FBI agent and behavioral psychologist Daniel Clark is obsessed. Obsessed with catching a serial killer who is for all practical purposes, uncatchable.

He's so obsessed that his wife, who even though she still loves him, divorced him two years earlier because of his obsession. A classic case of his job over his wife.

Eve has killed 15 women, all in the same fashion, and now that the moon's cycle has come around again, Daniel knows he will soon kill a 16th.

Then, on one fateful night in the middle of nowhere, Daniel and his team catch a break that leads them to the killer known only as Eve. But just when they think they've caught him, Eve shoots and kills Daniel and another officer. The 16th victim is also found dead.

After being clinically dead for 21 minutes, and for reasons nobody can truly understand, Daniel is brought back to life on his way to a hospital. Unfortunately, he can't remember any of those 21 minutes. The FBI's only new lead, what Eve looks like, is trapped in Daniel's mind, hidden from him. And the only way to remember is to relive the event. Daniel must die again. The question is how many times he is going to have to die to remember everything.

And to add to it, Eve has chosen a 17th victim - Daniel's wife, Heather. The chase goes all throughout the country, California to the heart of the Midwest. Daniel's obsession grows, even after multiple deaths, as he races against the clock to save his wife.

I can't really go much further into the plot without giving away spoilers, but trust me, the novel does NOT go where you expect it to. While I guess it would be more thriller than flat out horror for the most part, there are times when it is straight out horror. And while my synopsis may not give you the impression of the supernatural, there is plenty of supernatural stuff going on.

I also noticed right away that Dekker did a lot of research for this novel. His references and descriptions of medical procedures and terminology is extensive, which I both liked and disliked. It was neat learning some of the stuff, but it drew away from Dekker's best writing, which is the action. While the whole book was good, the last third of the novel was almost all action, and blew the rest of it away.

I would definitely recommend this book, although I know a lot of you will probably object. It's no secret Dekker's work have religious overtones. However, both ADAM and his last novel, SKIN, are no longer classified as religious novels. At B&N, they are in the regular fiction section (and actually, when I looked it up on my system at work, it classifies the book as horror), and at Borders they are in mystery/thriller.

While not quite as good as HOUSE (co-written with Peretti) or THE OATH (Peretti), I think it was better than both THR3E and SHOWDOWN.

Happy Reading!

Sounds good. Thanks for the review Craig.

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Reading:

The Spartacus War - Barry Strauss
Slow Death - Jim Fielder
The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire - Edward Gibbon

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Reading:

The Spartacus War - Barry Strauss
Slow Death - Jim Fielder
The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire - Edward Gibbon