Author: Ted Dekker
The vivid tragedy Dekker paints in this part of the trilogy is astonishing. I have never before found myself yelling "No!" or cheering out loud with a book as I did reading Red. Throughout each chapter, the reader feels an ever-intensifying sense of inevitability from observing wrong choices made with right motives. The characters all emanate genuineness and urgency. Consequently, we empathize with most if not all of them, grudgingly even those in the Horde--the scaly, vicious and revolting enemy of Thomas and the Forest People. As we've come to expect, there is no shortage of shocking revelations either.
Ted Dekker's novels have a trademark underlying theme: romance. In Black, Thomas Hunter's romance with Rachelle flowed like a silk curtain in the wind, graceful and sweet. In Red, romance is equally prevalent, if not more so; but Dekker spins us around with it by throwing completely unexpected plot changes in our way. He leads the reader like a master, allowing our preconceived ideas and human emotion to propel us to conclusions which often turn out to miss the mark. Romance, devotion and valiance soak the characters, and we find ourselves aspiring to be so brave, so loving.
Turning the final page, when we finally understand what we've been reading, a touch of shock is unavoidable. In all his novels, Dekker does an outstanding job of drawing the reader in, as if they were one of the characters experiencing all he describes. In Red, he excels so well, you may find yourself on your knees before the last page, heart-broken and grasping the reality of what Jesus Christ has done for you like never before.