (I blame it on the fact that I read so much that the old info gets pushed aside to make room for the new). Though that's great for rereads, it's not so helpful when people ask me what a book was like! From what I do remember, I thought it was interesting, but something about it just didn't settle with me quite right. I can't remember exactly what it was though! I'll just need to reread it.

fantasia_kitty, I'd echo Warrior's suggestions, especially The Circle and Thr3e, but I'd like to add Blink as well! It was my first Dekker book and remains one of my favorite books ever. I think it's a great first Dekker read because, in addition to being a fantastic story, it's also not as "graphic" as some of Dekker's later books are in regards to violence, so if you're not used to that, Blink is a nice book to start to "ease you into Dekker." As far as the rest of his books go, I'd recommend reading them in publication order. His books are often intertwined, not really to the point that you'd get confused if you read them in another order, but I feel like you get a lot more out of them if they were read in the order he wrote them. But that's just my two cents .

Why do you like Dekker's writing?
It fascinates me. It grabs me and won't let go. It takes me places I've never been. It explores Truth in ways I've never read. It keeps me guessing. It shocks me. It keeps me up late. It makes me look over my shoulder. It makes me laugh. It brings tears to my eyes. It draws me to God.

Yep. That's why.

Great Intro, MountainFireflower!

*loves Dekker's writings* And, Dekkie, you nailed 'why' in your paragraph above. Exactly. His books are very engaging, captivating, suspenseful, and have depth (especially for that genre), something I treasure in fictional writing. I wish I had time to read more right now, especially the Circle Trilogy. It's high on my list. Trouble is, so are about a hundred other books.

Thr3e (which I can never remember how to write ), is one of his best, to be sure. Of the Martyr's Song series, I've only read When Heaven Weeps, which was extremely powerful and poignant. It's loosely based on the story of Hosea and Gomer in the Bible. I have also read Skin (wonderfully bizarre), House (co-authored with Frank Peretti), and Showdown. Yes, I am lacking, but long for more, and want to improve my status in this regard.

And I love how his his online library is laid out.

Has anyone seen any of the film adaptations (House or Thr3e)?

I've seen the movies of both House and Thr3e. In the past, when I've browsed through the Dekker fan forums, it seemed like most fans strongly disliked the films. I think I'm in the minority, at least when it comes to Thr3e. I love that movie! I've not really watched it with any other fans of the book, but everyone I have shown it to has also loved it. Both my sisters read the book after they saw the movie, and they agree with me that while the book is definitely "more awesome," we love the movie too!

House is a completely different animal. I fall into the "strongly dislike" category for sure. I think it suffered from some of the same pacing issues as VDT, which might have been what ruined the film for me. I would need to watch it again to put a better point on why I didn't like it, but I really have no desire to. But I do think that the R-rating was a bit over-the-top. It should have been perfectly fine with a PG-13, like Thr3e received.

So, in summary: Thr3e = . House = .

Ooh, a Ted Dekker thread! I've only read four of his books: the Circle Trilogy. And I absolutely loved them (with the exception of Green)! I have heard good things of Thr3e as well, but have yet to get my hands on it.

As for my favorite book, I will have to say White. Black and Red were amazing - the spiritual parallels in them were stunning, and the plots were incredible. I always seem to enjoy the final book the most, however. That's the way it is with Narnia and Harry Potter. I love how everything is tied together in the final pages of White, and (contrary to many, I know) I loved the shock of the ending. It was spectacular, and totally unexpected. Dekker definitely shot a curve-ball at the reader with that.

I think Dekker is an amazing author for several reasons. The fast-paced plots in his books draw the reader into the story from page one and don't let go until the concluding sentence. And, of course, he has to have a plot twist in the most unexpected place. He shows God in a new light through his writings, but does so in an engaging and non-preachy way. I think that's cool.

I've seen the House movie but not the Thr3e movie. I've seen excerpts of Thr3e and the acting looked awful and it seemed to lack any suspense. House wasn't a great movie but it was decent enough. The acting was okay and story departed from Ted Dekker's/Frank Peretti's book (some parts more true to Dekker's original vision for the story and some parts conjured up by the scriptwriter) but it was suitably spooky and far better than many Christian movies, but really, that's not saying much.

I've only read Thr3e, House, Saint, and Black. Thr3e is my favorite by a long shot, the others were just okay. The movie Thr3e was terrible in my opinion, book was a million times better.
I like his writing because it's a relatively good mix of spooky and suspensful, and he falls under the category of authors that make it impossible to stop reading at the end of a chapter .

Please note that this Special Feature will be closing Wednesday, January 26, after which you may discuss Dekker's thrilling and thought-provoking writing and film adaptations in the Books and Past Movies threads.

Remember, if you have an idea for a Special Feature, don't hesitate to PM on of the Spare Oom mods, and we will be glad to add it to the list.