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“Ryan Evans built a sterling military career in navel intelligence. His mind worked through complicated problems that others could not even attempt. His career was his life and he cherished it. All that changed when he was captured by insurgents in Iraq. For the first time he came across a problem he couldn’t solve and his life came into perspective. As he watched the children die, the wife and child he’d provided for, yet abandoned, quickly became his focus and priority. Though he was able to escaped, his life was profoundly altered. The emotions he held in check for years he could no longer control and his longing for his family intensified. Unfortunately, his years of neglect could not be removed with simple words and as he discovered upon his return home, his family no longer wanted him. Rejected, Ryan abandoned hope of reconciliation until the day his daughter was abducted by the serial killer, BoneMan. What lengths will a rejected father go to in order to rescue his daughter? What will he sacrifice and what will he become?
BoneMan’s Daughters is a simple book on the surface, but as we all know, looks can be deceiving. What looks to be a straightforward serial killer novel is actually a more complicated tale rich in paradox and irony. What you take into this book will likely determine what you take out of it and the longer you dwell on it, the more it wraps around you.
I love the way Dekker constructed the opening chapters of BoneMan’s Daughters. The changing between scenes was highly effective and contrasted Ryan’s suffering with his family’s indulgence. It caused an immediate connection with Ryan and affected my attitude towards him throughout the whole story.
For the first half of Boneman’s Daughters, I couldn’t decide if it was brilliantly written or rather badly written (I finally decided on the former). A lot of it depends on Dekker’s intention as to how he wanted the reader to feel about the characters. If we were suppose to not care too much about Bethany, pull for Ryan, and be somewhat ambivalent towards BoneMan, then the characters are right on. If we were suppose to love Bethany and Ryan but be abhorred by BoneMan, then its characters are not particularly well written. I found myself rooting for Ryan to rescue Bethany, but not for Bethany’s sake as much as for his. I found Bethany to be a rather spoiled brat that lacked any true grasp on reality. I did start to like her a bit more towards the end, but even then, I was pulling for her because of Ryan, not for herself.
BoneMan was an interesting character. He called himself Satan and the name fit him on every level. However, he did not scare me. I was intrigued, but not scared of him and that bothers me. I should have felt some emotion other than curiosity and indifference. He was truly Satan. He sought out children to make them his own. On the outside he was perfect, but on the inside he was evil. He was alluring while at the same time repulsive. I wanted to be repulsed by him. I wanted to struggle with continuing to read for fear he was going to do something horrendous, but unable to put it down until I knew everything was okay. Unfortunately, I felt none of those feelings. I didn’t feel sorry for him or sympathize with him on any level. Which usually serial killer characters have a way of presenting some side of themselves that allows the reader to better understand why they do what they do. In this case, the explanation was lacking and while I could somewhat grasp his reasoning, it didn’t satisfy my need to comprehend what he was doing. Additionally, serial killers usually have a past that helps us better understand their motives. The sparse amount given was extremely unsatisfying and a part of the story I kept hoping would be fleshed out.
I enjoyed a lot of the themes explored in BoneMan’s Daughters. They were interesting to think through and some very good points were made. It wasn’t as overt as some of Dekker’s previous novels, but he was crystal clear in presenting his ideas. It was a nice change and more in the vein of Thr3e than Skin.
My main complaint was I didn’t feel the story as I should have. This had the making to be a story that could cause tears to flow and my blood pressure to rise. The problem with BoneMan’s Daughters, was it was a rather subdued book. One the surface, it appeared as though it would be violent. After all, we are talking about a serial killer who breaks his victim’s bones. Unfortunately, there were not a lot of details, so I knew when someone was injured, but I didn’t get to experience it with them. Granted violence can go too far the other direction, to gratuitous, but there is a middle ground. An area where the reader can truly understand, but without feeling the need to puke. BoneMan’s Daughters didn’t go far enough. It stopped well short. I wanted to feel the horror that Ryan did when he watched the first child die. I wanted to know how he felt. I wanted to be outraged, but because it was anticlimactic it lacked true impact. Don’t get me wrong, there is a respectable body count and none of the deaths would be a method I’d choose, but it lacked the chilling aspect I thought this book should really have.
Over all, I enjoyed BoneMan’s Daughters. I liked it even better a couple of hours after I finished it. In some ways it’s a break from some of Dekker’s recent books. It’s not as energetic and fast paced. It’s not slow by any means, but it doesn’t have as many turns and they’re taken a little more cautiously. There are some nice plot twists and great suspense elements. It’s a well written book with some deep spiritual themes. It’s the type of book I most enjoy. I know I’ll be contemplating it for several days, and that’s exactly what I want in my fiction.
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Meli wrote this review Friday, March 27 2009.
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