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FBI behavioral psychologist Daniel Clark has been made famous by his arguments that religion is one of society's greatest antagonists. What Daniel doesn't know is that his obsessive pursuit of a serial killer known only as "Eve" will end in his own death at Eve's hand. Twenty minutes later Daniel is resuscitated, only to be haunted by those twenty missing minutes of life. It soon becomes painfully clear that the only way to stop Eve is to recover those missing minutes by dying . . . again. What isn't nearly as clear is just how many times he will have to die to discover the truth, not only about Eve, but about himself. To stop the killer, Daniel will have to face haunting realities about demon possession in the modern world--and reevaluate his own prejudice against religion.--Publisher description.… (more)
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I'll start with the good point: the first half to 3/4 of the story is quite engaging.
Then the religion comes in... but it's not really religion, it's some sort of demon possession mish-mash. This would have been ok, if it had been blended in as part of the story, but
It's like a thriller/detective story crossed with a bad horror book, but it's not scary, just sorta silly. Demon possession? Sure... but not with characters that ALL act outside of normal parameters. A serial killer might behave like this, and, maybe, so would an experienced FBI investigator having a breakdown, but would a forensic pathologist and a lawyer ALSO behave so abnormally? Naw...
I waffled between 2 and 3 stars because, essentially, the last 1/4 of it is junk even though it starts with such promise.
However, I am going to insert a warning. This book seriously creeped me out. If you are not a fan of being creeped out by books, you
I really enjoyed the insight given in Adam's life. He is a serial killer and demon-possed by Eve.
A word of advise: don't read this book at night, and more
This book opened my mind to the fact that there are spiritual wars amongst us all the time, and we never are aware of it.
Pretty scary fact.
Alternating with Daniel and Eve's story is a 9-part magazine story of the life of Alex Price. It doesn't take long to figure out that Eve and Alex Price are one in the same, and as Alex's history unfolds many of Eve's secrets are revealed to the reader. But the climax of ADAM occurs when those secrets are revealed to Daniel
Without offering too much of a spoiler, I have to disclose up front that this novel is a paranormal thriller. And the reason I'm offering that tidbit is because I'm not a big fan of the paranormal subgenre. A friend recommend the book and I wasn't aware of that element of the novel, and my friend wasn't aware that I wasn't a fan. That being said (in as many words as I could possibly say it in)...
The book started out great for me. Daniel is your typical loner law-enforcement-type. His marriage ended because he consistently put his job first. And no one can do the job as well as Daniel can (rich sarcasm here). At the onset of the novel, Daniel's partner is dead from a questionable car accident and he is trying to get permission to "go dark" in an attempt to catch Eve. Meanwhile, the reader is learning about the abduction of Alex and Jessica Price through the magazine articles.
But the problems for me as the reader start when Daniel is shot and killed, then revived after 20 plus minutes. (I can handle that element; that's fine.) Daniel not only gets up and walks out of the hospital, but he talks his forensic pathologist partner, Lori, into killing him two more times - THAT WEEK! So, now I'm thinking that Daniel really needs to hook up with Jack Reacher because they would make an indestructible team.
O.k., so if you're a paranormal fan and you can swallow the three near-death experiences in one week, I think you will really enjoy this book. The writing style is strong; with the exception of Lori, I think the characterization is decent. The Adam and Eve parallel was quite creative and rather deep. It was just the over-the-top plot events that left me less than enthused with Dekker's novel. I also think it was the over-the-topness that lead me to figure out the "big shocker" twist at the end of the novel long before the end arrived.
Daniel and his partner discover the next target, but
This is a well written novel that will keep you turning the pages, long after you should have turned out the lights and gone to bed. With well developed characters, a horrifying back plot, and twists and turns this novel will not disappoint. One of Dekker's best works to date.
The supernatural element aside, the book is a very well done crime novel. The characters are well thought out, interact quite well and Dekker has used some plot devices that came as a surprise to this reader. It was quite easy to get into the skin of whichever character was being portrayed at the time.
The supernatural is, however the main element of this novel. Do we believe? Can we believe in good, without believing in evil? Does disbelief lower our defenses, so we are blind to the reality of evil? In a world as secular as ours, it becomes quite easy to deride religion and believers in general. After all, the only real proof appears to be belief and faith, and in our world, these ephemeral concepts seem just a bit outdated and outlandish. If you disbelieve, this book is well written enough to make you stop for at least a moment and consider your position. If you haven't ever given it much thought, you might be finding yourself considering the possibilities just a bit more often. And if you've come to realize that you do believe in at least the power of good in our world, then you’ll probably find yourself doing a little gut check on your belief in the power of evil.
My dad warned me not to read this book because it was 'too scary' for me, but I did anyways. It was scary. Adam is full of suspense, plot twisters, and things that make me want to crawl under my sheets. The romance part of the story was amazing and actually really sweet how a divorced couple can find the capacity to love each other again. The ending was what really surprised me the most though. I also really liked the character development and how everyone worked together in weird circumstances. Also, even though the killer is ruthless and unforgiving, I kind of felt sorry for him and how he was controlled. But overall, this was a wonderful book. But I'm not reading this at night.
My biggest disappointment
Dekker dares to portray demon possession with frightening detail, and raises questions about whether or not it still exists in our modern world. Reading Adam is not for the faint of heart, though the hunt for the serial killer storyline is fairly straightforward and full of enough twists and turns to keep the reader turning the pages. I enjoyed the suspense of this story and the darkness was tolerable--more so than in some of Dekker's other recent books. If you enjoy books written from a Christian point of view that don't sugarcoat the reality of evil than Dekker is definitely an author you will enjoy--and the fast pace and thrills of Adam make this a great book of his to put at the top of your "to read" list.