The Priest's Graveyard [Paperback]

Ted Dekker (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 18, 2011

Two abandoned souls are on the hunt for one powerful man. Soon, their paths will cross and lead to one twisted fate.

Danny Hansen is a Bosnian immigrant who came to America with hopes of escaping haunted memories of a tragic war that took his mother's life. Now he's a priest who lives by a law of love and compassion. It is powerful men and hypocrites who abide by legal law but eschew the law of love that most incense Danny. As an avenging angel, he believes it is his duty to show them the error of their ways, at any cost.

Renee Gilmore is the frail and helpless victim of one such powerful man. Having escaped his clutches, she now lives only to satisfy justice by destroying him, regardless of whom she must become in that pursuit.

But when Danny and Renee's paths become inexorably entangled things go very, very badly and neither of them may make it out of this hunt alive.

Judge not, or you too will be judged.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for THE PRIEST'S GRAVEYARD:

"Dekker's new thriller is skillfully written, surprising, and impossible to put down. It might, in fact, be his best novel to date...This is an extremely well-thought-out novel, precisely plotted, and, like a good magic trick, deceptive and startling. Although the story's right-angle plot twist is jolting, it doesn't feel forced or unbelievable, and the book's atmosphere is appropriately dark and unsettling, kind of like the feeling you get from the Saw movies (although this book isn't nearly as graphic or twisted as those). A daring and completely riveting thriller."

-- Booklist

The Priest's Graveyard by Ted Dekker is an amazing novel, utterly compelling, the story of an abandoned girl and a strange, vengeful priest whose paths eventually cross-with terrifying consequences. Intensely readable, well written, and completely original.
--Douglas Preston, co-creator of the famed Pendergast series of novels

"The Priest's Graveyard is a thrill-a-minute ride, with heart-pounding action and a twist that you'll never see coming."
-- Tess Gerritsen, New York Times bestselling author of Ice Cold

"Here's the best part about The Priest's Graveyard: It's smart enough to realize that, for many, the scariest thing in life isn't a monster or something that bumps in the night. It's love. Love is terrifying. And powerful. And unstoppable. And if you don't already know that, you're about to see why. The Priest's Graveyard will haunt you -- long after you want it to."
-- Brad Meltzer, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Fate and The Inner Circle

"If you've never visited Ted Dekker's world, do it. The Priest's Graveyard is perfect entertainment. Beguiling, compelling, challenging, and riveting--fantastic gimmick-free storytelling--that's what you get with Ted Dekker. Don't pass this up."
-- Steve Berry, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Emperor's Tomb

About the Author

TED DEKKER is a New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty novels with a total of more than 5 million copies sold worldwide. He is known for thrillers that combine adrenaline-laced plots with incredible confrontations between good and evil.

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Center Street; 1 edition (October 18, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9781455504008
• ISBN-13: 978-1455504008
• ASIN: 1455504009
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (198 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #518,101 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 55 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Excellent idea. Poor execution. April 28, 2011

By Jerry

Format:Hardcover

In an attempt to explore some wonderful themes (justice, vengeance, love and grace in regard to religious belief and societal laws), the Priest's Graveyard started off wonderfully, but went south pretty fast. Unique characters quickly morph into the cardboard cutout variety when their actions start to bend to the ridiculous plot.

A vigilante priest who takes justice into his own hands is terribly intriguing. Then, as we watch him interrogate his first offender and are made privy to his inner turmoil via a painfully indecisive interior monologue, we see that it's not really a moral struggle, but more the fact that this character doesn't know what he's doing or what he's really about, even though he thinks he does.

The same can be said of the recovering heroin addict and the ridiculous sequence of events that bring her to where she is. She's another ditsy character that is at one moment full of conviction and self righteousness, and then the next second she's second guessing herself, and then she's full of conviction, and then second guessing herself, and then... It's tiring. We're treated to monologue after monologue of the same thing from both main characters, especially in the last third of the book.

Cardboard characters and ridiculous plot aside, the theme at the core of the book is one worth exploring. It's just a shame that by the time the main characters begin to really reflect on it, I no longer cared about them, not even a little bit.

129 of 162 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars I Can't Remember When I Read A More Poorly Written Book! May 3, 2011

By bobbewig TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Prior to starting Ted Dekker's The Priest's Graveyard it's basic premise had me intrigued, which pertains to two abandoned souls -- one a vigilante priest, the other a young woman trying to recover from a drug addiction and from being a victim of sexual abuse -- who are on the hunt for one powerful man. Soon, their paths cross and lead to a twisted fate bound by a perilous love.

It seemed that after reading the first fifty or so pages Dekker's execution of this plot premise was going to be a good one. However, upon further reading, Dekker's poor writing skills dominate any plot qualities. That is, his character development skills, coupled with his almost child-like prose are about as poor as I can remember reading in many years. Further, his attempt to wrap his story around some religious beliefs (such as good and evil, god and the devil, angels and demons, love and grace, mortal sin, etc.) failed miserably in my opinion; and resulted in this reader feeling that his eyes were rolling around in his head.

I know this may seem hard to believe when you look at the Amazon Reader review ratings in which 51 of the 69 ratings (at the time of this writing) are 5 stars. Please don't be misled by this because if you look at the reviewers who gave this rating you'll see that many are by those who are writing their first review, which is a ploy many small publishers use to create reader interest and, of course, sales for their author's book. Some others are from Dekker's loyal army of reader reviewers, whose only reviews, or vast majority of reviews, have been for books by Ted Dekker.

Unfortunately, the only real mystery for me was why I didn't just give up on it and move on to another book. I know that a negative review such as this is bound to result in a bunch of "no/not helpful" votes, especially from the large, loyal base of followers of Dekker's books of Christian fiction. But, if this review helps prevent even a few readers from wasting their time and money (as I did), then my review has served its purpose.

25 of 29 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Dekker does it again! Disappoints, that is May 19, 2011

By Mathachew

Format:Hardcover

When I heard about The Bride Collector last year, I was excited. The same can be said for The Priest's Graveyard. I had high hopes for The Bride Collector, which can also be said for The Priest's Graveyard. I was disappointed with the former; this time around, I was very disappointed with the later. Was the The Priest's Graveyard awful? No, I would not go that far, but it certainly does have plenty to dislike, hate and gripe about. There are so many problems in this book that I would be wasting your time spoiling nearly all of it if I told you all of them.

The problems with The Priest's Graveyard are many and frequent, but I will do my best to avoid any spoilers. From the get go, Danny Hansen confesses that the vigilante priest persona was probably born during the worst time of his life, when his mother and two sisters were brutally raped and murdered (fret not, this is in the opening pages). Lamont sweetly and gingerly taking Renee in after hitting her with his car, a completely random event that capitulated the rest of the book, was completely out of character. Renee was convincing as a naive 24 year old, and due to her heroin addiction, she was lacking in smarts, yet when it was convenient, she would have sharp deductive skills and show signs of brilliance, only to fall back into having a mind as good as a bag of hammers. Danny and Renee instantly strike a bond that, in Dekker style, develops into a love story that I felt like was used as a tool (or gimmick) to add more emotion to the story. Renee being a vigilante was very, very hard to accept and flat out unbelievable, especially when she finally confronts Jonathan Bourque. Then there was the twist, which when you think about it, does not make any sense at all. I would elaborate more, but it is kind of a big spoiler. There are more problems I had with the book, but I will end my rant.

There were some good moments, but few and far between. Danny was brutal in his methodology in dealing with those he was judging. He knows what he is, he knows what he needs to do, and he does it effectively. The story moves at a decent pace and does not hold back on the brutality of the violence that occurs. Unabashed and daring in that respect. Unfortunately, there is not a lot more I can really say about the good parts. I may have forgotten a few, but the bad heavily outweighs the good.

There is a reason why I consider Thr3e, BoneMan's Daughters, Adam, Skin and even House better than The Priest's Graveyard: they did not waste so much time on a love story that was hard, if not impossible, to believe. If Dekker could just leave out the unrealistic love stories that he just cannot help but include, his books would contain a different, and in my opinion better, focus on the story. I did not enjoy The Priest's Graveyard like I hoped. It was not as bad as Immanuel's Veins, but not as good as The Bride Collector, and is among the discard pile of Dekker's work. It is difficult to look forward to another Dekker book because I know what he is capable of, for both the good and the bad. Still, I have not given up on him just yet.