The Priest's Graveyard Hardcover – Bargain Price, April 19, 2011

The Priest's Graveyard by Ted DekkerThe Priest's Graveyard is the latest book in which I think of as his `serial killer novels.' Specifically, these are the novels published through Center Street with a plot heavily involving some sort of serial killer. I liked Boneman's Daughters and thought The Bride Collector was pretty decent. Then again, I didn't like Immanuel's Veins (his latest novel until now) and thought Green was a weak entry into the Circle series (these are the only other Dekker books I've reviewed so far). So where does The Priest's Graveyard fall?The Priest's Graveyard is the story of Danny and Renee. Renee is a young woman with a troubled life, one that includes drug addiction and abuse. While running from someone trying to killer her, she rescued by a man named Lamont, who quickly becomes her angel. Though a bit quirky and dealing with more than a mild case of OCD, Lamont takes Renee in and cares for her, helping her over her addiction. Renee falls in love with him and they marry. But something terrible happens, and Lamont disappears. Renee suspects Lamont's corrupt business partner - Bourque.Danny is a priest, also with a terrible past in war torn Bosnia. But he's not a normal priest. He's a priest who seeks to bring the worst of humanity to justice, which usually results in their death. He doesn't go after petty criminals. He goes after those who will likely never receive prosecution in any other way. Then his path crosses with Renee. He sees the cruelty she was subjected to in her early life and the pain that was caused when Lamont was torn out of her life. Together perhaps they can rid the world of the monster responsible.As far as the story is concerned, this is probably one of Dekker's freshest approaches to a common theme/idea. One, the man who fills the role of the serial killer is one of the protagonists. Normally the serial killer is the one trying to either kill or emotionally harm the protagonist, but here he is working with Renee, the other protagonist.Also, Dekker usually has `villain chapters' in his book, which allow insight into the mind of the villain. Except for a few short times when we view of the henchmen of the villain, we never actually get inside the villain's head like we usually do, which allows our imagination to do the rest. I really liked this aspect, partially because it meant the villain didn't get some pseudo-philosophical/twisted religious catchphrase for me to get sick of hearing repeated over and over again.Most Dekker stories are completely told in third person narrative. This book alternates between first and third. Renee's side of the story tends to be first person, and Danny's tends to be third. When they are together, it sometimes mixes, not when there is first person narrative it is always from Renee's perspective.And what about the twist? If you've read anything by Ted Dekker you know that there is nearly always some sort of twist at the end. Some are shocking, and some aren't, but very few of his stories are without one. Overall the twist in this novel was very strong. I was able to guess a small element of it, but there ended up being much more than I expected, which was a pleasant surprise. It also felt like it flowed well in the story. Sometimes Dekker's twist completely took me out of the story (Skin) and other times the magnified the story immensely (Thr3e). I would say on that scale, this one is closer to Thr3e, though not quite as good. There were a few unbelievable elements in twist, but I won't spoil it for you as they were fairly minor.There are some structural problems I have with The Priest's Graveyard. The prologue is set after the story has already taken place. Renee approaches a priest for a confessional where she wants to tell her story and Danny's, to see if they can be forgiven. This is where we learn Danny's history in Bosnia. My first issue with this is that it takes away some of the surprise element. Now I know Renee survives. In Dekker novels, sometimes a main character dies while others live. But here I'm being told up front that Renee lives. Also, the rest of the story seems that it should naturally be completely from Renee's perspective, since it is her telling the confessions. Yet the whole novel jumps back and forth between first and third person narratives. In the third person narratives concerning Danny we also get insight into Danny's thoughts. How does Renee know all this? At the beginning of the prologue Renee gives the priest a confession written by Danny. This explains how we know his thoughts - but it's also the first person. The rest of the novel isn't like this. Either the prologue should've been cut, or the point of view for the rest of novel should've been consistent. During the times I was most caught up in the story I usually forgot about this, but whenever the story slowed or the point of view changed I was reminded of it.Still, this is overall a pretty strong entry into Dekker's growing library. Despite some of the problems I had with it, some of the fresh approaches to the story helped elevate it above some of his other recent novels. His themes also come through strongly in this novel, and even though he tends to capture many of the same themes in every book, it definitely feels fresh this time around.4/5 starsThere was one other element I had minor problems with, but there could be MINOR SPOILERS here, so I'm putting it after the rating so those who don't want spoilers don't read it on accident.At the beginning of the story Renee is running from Cyrus, a man who she thinks is going to kill her. When Lamont disappears, she presumes him dead and goes to find the man who she thinks killed him. She is forced to return to the town where Cyrus lives and she worries about being found. But this worrying only really occurs in the first half of the book. After a while she seems to forget about him. We never meet him, and aside from the beginning, the most Renee does is think about him. There is no resolution to his story line. We know Renee survives because of the prologue, yet at the end of the book I still don't know what's happening with Cyrus. Is he alive? Renee never had the opportunity to confront Cyrus, the man who actually pushed her into this world in the first place.END SPOILER

There are not a lot of books that are able to surprise me, so when one does, I am absolutely impressed. Granted, I had already suspected the truth from early on. What I hadn't suspected was the severity of the truth...the extremeness. That took me by surprise and horrified me. But there was a detail about the truth that completely took me by surprise; I hadn't suspected that detail at all. It was a tasty tid-bit...as interesting reveals in a book are.In spite of the fact that that I struggled to determine whether or not I like Ted Dekker as an author, I have been drawn to his books like a moth to a flame. The Priest's Graveyard has dipped the scale more in favor of liking than my reading of two other books by him have done so far. So, yeah. I'll keep reading books by Dekker throughout this year.

I could not put this book down, it kept me on the edge of my seat.

This is one of my favorite books of all time!

My favorite books by Ted Dekker are Blink, Three, Adam, The Bride Collector, and Immanuel's Veins. I am a huge fan of his. All of these books gripped me from the first word and did not let go, making me feel like I was living rather than reading the story. Sadly, The Priest's Graveyard was not like those books. Don't get me wrong, I did like the book and it made some very good points and for that I gave it four stars. So I will first list the things I liked about the book. The main theme was "Judge not, that you be not judged." Overall, the story was about the Law and how it was impossible to live up to those expectations of perfection, and so Grace was implemented so we could escape punishment for not being perfect. We are taught that yes, the world is indeed flawed and in need of cleaning up, but not one of us by judging another can fix anything because we are no better than anyone else. I loved this part of the story. I could understand how Danny thought and why he felt the way he did, and I felt myself agreeing with him and rooting for him many times even though I knew his actions were wrong. The story is told from the perspective of two different people, and I like the way you get each person's thoughts and feelings about the same situation, which at times are totally different. The ending was beautiful, which I won't give away here, but will only say that Danny did come to his senses in a wonderful way.So perhaps it will seem that I am judging when I say what I didn't like about this book! I just sometimes felt like Ted was distracted while writing the book. For one thing there were several inconsistencies that I just couldn't get past, which I found odd for such a talented author as Ted, who is usually a perfectionist about his writing. One of the main characters mentions a cover up and that is never fully explained. In another part, the same main character takes a cab to a residence to perform her own brand of justice, and when it is over she says she drove back home. Yet another time it is told that the second main character killed the three men who killed his family the same day they killed them but farther into the book it says he killed them a year after they killed his family. Maybe I am being too picky but these things just bother me. Early on in the book I began to notice the story just wasn't taking hold of me the way most of Ted's books do, and I felt like that was because he was writing from a woman's perspective and perhaps was trying to be softer. While I was reading Danny's parts, I would start to feel like the story was picking up momentum, only to be slowed down again when it was Renee's turn. There were many times I wanted to slap Renee because she was such an idiot, and I found myself hoping someone would catch her or take her out! She was portrayed as very co-dependent and I felt that Danny, for all his faults, deserved better. So I did like the book, but if I were trying to introduce the author to someone who had never read his work, I would pick one of the books I listed at the beginning rather than this one.

This is the first time I have tried a book by Dekker. Disappointed as it was impossible to believe this storyline. Some of the descriptions were much too long and unnecessarily detailed. Not in a hurry to read his books again.

I am a Dekker fan and have been for quite a few years now, so I knew that I would most likely enjoy the book. I was not wrong. I gave it four stars because it has a good plot, is well written and in true Dekker fashion has you intrigued from start to finish. It did not get the full 5 stars because I felt that something was missing - something to make it stand out from other books of its kind. That being said I still gave it 4, it is good and I would recommend it.

A very deep and exciting novel, whose dimensions I can't possibly begin to unravel until I read it again. So many themes explored by Ted Dekker. Thoroughly impressed. A proper review is inevitable in due course, in the meantime, read it! You won't be disappointed!

Always love the gripping story and the lessons entwined throughout. Highly recommend this book or any by Ted Dekker. Heart changing

Ted Dekker books are always great if you are a fan of his style. This was another good read.