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Kiss - Let me tell you all I know for sure. My name: Shauna. I woke up in a hospital bed missing six months of my memory. In the room was my loving boyfriend—how could I have forgotten him?---my uncle and my abusive stepmother. Everyone blames me for the tragic car accident that left me near death and my dear brother brain damaged. But what they say can’t be true—can it? I believe the medicine is doing strange things to my memory. I’m unsure who I can trust and who I should run from. And I’m starting to remember things I’ve never known. Things not about me. I think I’m going crazy. And even worse, I think they want to kill me. But who? And for what? Is dying for the truth really better than living with a lie? 

Burn - Janeal has long felt trapped in her father’s Gypsy culture. Then one night a powerful man named Salazar Sanso promises her the life she longs for—if she will help recover a vast sum of money tied to her father. When the plan implodes, Sanso and his men attack the gypsy settlement and burn it to the ground. During the blaze, Janeal is faced with a staggering choice. The impact of that moment changes her forever. As her past rises from the ashes, Janeal faces a new life-or-death choice. And this time, escape is not an option.  

Obsessed - Stephen Friedman is making a good living in good times. He’s just an ordinary guy, or so he thinks. But one day an extraordinary piece of information tells him differently. It’s a clue from the grave of a Holocaust survivor. A clue that makes him heir to an incredible fortune…a clue that only he and one other man can possibly understand. That man is Roth Braun, a serial killer who has been waiting for Stephen for thirty years. Roth was stopped once before. This time nothing will get in his way. Known worldwide for page-turning, adrenaline-laced thrillers, Dekker raises the stakes in this story of passion, revenge, and an all-consuming obsession for the ultimate treasure. 

Being scared. Horror book and film fans love experiencing that feeling. But when it comes down to people like me, and I’m practically a wimp, the idea of a bloodthirsty psychopath running the streets with a butcher knife or even making ridiculous demands of their victims, always makes me uneasy. In many of those books, the characters rarely ever have any hope or any awareness of a loving God. And that is how author Ted Dekker is different from other authors who write Thrillers. Beneath all the fear, occasional blood, and bloodthirsty psychopaths Ted Dekker makes sure to slip a deeper meaning into all of his books. He keeps his Christian values embedded in his work, but also makes it a challenge for his readers to try and look for that hope and love. In the selections Kiss and Burn the main characters both feel like outsiders in their own families. When Shauna loses her memory, she is constantly wondering if she really did want to hurt her brother in that crash, or if everyone was just accusing her wrongly. All while in the beginning of Burn, Janeal is realizing that the Gypsies make their living by conning people out of their money. In both scenarios they find themselves doubting what they believe in (or even what they might have believed, in Shauna’s case). Through their constant struggle, Shauna and Janeal hope for something better for their lives. Something to put their faith in, that won’t leave or forsake them. Wouldn’t it be great if they realized that they have a Father that cares about them a thousand times more than their earthly fathers did? Maybe they wouldn’t have felt so scared and alone for a majority of their stories, if they had known that unfailing love. In Obsessed Dekker’s challenge is for us to ask ourselves, “What obsession lies deep within each character? What are the pros and cons of these obsessions?” According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, the word obsession means, “A state in which someone thinks about something constantly.” For example, the character Roth Braun was obsessed for thirty years over getting the journal back. The journal that gave him the power he desperately wished to wield in his violent way of life. With that in mind I have my own challenge for whoever is reading this post. Ask yourself these questions, “What is my obsession, and is it good or bad for my life? More importantly, do I think about Jesus constantly? Is what He did for me on the cross forever a reminder in my life? Am I obsessed with my faith, and does it show?” Please come on down to the Cross Reference Library and check out these heart-racing novels.