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Heaven's Wager
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Read Heaven's Wager
The Martyr's Song Series: Book 1

Heaven's Wager (2000) (edit title/settings)

by Ted Dekker (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

He lost everything he ever wanted- and risked his soul to get what he deserved.

A brilliant young software designer on the brink of becoming a millionaire…
Two sleek, well-fed bank executives who know an opportunity when they see it…
A Nike-clad grandmother who literally puts... read more

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The novel opens with protagonist Kent Anthony signing a multi-million dollar contract for a remarkable banking security system that he has developed. While on a business trip to seal the details, he receives a phone call telling him that his wife is seriously ill. He arrives at the hospital... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

The novel opens with protagonist Kent Anthony signing a multi-million dollar contract for a remarkable banking security system that he has developed. While on a business trip to seal the details, he receives a phone call telling him that his wife is seriously ill. He arrives at the hospital just to see his wife die before his eyes, terminating his happiness. Worse, he later learns that his bosses have taken advantage of his absence from the meeting to take the credit, and twenty million dollars, for his program.

Kent vigorously fights to re-claim his fortune, but the legal battle appears useless. About a month later, his son, Spencer is killed by a hit-and-run driver, making Kent inconsolable. In a scene mirroring another near the beginning of the book, he walks past a homeless man on his way to work, no longer so confident. An offhand comment from the man leads Kent to jokingly entertain the notion of using his system to steal twenty million dollars from the bank, but he soon becomes engrossed with the idea, plotting every detail over the next few months. He meets up with a former colleague, Lacy, and considers giving up his plan for her, but in the end curtly informs her that he is going to steal an outrageous amount of money and leave for good. "It's either this or suicide," he breaks down, and she reluctantly agrees to secrecy.

A great deal of the novel is spent on Kent's "perfect crime". Posing as a morgue attendant, he steals a bullet-riddled body and transports it to the bank, where he uses a "backdoor" in the security system (about which only he knows) to steal twenty cents from one hundred million accounts each. The program that he accesses leaves no trace, and he installs a virus onto each account from which he steals designed to return the twenty cents if the customer complains. After depositing the embezzled millions into separate banks, Kent leaves the corpse and sets the bank on fire, staging an attempted robbery and arson. The press believes Kent to be the victim of the "murder", and no one even suspects that money has been stolen.

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Quotes edit see section history

  • “People's dreams acted as a sort of barrier between life and death. Take them away- let people actually live those dreams- and you would be mopping up the suicides by the dumpster full. Just look at those few who did live their dreams, like movie stars or rock stars- the ones who really have the money to get right down to it- and you'll find a trail of brokenhearted people. Brokenhearted because they'd discovered what Kent was discovering: when you really got down to it, life sucked”
  • Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
  • ‘There is no neutral ground in the universe: every square inch, every split second, is claimed by God and counter claimed by Satan.’
    Highlighted by 13 Kindle customers
  • C. S. Lewis’s explanation for why God insists on having us do things like pray when he already knows the outcome. It is for the experience of the thing. The interaction. His whole endeavor to create man centers around desire for interaction. Love. It is an end in itself.
    Highlighted by 8 Kindle customers
  • We have mocked his victory by whitewashing the enemy for the sake of our neighbor’s approval.”
    Highlighted by 7 Kindle customers
  • We do not wage war against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers. We duel. And what greater prize than a man’s soul?”
    Highlighted by 6 Kindle customers
  • On the other hand, it was God himself, in all of his wisdom, who had created man with such a fickle mind. Believing one day, doubting the next; loving one moment, forgetting within the hour. Mankind.
    Highlighted by 5 Kindle customers
  • If human nature was a magnet, then self-gratification was steel, clinging stubbornly. And loving . . . loving was like wood, refusing to stick to the magnet no matter how much pressure was applied.
    Highlighted by 5 Kindle customers
  • “We are encouraged to participate in the sufferings of Christ, not to pretend they were feel-happy times. ‘Take this in remembrance of me; this is my blood, this is my body,’
    Highlighted by 4 Kindle customers
  • Oh God, save Kent’s soul! Do not hide your face from this man you made. Open his heart to your spirit.
    Highlighted by 3 Kindle customers
  • As if God woke up one day and suddenly realized that the way he’d been doing
    Highlighted by 3 Kindle customers
  • I am now walking in faith, you see. Quite literally. I am living intercession, not simply praying.
    Highlighted by 3 Kindle customers
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First Sentence edit see section history

An overhead fan swished through the afternoon heat above Padre Francis Cadione's head, squeaking once every rotation, but otherwise not a sound disturbed the silence in the small, dimly lit room.

Table of Contents edit see section history

Chapters 1-48

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 1 of 4 in The Martyr's Song Series. (standard series)

Followed by When Heaven Weeps.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Ted Dekker (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: WestBow Press
Country: United States
Publication Date: October 2000
ISBN: 0849945151
Page Count: 384

Classification edit see section history

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