With thirty one novels to his credit, including the popular "Circle" series (BLACK, RED, WHITE, and GREEN), fans of Austin-based author Ted Dekker look forward to a new release from him with anxious anticipation. Anxious, because they know they are going to get a fast- paced, exciting story that has all the twists and turns of a mammoth roller-coaster ride.

In his new book, THE BRIDE COLLECTOR, Dekker doesn't disappoint. From the first page, the action is off and running as the story follows FBI Special Agent Brad Raines, who is in the middle of an investigation that has everyone on edge. Someone is methodically killing beautiful young women around the Denver area, leaving the calling card of a lace bridal veil draped on their suspended, blood-drained bodies. Desperate for any clues on how this cold-blooded killer thinks, Raines turns to a group of four mentally gift, but mentally ill residents of a private psychiatric hospital.

Roudy, the leader of the group who thinks he's Sherlock Holmes reincarnate, can spot tidbits of information that the professionals have often missed. Casanova is a ladies' man, but he also understands the inner-workings of the psychotic mind of one who craves women. Andrea, though an outrageous flirt, can reduce complicated statistics to their simplest forms in no time. And then there is Paradise. Schizophrenic and bipolar, Paradise has the ability to touch a dead body and learn about the person's last moments on earth. Fragile and on edge, Paradise agrees to help Agent Raines find the killer because he seems so frighteningly familiar to her. As the two work together to piece the puzzle together, Raines and Paradise find a growing attraction to each other developing, but until the serial killer is found, their full concentration must be on preventing another young woman from becoming the next bride in the Bride Collector's evil game.

I'm not usually a fan of psychological thrillers, but with THE BRIDE COLLECTOR I found the story to be an intelligent, fast-paced adventure without too much blood and guts to turn the stomach. Dekker keeps the action moving, and his characters lively and the results are a well-written story that will keep readers mesmerized to the very last page.

Book Summary

FBI Special agent Brad Raines is facing his toughest case yet. A Denver serial killer has killed four beautiful young women, leaving a bridal veil at each crime scene, and he's picking up his pace. Unable to crack the case, Raines appeals for help from a most unusual source: residents of the Center for Wellness and Intelligence, a private psychiatric institution for mentally ill individuals whose are extraordinarily gifted.

It's there that he meets Paradise, a young woman who witnessed her father murder her family and barely escaped his hand. Diagnosed with schizophrenia, Paradise may also have an extrasensory gift: the ability to experience the final moments of a person's life when she touches the dead body.

In a desperate attempt to find the killer, Raines enlists Paradise's help. In an effort to win her trust, he befriends this strange young woman and begins to see in her qualities that most 'sane people' sorely lack. Gradually, he starts to question whether sanity resides outside the hospital walls...or inside.

As the Bride Collector picks up the pace-and volume-of his gruesome crucifixions, the case becomes even more personal to Raines when his friend and colleague, a beautiful young forensic psychologist, becomes the Bride Collector's next target.

The FBI believes that the killer plans to murder seven women. Can Paradise help before it's too late?