The Circle Trilogy: The Birth of Evil
Book One: Black (Hardcover)
www.teddekker.com
Publisher: WestBow Press
ISBN: 0-8499-1790-5
408 pages


Excerpts below are taken from the hardcover jacket:

Some say the world hangs in the balance of every choice we make. Now the fate of two worlds hangs in the balance of one man’s choice.

Black is an incredible story of evil and rescue, betrayal and love, pursuit and death, and a terrorist’s threat unlike anything the human race has ever known. A virulent evil has been unleashed upon the people of the earth, an unstoppable force bent on the destruction of all that is good. Only Thomas Hunter can stop it, and he’s already been killed. Twice.

Start the journey with Black, the first novel in a trilogy from Ted Dekker.

----- Introduction -----

In the realm of Christian fiction Ted Dekker is rapidly becoming a rising star. His collaborations with Bill Bright on several books showed his skill as a co-writer, and his last book Three demonstrated his excellent solo talent. His current release is titled Black, and is the first novel in a planned trilogy which will include the books Red and White. Unlike most trilogies, Dekker is releasing all three books in less than a one-year span of time. His reasoning for this decision is that his readers will maintain their grasp on the story better over a shorter passage of time.

Black takes place in two simultaneous locations separated by the dreams and visions of the book’s main character, Thomas Hunter. Tom is the twenty-something son of an Army chaplain. He grew up in the cultural maelstrom of the Philippines which gave him more than enough chances to defend himself from the ragtag street gangs around the Army base. He currently lives with his sister Kara in Dallas Texas, and works at a coffee shop to pay the bills. His bills go beyond the ordinary rent and car payment, as the reader soon discovers.

Thomas has a bit of history with a rather powerful criminal organization, which is based on a large sum of borrowed money he is VERY late on repaying. After he is cornered by several hitmen and attempts to flee over the rooftops, he miscalculates a jump and falls several stories into a large construction dumpster. In this fall Thomas receives a nasty blow to the head and regains consciousness in a totally different reality with its own landscape and creatures. Not only does it have an ecology all its own, the planet is inhabited by both strangely beautiful creatures and hideously grotesque beings. Tom narrowly escapes the black woods and the deadly Shataiki, and must outwit their leader Teelah. His only allies on this planet of extreme dualisms are the inhabitants of the colored woods, and the white bat like creatures known as Roush.

As he explores this strange new world and narrowly escapes death, he comes to realize it has a tangible if indistinct relation with his life back in Dallas. While in this alternate reality he is shocked to discover a terrible virus is going to be released to the earth’s population in less than a month, and he must find a way to thwart the plans of its creator. As he begins to see the correlation between the ethereal word and the physical world, he is able to use information gained in both realities to help his battle. Tom’s sister Kara is a constant supporter in his battle against the deadly virus. It takes her time to realize that his “dream state” is a fact and not just a post-trauma induced dementia, but after he obtains proof and convinces her of the truth she is his staunchest ally. As heroes go he’s a very ordinary guy with a slightly shady background, but the best leaders are born out of adversity. Hunter’s world is about to change and nothing will ever be the same, for him or the rest of humanity. Join Thomas and Kara in their struggle for the world’s future, and enter the world of Black.

----- My Comments -----

Ted Dekker has focused most of his writing talents on the Christian fiction genre, and specialized in suspense/miracle themes. Five of his novels were co-authored with Evangelical cornerstone Bill Bright, and had a very Biblical basis and viewpoint. Dekker’s most recent novel entitled Three was a big step in both content and intended audience. It wasn’t a collaboration with any other authors, and showed that Dekker had been the one responsible for the suspenseful plot elements in his previous novels. As his first secular (or at least not overtly Christian) book, Three jumped into the very crowded suspense/action genre and tried to swim with the big boys.

Black splits the difference between his earlier works and Three, combining the more appealing aspects of mass-market novels with subtle Christian undertones. Black is part of a three-book trilogy that will continue with Red and climax with White. The unique part of this series is the speed of their release, only 8 months from first book to last. Ted Dekker has this to say about his trilogy: “Coming on the heels Lord of the Rings and The Matrix, this will tell an epic story spanning three novels, two worlds, and one story. Never has a hardcover trilogy of this magnitude been released in an 8 month window of time.” While the speed of release is a moot point if the books are inferior, I was very impressed with the quality and creativity employed by Dekker in the creation of both the earthbound characters, and the ones existent only in Hunter’s dreams. The way in which Hunter switches between realms is reminiscent of the Stargate series, only the transportation device is sleep. I would categorize Black as a scifi/action/suspense novel, with a dash of romance and mystery thrown in. A melting pot of genres you might say, but a successful blend in my opinion.

----- Christian or Crichton? -----

I’m not sure how well these cross-platform genre bending novels sell, but I can see the Black/Red/White trilogy appealing to religious people of all faiths yet also to secular readers. I didn’t notice the obvious Christian undertones to Black until I was somewhere near page 300, which is pretty sad considering I’ve read many of Dekker’s other books. The format of this trilogy is very similar to C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia or J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. The characters are all representations of various good and evil forces, with an easily identifiable demon-horde and angelic beings. The altered state that comes on Hunter transports him to a world where good and evil are visible and tangible beings. The battles in this “other earth” help equip him for his struggles back on “real earth”. Even the titles of the three books take on symbolic meaning when you look at them in a religious light, Black (sin, evil), Red (sacrifice), White (redemption, reward). While not strictly Biblical, the allegorical status of Black is firmly in place. I strongly encourage anyone interested in reading a well-written and engaging novel to pick up a copy of Black

Related links:
Red
Three
Blessed Child
A Man Called Blessed



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