Bone Man's Daughters Audio Book *Review*

I finished this audio book on the way to Bible study tonight and all alone in the car I said "Wow." This book has been on my radar for several months now. One of my friends one day told me she doesn't read Christian fiction because it's too "boring." And some of it is. Some of the Christian fiction I have read is too goody-goody, sweetness and nice all tied up in a bow. This is not one of those.

They call him BoneMan, a serial killer who's abducted six young women. He's the perfect father looking for the perfect daughter, and when his victims fail to meet his lofty expectations, he kills them by breaking their bones and leaving them to die. Intelligence officer Ryan Evans, on the other hand, has lost all hope of ever being the perfect father. His daughter and wife have written him out of their lives.Everything changes when BoneMan takes Ryan's estranged daughter, Bethany, as his seventh victim. Ryan goes after BoneMan on his own.But the FBI sees it differently. New evidence points to the suspicion that Ryan is BoneMan. Now the hunter is the hunted, and in the end, only one father will stand.

Author Ted Dekker is a Christian author who likes to explore the struggle between good and evil. BoneMan is definitely evil. Narrator Robert Petkoff does a wonderful job in the voices he uses for each character. You get a sense of the anguish Ryan feels at the possible loss of his daughter to the serial killer and the voice he uses for Bone Man is creepy. Really creepy.

I sat entranced listening to how the story was unfolding and there were many times I found myself holding my breath as I waited to see what would happen next. The story pulled me in right from the beginning as we find Ryan captured by insurgents and forced to come to the conclusion that the collateral damage of war (the innocent women and children who die) are not worth the price. The terrorist who is holding Ryan hostage actually makes us feel sorry for him and what he is going through and makes Ryan come to a new understanding about war.

Back in the states, as Ryan is dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after being made to watch horrific acts the terrorist uses to make his point, we are introduced to Ryan's wife and daughter. Ryan's wife has been left a lonely military wife for too long and has fallen in love with someone else and his daughter Bethany has written off her absent father. Neither particularily care if Ryan comes back into their lives since he has never been a big part of it. But now Ryan realizes how much he loves his daughter and how much he wants to make it all up to them and be the father and husband he's never been.

When Bone Man kidnaps Bethany from her home Ryan does everything in his power to save her from becoming another of this madman's fatalities. The way Bone Man kills his victims is by breaking their bones one by one. This will make you squirm and cringe as you listen to it but otherwise this book is not overly graphic. A highly recommended, non-fluffy Christian read.