"Showdown" - Ted Dekker

“Showdown,” by Ted Dekker, is a novel that takes place in a Paradise. Colorado. Paradise is a quaint little town with a population of less than 500 people. One day a man named Marsuvees Black arrives and he declares that he has come to bring hope and grace to the town of Paradise. Not long after his arrival Paradise soon becomes a place of ultimate evil and is everything but what the name of the town suggests.

In a nearby canyon a monastery is hidden in the mountains and has been shut off from modern society. This monastery is schooled with orphaned children who have been sheltered from society and protected against any form of evil as part of an experiment. Only known by the head master but within the building their lies a place that contains a power that threatens to lure the children from their lives of peace and love and will drive them to do the most unthinkable acts when given the power to do so.

In a nutshell “Showdown” is basically a story of good versus evil and the reader does not know what the outcome of this battle will be until the final pages are turned. Be forewarned; just because this is a “Christian fiction” novel do not judge it as a “feel good” novel where good always prevails. In fact there are moments when I am reading it and I forget that this is a Christian author’s creation. Dekker has definitely stepped out side of the box in writing this book. “Showdown” is a well-written and suspenseful novel that can and will give Stephen King and Dean Koontz a run for their money. This is a must have book for any fan of suspense and fiction.