Thunder of Heaven (Martyr's Song, Book 3) [Paperback]

Ted Dekker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 30, 2005

The world's worst fears have dawned. Nothing stands in the way of total destruction...except the love of one woman.

Deep in the Amazon jungle a young American woman and the son of plantation owners fall madly in love. For Tanya and Shannon, life is a paradise most only dream about.

But today paradise ends.

The jungle has hatched more than idyllic love. It has also spawned insidious evil. An evil shrouded in a plot so diabolically brilliant that all of America will be brought to her knees at the hands of a few terrorists.

The plan is executed to perfection. There is no way out...save an ancient woman whose dark past has lead her to a life of prayer in preparation for the unspeakable terror about to be unleashed.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Novelist Ted Dekker spins an action-packed story of drug cartels, the CIA, and the power of God to redeem tragedy for good in his inspirational thriller Thunder of Heaven. Life in Venezuela holds nothing but good things for Tanya Vandervan, her missionary family, and her love interest, the musclebound Shannon Ritcherson, who lives with his parents on an adjoining coffee plantation. When terrorists take over the land, both families are murdered and Tanya and Shannon believe each other to be dead. Grieving her losses, Tanya moves to the United States, where she changes her identity and seeks to lay her nightmarish past to rest. Years later, Tanya is inexorably pulled back to Venezuela by visions from God, and finds that Casius, an assassin who has his own agenda for revenge, may hold the key to questions about her past and her future. Dekker relies on a fast-paced plot rather than finely crafted prose to move his story along, and those who like their novels served up with plenty of heroics and a dash of romance will find this an engaging tale. --Cindy Crosby --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Tanya Vandervan, daughter of missionaries, and the rather mysterious "Shannon," son of a Danish planter, grow up in a kind of Eden in the jungles of Venezuela in Dekker's Thunder of Heaven. Their childhood is brutally ended when both sets of parents are killed, the casualties of a complicated, rather bizarre CIA plot against drug runners. Almost accidentally, both Tanya and Shannon survive, each thinking the other is dead. The reader encounters them eight years later. Tanya is nearly finished with medical school, but she is suddenly beset by the awful memories she's suppressed, and with a new set of visions about a plot to blow up the world. God compels her to return to Venezuela. Meanwhile, Shannon, now a rogue CIA agent, is also drawn to Venezuela, but for reasons that are not quite clear. Dekker's thriller is uneven but a real page-turner--his jungle survival scenes read like the best of David Morrell, and his description of a small nuclear explosion off the coast of Florida is upsettingly precise. John Mort
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson; Revised edition (August 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0849945178
• ISBN-13: 978-0849945175
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #168,641 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The first "Christian" novel I ever read, May 8, 2002

By 

"hughiej" (I can't keep track, I travel so much . . .) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thunder of Heaven (Martyr's Song, Book 3) (Paperback)

And what a shock!! I'd been avoiding these books like the plague because I'd heard they were all amateurish, even (esp.?) Left Behind. And have you ever been in a Christian bookstore? What a trip! More like a tricked out Hallmark store. Anyway, I bit the bullet because I overheard two colleagues going on and on about a book and I just had to find out what the big deal was. You know how when someone gives a huge buildup to something, then you go check it out and it turns out to be dreck? Well, I was pretty skeptical going in.

You know what? They were right--more right than I can begin to tell you. I've read my fair share of Grisham, Clancy, Coben, Lehane, Connelly, Morrell, Cussler, and lots of others, but never, NEVER have I read anything like this. For one thing, it's really refreshing to get all the action and adventure you could ever want and not have to worry about the main character hopping into bed with whatever female comes within half a mile of him. Not that I care a whole lot about that stuff, it just gets a little tiresome always having to deal with some rank male fantasy. For another thing, this Dekker guy strikes me as a truly original voice. He's got this edginess that I didn't expect from a "Christian" novel.

Since I'm kind of a monomaniac, I know what I'll be doing for the next couple weeks--checking out everything this guy's ever written. So should you.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best, Simply the Best!!, April 30, 2002

By 

"shank440" (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thunder of Heaven (Martyr's Song, Book 3) (Paperback)

Wow, what a book!! Thunder of Heaven! The title suggests explosive, dazzling content, and the story lives up to the title. YES!! I am so glad I found this book. I had been feeling so listless and without energy, and this book gave me a good spiritual kick in the behind to get me going.

What story-- I got the biggest adrenaline rush when the suspense overtook me, but I also found myself on the verge of tears about the romance, and I'm a man darn it!! That's not supposed to happen.

But what impressed me most, let me emphasize it, is the spiritual message, the Christian content of the book. The author, Ted Dekker, uses an expression in all three of the Martyr's song books that I believe is unique to his work. The expression is: The Skin of the World. The books picture our existence on earth as a thin thing, a fragile thing-- and what makes Ted's work so very awesome is the way the characters undulate between the physical world and the spiritual world.

Frank Perreti writes about similar themes, as did C.S. Lewis and George MacDonald. By standing on the shoulders of these giants, Ted Dekker has a unique level.

He has combined the pace and intensity of a John Grisham or a Stephen King novel with the spirituality of an Oswald Chambers devotional.

Thunder of Heaven is a worthile read and a good starting point for exploring Ted Dekker's work. Happy reading.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Biting My Fingernails., May 4, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Thunder of Heaven (Martyr's Song, Book 3) (Paperback)

"Thunder of Heaven" was a fantastic story that had me biting my fingernails with suspense. If you've never read a Ted Dekker book,you're missing some of the th most intense Christian fiction of our time. His books are filled with many layers of suspense, romance, mystery, high adventure, etc., and his writing style is engaging-- it's got a good verbal quality about it.

The plot is summarized in other reviews so I'm just going to comment on the underlying message. Ultimately "Thunder of Heaven" is a book about the love of God in the face of evil. What would drive a man to be a terrorist? More importantly, what would drive that same man to his knees in repentance?

I highly recommend this book. Enjoy.