Book Review: Green, by Ted Dekker
I am doing this as a part of the Book Review Blogger Program with Thomas Nelson. For more information, go to; http://brb.thomasnelson.com
**Warning: SPOILERS**
Green is the latest offering by best-selling author Ted Dekker. This is the fourth book in what 
Dekker has called The Circle Trilogy. This book seeks to fill in a gap between the last book of the of the trilogy and the first. It has been referred to as “book zero.” The book starts where White (the last book) left off and ends where Black (the first book) begins. Confused yet? Don’t be. It is not that hard to understand if you read all four books.
I will cut to the chase, the book was a huge disappointment on most levels. The main problem I could see is a definite change in writing style for Dekker. The first trilogy had a lot more suspense. I could not put the books down and would stay up late to finish them. With Green…not so much. I found it hard to get through the chapters. I felt more like I was reading homework than I was reading a novel. In all honesty, the only thing keeping me going was knowing I needed to write a review for it. On a side note, I have been practicing some new speed reading techniques lately. This book could derail them quickly.
Why was I disappointed?
The first reason is, Dekker developed an alternate reality in the future where much of the book takes place. However, he left the present day reality behind and struggling. I found whenever he switched between the future and past, I did not care. I felt no connection to the characters in the present despite two of them played major roles in the previous books.
The second reason, and I will not get too much into it, is the theology of the book. While the book deals with a lot of end times issues, I had no issue with the way it played out. What I did find lacking was the way Dekker dealt with matters of God’s sovereignty. It seemed God was pretty limited and had to play by some random rules that did not really matter at all by the end of the book.
The last reason was a pet peeve of mine. Our lead character, Thomas Hunter, is thought to be the perfect leader. It is often insinuated that he can do no wrong. However, the people who are following him (known as The Circle) are starting to fracture and choose different paths. What amazed me was the line; “Thomas never really had to lead his group, but would guide them in decisions.” Maybe, just maybe, the problems started because this infallible leader was a pretty poor leader.
I wish the ending was better too.
The end of the book had the markings of a good tragedy. We had a chance to see the devastating effects of a failure to lead our families and friends and a failure to spread the Gospel. Instead, Dekker ends it by not making our hero pay for his actions and failures. Instead, he gets caught in some endless circle of second chances.
I wish Dekker would have left the books at three. Closing the series as he did was a mistake. For this, I am only giving two out of five stars. (I would give the rest of the books in the series 4 or 5 stars each).
-Don-
