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bookworm_baggins's review against another edition
4.0
I listened to the audio book of this one because when I start a Dekker book I don't get any thing done for the next 24 hours while I am glued to the pages. Listening helped me to take it slower and not be so consumed, but it almost took me too long at times. I didn't enjoy this one quite as much as others by Dekker, but the interview with him at the end helped me to like the book more than when I was actually in the midst of it. It's a great book about God's love and how we should mirror it, fit nicely into a serial killer story lol
shereadsmysteries's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping and Murder
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicide
carolavanniftrik's review against another edition
4.0
Ik ben absoluut een fan van Ted Dekker. Zijn boeken doen altijd wat luguber aan, maar bij dit boek valt dat nog reuze mee. Een van zijn beste boeken!
realpageturner's review against another edition
3.0
I don't think it was an accident that Ted Dekker chose the name "Paradise" for his complex heroine in this unusual thriller. I have not read Dekker's work before so I had an open mind.
The set up is a serial killer who has glued beautiful women to walls and systematically drained their blood by inserting a drill in their heels. He leaves them wearing a bridal veil on their nude torsos. This psychotic killer has motivated the FBI to find the murderer and stop further killings. Brad Raines, a 32 year old, sensitive and bright FBI agent, thinks out of the box and his quest leads him to an unusual institution. At the Center for Well-being and Intelligence, he discovers mentally ill patients who are gifted with possible extra sensory powers and high intellect. One of the patients is Paradise; she can touch people and see how they died.
We learn early on who the killer is and the reader despises him even though Dekker puts us inside his head to try and explain his madness (it was these inner dialogues that were some of the most interesting parts of the book). His hatred for anyone who annoys him is way off the scale. An early scene involved hitting a strange child in a restaurant's bathroom to teach him a lesson about proper behavior. Faith appears to be one of Dekker's themes and since the killer`s mission is to find the perfect bride for God, allusions to devotion are rampant throughout the plot.
I am probably in the minority but I thought the book was too long, it dragged on and there were no real surprises. The murderer was a victim of extreme abuse and Paradise witnessed the most horrific family massacre. I did find originality in the Center for Well-Being and Intelligence. Dekker was able to humanize the mentally ill and their pain was palpable. Paradise's name was well chosen but I found Allison, the ex-nun who was the administrator of the Center the most interesting character and one who knew how to heal the heart.
The set up is a serial killer who has glued beautiful women to walls and systematically drained their blood by inserting a drill in their heels. He leaves them wearing a bridal veil on their nude torsos. This psychotic killer has motivated the FBI to find the murderer and stop further killings. Brad Raines, a 32 year old, sensitive and bright FBI agent, thinks out of the box and his quest leads him to an unusual institution. At the Center for Well-being and Intelligence, he discovers mentally ill patients who are gifted with possible extra sensory powers and high intellect. One of the patients is Paradise; she can touch people and see how they died.
We learn early on who the killer is and the reader despises him even though Dekker puts us inside his head to try and explain his madness (it was these inner dialogues that were some of the most interesting parts of the book). His hatred for anyone who annoys him is way off the scale. An early scene involved hitting a strange child in a restaurant's bathroom to teach him a lesson about proper behavior. Faith appears to be one of Dekker's themes and since the killer`s mission is to find the perfect bride for God, allusions to devotion are rampant throughout the plot.
I am probably in the minority but I thought the book was too long, it dragged on and there were no real surprises. The murderer was a victim of extreme abuse and Paradise witnessed the most horrific family massacre. I did find originality in the Center for Well-Being and Intelligence. Dekker was able to humanize the mentally ill and their pain was palpable. Paradise's name was well chosen but I found Allison, the ex-nun who was the administrator of the Center the most interesting character and one who knew how to heal the heart.
shannananahey's review against another edition
1.0
I just can't. The first half was interesting and moved along nicely but then he started this weird relationship between the FBI agent and an extremely psychologically damaged patient. I'm moving this to the DNF.
amyextradot's review against another edition
2.0
I chose this merely because it was available via my public library right away and it wasn't YA-zombie-fiction.
em_beddedinbooks's review against another edition
I have given up this book halfway through - not because the book was so bad. It was okay. But I am a great psychothriller fan and to me somehow this didnot measure up. I was just skimming through pages at the end and decided to stop reading it. Someday perhaps I may resume it. The story deals with a psycho serial pattern killer who choses young beautiful women to be brides of Christ and kills them by draining away their blood. There is a detective who is on the killer's trail, his friend and forensic psychologist who is targeted by the killer, who is playing a cat and mouse game with the detective. Another woman, a lunatic asylum resident (who is very intelligent and who can see ghosts) who aids him as well as falls in love with him (mutual?) and who is again under threat from the killer. We come to know the name of the killer early in the book, the forensic psychiatrist and mental asylum lady love come to know him a bit too late.I cant tell the ending as I stopped at page 228/305. But the ending should be like any other book of this genre.
gh_monroe's review against another edition
3.0
I picked up this book because I was drawn in by the title, the blurb, and the fact that it was listed under “Mystery”. The blurb said …
'A string of exquisite young women have been murdered by a single individual who leaves his signature with each body: a pristine bridal veil. FBI agent Brad Raines must turn to a most unusual source for help.'
I thought, Interesting, a thriller about a serial killer. The reality is that this book was a rather improbable love story about an FBI agent who falls in love with a schizophrenic, agoraphobic, institutionalized woman with a serial murder case as a backdrop. So the classification was deceptive. It was a book I never would have picked up had I known that it was a love story.
This story was essentially Aaron Hotchner goes to the Cuckoo's Nest to get The Dream Team's help in the hunt for a dime store version of Hannibal Lecter, and falls in love with a schizophrenic version of Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island … with some preachy stuff thrown in at the end for good measure.
Then there was the writing, which I felt was criminally overdone. Writers need to understand that we don't live our lives in a world with soaring prose and when we read a story, we want to live in the story. Mr. Dekker clearly has a fabulous vocabulary, but I didn't pick up the book to be thrilled by his abilities as a human thesaurus. I wanted to be entertained. I kept listening in the hopes that the story would get better and by the end, I was pretty much hanging around because I was rooting for the serial killer to do away with one or both of the protagonists … and if I was lucky, the author's desire to write. I gave this three stars because as disappointing as it was, if someone out there is actually looking for a serial killer/sanitarium romance … then they might enjoy this. I however, did not! Also, I could not, in good conscience rate this any more poorly than I rated Gun Games by Faye Kellerman (though in retrospect, I now wish I had rated Gun Games as two stars instead of three). It was equally displeasing.
'A string of exquisite young women have been murdered by a single individual who leaves his signature with each body: a pristine bridal veil. FBI agent Brad Raines must turn to a most unusual source for help.'
I thought, Interesting, a thriller about a serial killer. The reality is that this book was a rather improbable love story about an FBI agent who falls in love with a schizophrenic, agoraphobic, institutionalized woman with a serial murder case as a backdrop. So the classification was deceptive. It was a book I never would have picked up had I known that it was a love story.
This story was essentially Aaron Hotchner goes to the Cuckoo's Nest to get The Dream Team's help in the hunt for a dime store version of Hannibal Lecter, and falls in love with a schizophrenic version of Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island … with some preachy stuff thrown in at the end for good measure.
Then there was the writing, which I felt was criminally overdone. Writers need to understand that we don't live our lives in a world with soaring prose and when we read a story, we want to live in the story. Mr. Dekker clearly has a fabulous vocabulary, but I didn't pick up the book to be thrilled by his abilities as a human thesaurus. I wanted to be entertained. I kept listening in the hopes that the story would get better and by the end, I was pretty much hanging around because I was rooting for the serial killer to do away with one or both of the protagonists … and if I was lucky, the author's desire to write. I gave this three stars because as disappointing as it was, if someone out there is actually looking for a serial killer/sanitarium romance … then they might enjoy this. I however, did not! Also, I could not, in good conscience rate this any more poorly than I rated Gun Games by Faye Kellerman (though in retrospect, I now wish I had rated Gun Games as two stars instead of three). It was equally displeasing.
cherrysoda9_9's review against another edition
3.0
The side characters in this book are easily the best part. I adored reading about them, they were so much fun and so entertaining and unique. The main story was good as well, the only thing that kind of took away from it was
Spoiler
the random, rushed romance between Brad and Paradise. I get that it was meant to be a plot device, but it felt very forced to me.holtfan's review
1.0
It has been a while since I read a thriller, or anything Dekker, and I assumed picking one up would help get me back into reading something besides teen fiction and manga.
The Bride Collector proved to be a poor choice. The plot follows a fairly standard serial-killer/thriller model with some unfortunate additions. Any time the novel shifted to the serial killer's POV I wanted to throw it against a wall. It also included random POVs from the main FBI agent, his partner, and a girl who struggles with psychosis.
The characters lack depth and sustain grueling back-stories to push them along. The suicide of a fiance. A failed marriage. A murdering father. Everyone struggles with debilitating issues that quickly find resolution (all it takes is a little love and a good cry-fest). All the characters lacked depth.
Because the reader has access to the serial killer's thoughts, I didn't find it particularly suspenseful. I forced myself to zip through the novel or I never would have finished it.
An entirely mediocre novel. It reads like a cheap thriller but lacks suspense. I would even argue it borderline insults with its 'totally normal' psychosis patients.
I was to distracted by the plot to care for the moral undertones and message of God's love. At any rate, it barely changes with the characters.
A book I will forget as quickly as I read.
The Bride Collector proved to be a poor choice. The plot follows a fairly standard serial-killer/thriller model with some unfortunate additions. Any time the novel shifted to the serial killer's POV I wanted to throw it against a wall. It also included random POVs from the main FBI agent, his partner, and a girl who struggles with psychosis.
The characters lack depth and sustain grueling back-stories to push them along. The suicide of a fiance. A failed marriage. A murdering father. Everyone struggles with debilitating issues that quickly find resolution (all it takes is a little love and a good cry-fest). All the characters lacked depth.
Because the reader has access to the serial killer's thoughts, I didn't find it particularly suspenseful. I forced myself to zip through the novel or I never would have finished it.
An entirely mediocre novel. It reads like a cheap thriller but lacks suspense. I would even argue it borderline insults with its 'totally normal' psychosis patients.
I was to distracted by the plot to care for the moral undertones and message of God's love. At any rate, it barely changes with the characters.
A book I will forget as quickly as I read.