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Thr3e

by Ted Dekker (Goodreads Author)

4.05 of 5 stars 4.05 · rating details · 14,131 ratings · 1,028 reviews

The award-winning, best-selling suspense masterwork, now a major motion picture event.

Enter a world where nothing is what it seems. Where your closest friend could be your greatest enemy.

Kevin Parson is alone in his car when his cell phone rings. A man calling himself Slater offers a deadly ultimatum: "You have exactly three minutes to confess your sin to the world. Refuse...more

Paperback, 423 pages

Published December 12th 2006 by WestBow Press (first published 2003)

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Jun 09, 2013 Pam rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed

I picked up this book because I love thrillers and after reading the synopsis I thought I'd give it a try. What a mistake. I can't figure out how this could be considered a thriller. It was such a boring book but I kept hoping. The book dragged on and on, focusing on details that were not only unnecessary but also dragged out the tale needlessly. You could tell the author was trying to create and build suspense everytime it got around to finding the "bomb", but it was just laughable. About two-t...more

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Nov 05, 2010 Joel marked it as to-not-read-ever

Did you see Adaptation? Do you remember that part where fictionalized version of real life screenwriter Charlie Kaufman's (totally fictional) twin brother Donald is telling him about the terrible-sounding screenplay he's written? Here's some imdb:

Donald: Okay, well here's the twist. We find out that, that the killer really suffers from multiple personality disorder, right? See, he's actually really the cop and the girl. All of them are him. Isn't that fucked up?
Charlie: The only idea more overus...more

28 likes · like · see review

Aug 24, 2007 Jessica rated it 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book. It was the first book that I read of Ted Dekker's, and I was so impressed with his knowledge and writing techniques. The story is thrilling and was a perfect page turner for my husband (who isn't an avid reader) and me. And I LOVE the ending...big twist.

9 likes · like · see review

Nov 19, 2008 Robert Beveridge rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2008-goal-list, cuy-co-pub-lib, finished

Ted Dekker, Thr3e (Thomas Nelson, 2003)

Going into this book and knowing it was “Christian fiction”, I really have to admit I didn't expect a great deal (read: anything) from it. There are really, really good Christian writers, but in general, they are writers who happen to be Christian (Madeleine L'Engle is an obvious example, as is Francois Mauriac); as with every other type of message, the really good ones just kind of let the message come through subconsciously and don't beat the reader over...more Ted Dekker, Thr3e (Thomas Nelson, 2003)

Going into this book and knowing it was “Christian fiction”, I really have to admit I didn't expect a great deal (read: anything) from it. There are really, really good Christian writers, but in general, they are writers who happen to be Christian (Madeleine L'Engle is an obvious example, as is Francois Mauriac); as with every other type of message, the really good ones just kind of let the message come through subconsciously and don't beat the reader over the head with it. I haven't encountered someone who does that consistently, and well, in quite a while, and so I wasn't expecting much from Ted Dekker.

More fool me, because no matter how awful its film adaptation may have been (as, unfortunately, all adaptations of Dekker novels seem to be), but as a thriller, Thr3e is the real deal.

Kevin Parson is a seminary student who's on his way home from class one day when he gets a call on his new cell phone from someone who calls himself Slater. Slater tells him he has three minutes to confess his sin to the world or his car will explode. He doesn't. It does. Kevin, who was smart enough to get out of the car before it blew, has to both figure out who Slater is and what the sin is that he's supposed to confess. Assuming the sin is from his childhood and he's somehow vlocked the memory of it, he calls his childhood friend Samantha Sheer, who comes to town to help him. Also aiding him is FBI agent Jennifer Peters, whose brother may have been Slater's last victim-- all the signs from slater's call and Kevin's car bomb point to this being the work of the same maniac. The question is, can the three of them solve the puzzle before Slater kills Kevin-- or all three of them?

Once the situation is laid out, you should have the Big Reveal in the back of your mind, and when Dekker goes exactly that way, there's probably going to be a bit of disappointment along with the self-satisfaction you'll feel for figuring it out early, but don't get too complacent-- Dekker still has some traps to spring, and the last few pages of the book blindsided me. I was very impressed at how well Dekker had set things up here, and as I intimated at the beginning of this review, the spiritual aspects of the work are there, but they're never jumping up and down on your spleen screaming “RECOGNIZE ME!”. Which, of course, always makes for a more pleasant reading experience. Dekker's characters are well-thought-out and well-presented, and the plotting here is pretty durned close to genius (I'm always reminded of the test mine two of the trainees put together in Robb White's Up Periscope that nails the sergeant when I come across plotting like this). What a pleasant surprise Thr3e was, and I'm looking forward to reading more of Mr. Dekker's work. ****
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Mar 06, 2009 Katie Herrin rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book was full of twist, turns, and plotting! Very entertaining and I wish Dr. Nate would hurry up and read it because i'm going to need it back by the end of this month!

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Apr 05, 2009 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Sarah by: members of Mom's book club

Shelves: fiction, christian, mystery-suspense

Based on reading Thr3e, I'd say that Ted Dekker is an excellent storyteller, but not the greatest writer.

I couldn't put the book down when I was reading it because the story was so intense and gripping. I had to know what happened next... and "what happened next" totally blind-sided me. I never saw it coming. If you're looking for a great suspense/mystery/thriller story that's clean but not preachy, this one does it for the Christian and non-Christian alike.

However, the whole time I was reading...more

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Sep 24, 2007 Jessica rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: 16 And Up

Shelves: sci-fi, christianfiction, favorites

READ THIS BOOK!!!
It was thrilling, amazing, edge-of-your-seat thriller!!!! I couldn't put it down, I read it till late at night, and then had trouble sleeping! :D
I can't tell much of the plot, for that would give the story away, but here's a brief bit from christianbook.com:

Imagine answering your cell phone to hear a stranger's voice issuing a chilling threat: You have three minutes to confess your sin, or he'll blow your car to smithereens. You pull over and flee just in time---but the threats...more

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Sep 30, 2007 Jesse Blazewicz rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

I picked this book up because I liked the cover (at the time it was just white with the word Thr3e on it). (Yeah, I judged....) but as soon as I started reading it I was instantly hooked. It was incredibly suspenseful, but not scary. I was on a hunt after I finished for more by him, he is an AMAZING author. I found out later he was actually deemed a Christian book author, and yet I would have never known based on the books. They are not preachy or faith oriented at all, which is a good thing. Gi...more

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Mar 04, 2011 Deb rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: christian, suspense

Plot Summary: What happens, When & Where, Central Characters, Major Conflicts[return]Kevin Parson receives a threatening call on his cell phone--telling him that he has 3 minutes to confess his sin, or a bomb will go off in his car. Kevin manages to avoid the explosion, but the calls continue, as does the violence. What sin could the caller be referring to? Is there a serial killer on the loose, or is there another explanation? As Kevin and a childhood friend named Jennifer probe these myste...more

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Feb 28, 2010 Matt Barker rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was a great read that really keeps you guessing from the beginning right up to the end. Unfortunately (at least for me), I had a hard time believing the conclusion. Because of that, I give it a 7/10. Don't let that keep you from reading it, though, because you may like the ending.

Publisher's Summary

Imagine answering your cell phone one day to a male voice that gives you three minutes to confess your sin. If you don't, the madman, Slater, will blow your car to smithereens. You barely ma...more

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Jun 01, 2013 Wendy Hines rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The cover alone gives you chills!! Creepy!!

One day, after a brief discussion with the dean of academic affairs, at his seminology school, Kevin Parson's life changes forever. He just had a discussion with the dean about the evil in humanity when on his drive home he receives a call on his cell phone.

The caller gives him three minutes to confess his sin or his car will blow up. The caller, who calls himself Slater, also gives Kevin a riddle. This begins a harrowing journey over a span of just a f...more

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May 04, 2013 Cindy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Ted Dekker brings action, suspense and horror together creating a story that readers will be unable to put down. Kevin Parson, a 28-year-old seminary student with a dark past leaves school one afternoon and into the clutches of Slater. Slater is Kevin’s childhood nemesis that demands the Kevin confess a past sin to the world before a bomb in detonated. Kevin is not certain what sin Slater wants him to confess so Slater creates a series of riddles that lead Kevin to each site Slater is targeting....more

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Nov 28, 2012 Jarek rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: emusic

Thr3e by Ted Dekker starts as a typical crime story, with a psychotic stalker choosing a young seminary student Kevin as his next victim. With each chapter the intrigue gets more sophisticated, the characters better defined, the story spiced up with elements of psychological horror. Kevin and the agents working on the case are forced to ponder the definition of sin, to understand how their own past affects their current actions, and soon they need to face not only a serial killer on the loose, b...more

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Aug 19, 2012 Amy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-booklist, actione-adventur, mystery, suspense

Thr3e was a good book but hard for me to get into at first. I like books to start off with a bang or with a really awesome visual image. This had neither. But it got better. I used to read books like this a lot and I might have had my fill because they just don't peak my interest like they used to. The worst things about them is that they are so predictable in their weird endings. You always know that no matter what ending you try to predict, you're always way off base and you're guaranteed to b...more

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May 20, 2012 Melissa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror-paranormal

By all accounts Kevin Parsons is leading a virtuous life. But like all people, Kevin has his secrets. And someone wants them all revealed.
While driving home from graduate school. Kevin recieves a phone call from a deluded stranger who calls himself Slater. Slater demands that Kevin confess his sin in the next three minutes or the car he is driving will be blown to pieces. With the threat, he offers a riddle: What falls but never breaks, what breaks but never falls?
Thus starts a harrowing chain o...more

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Aug 05, 2011 T. M. rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own

A friend recommend this. It was the first Ted Dekker book I read and after it, I went out and bought all his other novels.

A great suspense novel and even though it is billed as a Christian thriller, it is easy to enjoy the suspense and not get too caught up in the religious aspect.

Kevin, an ordinary man with a horrific past, is threatened by a serial killer obsessed with the number three. He is told to confess his sin or else other people will be harmed.

First his car explodes, then his old chil...more

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Jun 22, 2011 Lisa (Harmonybites) rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Those Desperate for a Thriller Without Sex or Swear Words

Recommended to Lisa (Harmonybites) by: The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Ultimate Reading List

Shelves: contemporary, crime, fiction, mystery, novels, spirituality, suspense, ultimate-reading-list

I read this because it was recommended on The Ultimate Reading List, which I've been working through. It was listed in the "Inspirational Fiction" section (the Christian Fiction) section, but one of the fairly good things about it is it's not at all preachy even though the man-in-peril in this one, Keven Parson, is a seminary student. The bad thing though is that its basically a routine suspense/thriller with a twist--that... Well, I didn't see it coming, but once it arrived I rolled my eyes, be...more

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Feb 28, 2011 Jinky rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2011

Oh Brenda, oh Brenda at WV Stitcher, you reminded me not to judge a book by its cover. I would have bypassed this book because the cover's too freakin' scary!! But you were so kind to offer it to me and since it traveled over 3,000 miles to get to me and three being one of my favorite numbers, well, I took a deep breath and avoided looking at the cover as much as possible.

Wow, talk about edge of your seat thrilling! I was hooked from the beginning. My heart rate finally went down during the init...more Oh Brenda, oh Brenda at WV Stitcher, you reminded me not to judge a book by its cover. I would have bypassed this book because the cover's too freakin' scary!! But you were so kind to offer it to me and since it traveled over 3,000 miles to get to me and three being one of my favorite numbers, well, I took a deep breath and avoided looking at the cover as much as possible.

Wow, talk about edge of your seat thrilling! I was hooked from the beginning. My heart rate finally went down during the initial background scenes but that didn't last! Holy Moly, things escalated and you were put into a wring of twists. Just when you think you have a guess on what's going on, you're thrown a curve ball ...not once, twice, but umph times. My heart is racing right now at trying to describe it. Anyway, I so enjoyed this psychological thriller. Mr. Dekker is the bomb!!

When I read the part in the beginning about having to solve a riddle in three minutes or the car (that you were in) would blow up, a couple of things crossed my mind. First, I said to myself, "Hey, wasn't that a movie?". Second, had such a thing happen to me, I would have died! End of the book! Good thing, Kevin was sharper under pressure and the book took on a run.

This was not a ghostly-chop the bodies to pieces kind of horror that I thought it would be. Can you blame me? Look at the man in the cover ...glassy evil eyes ...the hairs on the back of my neck took a military standing attention. Instead, it delved into the nature of good vs evil that I haven't come across yet in novels. Very interesting take on the angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other shoulder ...not forgetting the person in the middle.

By the way, Mr. Dekker addressed my movie question on the Author's Note section. There was a movie called Adaptation starring Nicolas Cage that seemed to have similar premise but it turned out that it was really nothing like his book except for one detail. I liked the lesson that he pointed out that he learned from that experience of watching a movie that he initially thought might have been ripped from him. He said, "Truly there are no completely new ideas, but rather old ideas made completely fresh ... What's magical about ideas is how they are brought to life, not their inception.".

This will not be the last book that I will read of Mr. Dekker's works. I understand there are others more exciting ones. I better prepare because this was truly gripping!

Thank you Brenda for the book!! You are wonderful!!!

**Find this review and more at Jinky is Reading (less)

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Feb 16, 2011 Sheila rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: christian, current_issues, mystery, suspense

It was inevitable I’d have to read a Ted Dekker novel one day, but where to start… Thr3e certainly wasn’t the one I planned to start with—my son’s eternal scorn for numbers used as letters seemed to make it an impossible choice. But then someone told me it was one of the best places to start—good novel, stand-alone, full of fascinating twists and turns. So now I’ve read it, and I agree; it’s definitely an enjoyable introduction to Ted Dekker’s work. But I wonder which book I’ll read next?

I put o...more It was inevitable I’d have to read a Ted Dekker novel one day, but where to start… Thr3e certainly wasn’t the one I planned to start with—my son’s eternal scorn for numbers used as letters seemed to make it an impossible choice. But then someone told me it was one of the best places to start—good novel, stand-alone, full of fascinating twists and turns. So now I’ve read it, and I agree; it’s definitely an enjoyable introduction to Ted Dekker’s work. But I wonder which book I’ll read next?

I put off reading Thr3e after buying it, still not sure if I was ready to read it. After all, Ted Dekker’s a Christian mystery writer, and I’ve read too many novels where characters exist only to be converted or condemned. Mystery, and a touch of horror perhaps, leaves so much scope for reader manipulation. But Ted Dekker wasn’t out to manipulate or convert me, or his characters. The tortured main character may indeed be a Christian, but he doesn’t have all the answers, or even all the questions. And when he prays it’s the desperate plea of a man who’s falling apart, not the long-thought-out and fully-rehearsed good-guy-who-knows-it-all kind of prayer that resides in so many Christian novels.

I shouldn’t have put it off. This book annoyed me, intrigued me, confused me, and eventually came to a perfect conclusion that I’d only vaguely glimpsed. This author doesn’t cheat with his plot or his characters, at least not in this tale. There are so simple victories, no Deus ex Machina here (but there might be a great movie); just a man trying to save lives, desperate to find out what it is his tormentor wants him to confess, racing against time that’s measured in increasing threes, and solving riddles on the way while two women try to help.

If you’ve never read any Ted Dekker novels before, I’d say this is a great place to start. If you’ve already read lots, please tell me which one to read next.

Disclosure: I got this book for Christmas and really enjoyed it.
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Jan 30, 2011 Brenda Casto rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Kevin Parson is driving home one day from seminary school, when he gets a call on his cell phone from a man named "Slater". Slater gives him a riddle to solve, and gives him three minutes to come up with the answer, otherwise his car will explode. Slater also tells him, that if he will call the media and confess his sin that the game will end! Well Kevin has no idea what sin Slater is talking about, so you guess it, the car explodes!

The local police headed up my a media hungry Detective Milton,...more Kevin Parson is driving home one day from seminary school, when he gets a call on his cell phone from a man named "Slater". Slater gives him a riddle to solve, and gives him three minutes to come up with the answer, otherwise his car will explode. Slater also tells him, that if he will call the media and confess his sin that the game will end! Well Kevin has no idea what sin Slater is talking about, so you guess it, the car explodes!

The local police headed up my a media hungry Detective Milton, is soon joined by FBI agent Jennifer Peters whose brother Roy, was killed three months ago by the Riddle Killer, a killer who operated very similarly to "Slater",leaving a riddle to be solved and when it wasn't someone died! Is the Riddle Killer back, or is "Slater" a copycat ?
We also meet Samantha, Kevin's childhood friend. She works for the CBI, and comes to help out her old friend! As Slater keeps tormenting them with riddles to solve and horrific consequences it literally becomes a race against the clock to try and figure out the next move. Can they figure out who this madman really is, and stop him before its to late!

I really enjoyed this book! It was truly a psychological thriller, with plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader on the edge of their seat. It was very easy to sympathize with Kevin because of his childhood, not only being orphaned at the age of one, but being raised in the craziness of Balinda's world. Jennifer was determined to keep his safe, something she couldn't do for her brother. When I thought I knew who Slater was, the author throws us a total curve ball, giving an ending that I really didn't expect!

While this book was originally published in 2003 I somehow missed it. I would easily say fans of mystery/ thrillers would enjoy this story, and I like the fact that there isn't any profanity used. Its great to find an author who can write a good thriller and keep it clean.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.(less)

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Dec 05, 2010 Nancy rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Enter a world where nothing is what it seems. Where your closest friend could be your greatest enemy.

Kevin Parson is driving his car late one summer day when, suddenly, his cell phone rings. A man who identifies himself as Slater speaks in a breathy voice: You have exactly three minutes to confess your sin to the world. Refuse, and the car you're driving will blow sky high.

Kevin panics. Who would make such a call? What sin? Kevin ditches the car. Precisely three minutes later, a massive explosio...more

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Apr 16, 2010 Conessha rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have to add this writer as one of my favorites.. he keeps you guessing and looking over your shoulder, he combines religious ideals with suspense and mystery. Here we meet Kevin Parsons he has just gotten a new cell phone and is on his way home when it rings, the caller in a raspy voice ask him a riddle what falls but never breaks and what breaks that never fall.. he has three minutes to answer or his car will blow up.... Well Kevin has no idea and if he did under this pressure who could think...more

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Dec 29, 2009 Shyla rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

This book was lent to me by a distant aquaintance and I had never read anything by this author and had no idea what to expect. I was pleastantly suprised to find that I really enjoyed this book from begininng to end. It begins with Kevin Pearson, a likable young man who becomes the target of a deadly game. He gets a phone call from a sinister stranger demanding to know what his sin is, when Kevin cannot recall what this person may percieve as his sin the stranger warns him his car will blow up i...more

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Oct 18, 2009 Colleen rated it 3 of 5 stars

I think it is almost funny that I am posting this book as my 2nd read book as it is not a "Colleen" book at all!!! A friend of mine gave me this book to read. She loved it. It took be awhile to get into it because it was scaring me a lot at the beginning as the main character was being stalked. I have this real problem with stalking. By the end, I was fine reading this book alone. I think as it went on it truly lost the fright factor.

I struggled with giving this book 3 stars. It was just ok for...more

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May 06, 2013 Bethany Shaw rated it 4 of 5 stars

Thr3e was such a terrific read from Ted Dekker. I flew through the book in a few days, enthralled with the words on each page. Kevin Parson is the protagonist is a victim of child abuse. Permanently scarred Kevin moves away and grows up to become a God-fearing, seminary student. His plans are almost set in motion when a deranged stalker begins to torment him. Kevin soon finds himself in another desperate situation with someone who knows far too much about his past. Kevin’s stalker, Slater, he is...more

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Nov 14, 2012 Tommy Bones rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I grabbed this book just on impulse because I liked the title and the back cover sounded great. The entire book was ate enjoyable, I must say; it's the ending that I hated. Really hated.

During most of the story, I was completely engaged in the characters and I loved them. There were four main people - Kevin, Slater, Samantha, and Jennifer. Kevin is in a bit of a bad situation with slater, who keeps calling him and giving him ridiculous riddles to solve. Slater tells Kevin that this could all g...more

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Dec 08, 2010 Aaron rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Dec 03, 2010 S. Kelley Harrell rated it 1 of 5 stars

Don't read this review if you don't want the plot twist revealed.

I can't believe I just spent 4 hours reading this book. 4 hours of my life that I can't get back. It's 352 pages that should have ended at about 175. If there is anything that I hate it's a "let's fill this in with something" "Three's Company" (no pun) miscommunication conjecture-laden spun up on crank plot. What I hate more is a "Three's Company" miscommunication conjecture-laden spun up on crank plot trying to inject sinister ove...more Don't read this review if you don't want the plot twist revealed.

I can't believe I just spent 4 hours reading this book. 4 hours of my life that I can't get back. It's 352 pages that should have ended at about 175. If there is anything that I hate it's a "let's fill this in with something" "Three's Company" (no pun) miscommunication conjecture-laden spun up on crank plot. What I hate more is a "Three's Company" miscommunication conjecture-laden spun up on crank plot trying to inject sinister overtones and intrigue with its conjectureness. It was so repetitive, turning spirals on itself. That will teach me to believe reviews of things. Everything I read said it was this author's strongest work (thanks for the warning) and that it was captivating and kept you riveted to figure out the twist. For those of you who were avid VC Andrews's fans, it reads like the works done after the author's death, when they were just rehashing the same (...) over and over. No edge at all.

Let me just run down the parts of it that make me want to puke:
* the lack of understanding of MPD
* the lack of distinguishing MPD from DID, Schizo and PTSD (very very vague descriptions)
* the good/bad dark/light polarity whose only grey area can be a wounded child--ie innocent powerlessness
* the really weak movement of the plot (ie a ping pong match)
Granted, the average joe reading this plot doesn't know anything about MPD et al, so it will read like a definitive fictional work. That frightens me more.

Potentially positive points, if I could stop chastising myself for finishing it:
* the lauding of spirituality over religion
* the very level handling of christianity and the church in general
* the interesting plot concept (that withered)
* interesting though thinly sketched characters
* the distinction between emotional and psychological abuse
* some nice insights into human nature, which were conveyed to ALL humans, including those in pulpits

It started out interesting, but even by about chapter 10 I was starting to feel that it was all occurring upstairs from The Ropers. That really is my biggest annoyance with the book. Some of the characterizations of MPD were spot on, but explaining it against the backdrop of the other possibilities was kinda negative. I kept reading it because I really did want to know what happened, but not because it was so enthralling that I couldn't put it down. I wanted to hope it was going somewhere Other and not where it was set up to go because it was so poorly done. Why did I pick it up at all? Because it's a book-to-script coming out in theatres later this year that is getting a lot of buzz. harrumph in the end it was exactly what I thought it would be--a watered down homogenized Christian thriller written so as not to really state anything, thus, not offend anyone. Good marketing device, bad bad writing. (less)

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Jul 18, 2009 Jeanette rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Wow. What can I say? This book had me riveted. The storytelling was amazing, compelling. The characters were well fleshed out. The action was nonstop. I was imagining a movie playing out the entire time.

Basically, the story is about a man named Kevin Parsons who becomes the target of a demented, riddling tormenter--Slater. In all of the twists and turns, all law enforcement agencies are called into action.

Although I kept guessing what the next twist would be, I read too quickly to really make a...more

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Mar 03, 2013 Kaine Andrews rated it 4 of 5 stars

For the snapshot, I'd have to say that overall, Thr3e is great work. It manages to do a balancing act between the scientific psychobabble and actual action and keep all the plot threads pointed squarely in the proper direction without belaboring one side or the other or leaving you with mismatched loose ends. There's a small handful of issues, but for the most part it's solidly in the "recommended" camp, especially if you're a fan of Fight Club, Invisible Monsters or anything else where there's...more For the snapshot, I'd have to say that overall, Thr3e is great work. It manages to do a balancing act between the scientific psychobabble and actual action and keep all the plot threads pointed squarely in the proper direction without belaboring one side or the other or leaving you with mismatched loose ends. There's a small handful of issues, but for the most part it's solidly in the "recommended" camp, especially if you're a fan of Fight Club, Invisible Monsters or anything else where there's a whole lot going on behind the scenes and everything you know - or are told - could be wrong.

The premise: Kevin Parsons is a young seminary student, preparing for his thesis and generally living a good life. That is, until a mysterious man named Slater calls him with the ultimatum: Confess in the next three minutes, or I blow up your car. The madman makes good on his threat when Kevin proves unable or unwilling to make his confession or to solve a riddle Slater gave him; from there the game progresses. The riddles get odder, the explosions get bigger, and everything points to something in Kevin's past, something unforgivable. Along the way we bring in Jennifer Peters, an FBI psychologist on the hunt for the Riddle Killer - who may or may not be Slater - and Kevin's childhood friend, Samantha.

On the good: The language is clear and concise, without nagging, dangling sentence fragments or other technical faux pas. The characters all prove interesting, well developed and believable, with a wide variety of types, professions and mannerisms; while juggling this circus, Dekker manages to avoid having any of the characters feel like they're just puppets or clones of others, spitting out dialogue or performing actions that would run counter to them merely because the character who SHOULD be doing it isn't available. Given the final punchline of the book, I found this to be doubly impressive.

The multiple threads of what's going on - the hunt for the Riddle Killer, the personal attacks levied against protagonist Kevin Parsons, the broken family and warped past of Kevin and his childhood friend (and pseudo-love interest) Samantha - are all handled wonderfully, juggling between them without stepping on any toes and providing enough information that you're intrigued but without making it too obvious as to what's going on until the final act. There's a very Sixth Sense or Fight Club style to the whole thing, where if you come back to it after knowing what it was all about you'll see the clues and tip offs everywhere, but the way they were presented as merely part of the tale managed to not call undue attention to them. Managing that trick has always been something that impresses me.

Certain sequences in the book - in particular the return trip to Kevin's childhood home, and the things we find there, or Kevin's childhood confrontation with the boy who may be the young Slater - do an excellent job of raising the creep-o-meter without anything appearing to be directly threatening... at least at first. The final confrontation is also superbly written and despite being a trifle heavy on the religious metaphors manages to ironically avoid the deus ex machina that some might be expecting when a writer so thoroughly corners his characters.

Now for the bad: The last three pages or so are just slop. We could have ended when the guilty party was apprehended and closed the curtains; putting the sugar-and-spice spin on things felt forced and unrealistic compared to the 400 or so pages that came before it.

I thought I'd have more to list there, but honestly now I can't think of what it might be. I suppose that goes back to the good column, if all I can think of to say is that the epilogue kinda stinks.

Again, overall I heartily recommend this book to anyone who's into thrillers or tales of mental instability; Dekker's prose alone is worth the trip and the fact that it's wrapped around an excellent tale is just icing on the cake.(less)

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“Living is about clucking your tongue and enjoying the sound.
~Slater” — 21 people liked it

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