Trust & Obey

Hey guys! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend and were able to enjoy the holidays despite our crazy circumstances. It’s been hard for me that this season hasn’t just been like it’s always been. I want to do the normal Thanksgiving things like being with HUGE groups of people eating insane amounts of turkey, mashed potatoes, and loads of glorious gravy. (I did eat a delightful Thanksgiving meal, in case you were wondering). Well, even though life may not be preceding as usual, the good news is we still have our books!

As you may know, Ted Dekker is my favorite author with Francine Rivers coming in close second. In 2019, Dekker and his daughter Rachelle wrote The Girl Behind the Red Rope and it’s one of my sister, Livi’s, favorite books! I wouldn’t say it was my favorite, however, I thought it was still pretty great!

The story follows Grace who lives in an Amish-like cult and two outsiders who change everything. Grace deals with the pressures to conform from her mother and authorities as she begins to question her whole life. She is being forced to marry and live a life that she’s not sure she really wants. This community believes that they must keep a demonic presences out by keeping themselves locked away. Little do they know that this presence- titled the Fury- may be closer than they think.

I would consider this a really good, classic Dekker read. The Girl Behind the Red Rope is pretty on par for his twists, turns, and interesting characters! There is also biblical symbolism and parallels that meant a lot to me (I can’t really talk about it because of spoilers). I think what makes Ted Dekker particularly great is his ability to show you Christianity in a whole new way! He never shoves Jesus down your throat. He’s an intelligent and thought-provoking author who gives a new perspective on what Christianity means. Another great example of Dekker’s gift of giving readers a personal relationship with biblical people and making the people feel more tangible is the Circle series. He rewrote, paraphrased, and added personal details to retell the overarching theme of the Bible. You felt you were there and experiencing it in a whole new way. Sorry, got a bit off track there!

Another positive element in this novel was the discussion of trying to figure out what (or who) is good and what is bad. You have characters who say the right things, do the right things, seem like the right people, but you can’t shake that something is just flat out wrong. I think they really used 2nd Corinthians 11:14-15 and took it to the next level with this book. “¹⁴ And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. ¹⁵ It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.” (NIV) So I really liked that and found it was what made this book particularly chilling.

Okay, I do have one main complaint. I recognize that when you have a story basis like cults the stories can start to sound similar but this book had quite the similarities to the 2004 film The Village directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The whole they can’t wear any color sounds pretty similar to The Village‘s thing about red being the “bad color.” You also have characters going beyond the border that shouldn’t. Other than that, the plot itself isn’t by any means identical, but the setting feels very similar. I wish the Dekkers would have gone in a slightly different direction with the book’s backdrop so it would have felt a bit more unique and new. Maybe they didn’t see the movie!

I say this about just about every book, but I did have a lot of fun reading this one! The story wasn’t too slow and had a lot going on. The subplots kept the story moving along nicely. The characters were interesting – Eli was my favorite- and I finished the book happy with how it ended. I would highly recommend it to thriller, suspense, and Christian readers fifteen years and up!

Thanks for checking out today’s post! Next week, I’m getting into the holiday spirit with a Christmas book review!