BoneMan's Daughters

Real dumb book bad ending

Just another psycho on the loose, killing young women by breaking all of their bones without damaging their skin. You see, BoneMan is very fond of skin and he takes great pride in his own. Good balanace of characters - some likeable, some ... disposable!

I listened to this as an audiobook, narrated by Robert Petkoff.

BoneMan's Daughters is a story that follows Capt. Ryan Evans and his dysfunctional family. He is a military man who has dedicated his life to the military. He is so dedicated that he leaves his family for years at a time to go off on military missions. He has a wife who no longer loves him and a daughter he hardly knows. While he is on a mission in Iraq, he is captured and tortured by the Iraqis. He eventually escapes the torturers and goes back to the United States.

Upon his return to the United States, he finds that his wife and daughter don't want anything to do with him. While he is trying to sort things out, the BoneMan strikes. Not only has he struck before, but the BoneMan's pattern of torture is exactly the torture he learned while he was in Iraq. Is it a coincidence that all of the BoneMan's strikes correspond to when Capt. Evans was in the Untied States?

This is one of those psychological thrillers that has you guessing throughout the book as you follow along with the story. The author doesn't come out and tell you who BoneMan really is for a while and even when he tells you about BoneMan, you are still left guessing for a while whether BoneMan is an alternate personality of Capt. Ryan's or a whole separate individual.

There were several things mentioned in the story that were not elaborated on and I was left wondering what was up with that. Also there were several police/FBI procedural things that I also couldn't swallow. For example, even if the police believed that Capt. Evans was guilty, they still would have questioned his wife after her attack. Also, since Capt. Evans claimed to have received a call from BoneMan, why wouldn't the police check his incoming call records with the phone company? Just sayin ....

The Narration Review
This audiobook was narrated by Robert Petkoff. I thought the reader definitely brought the BoneMan to life in the story. His voice for the bad guy was creepy. He also did a good job with all the different voices in this book. He was very enjoyable to listen to.

** Note **
I borrowed this audiobook free from the Willow Public Library. Did you know you could get audiobooks from the public library? It just another good thing to know about our public libraries.

Ted Dekker is a master at weaving spiritual truths into suspense driven plots. In "Boneman's Daughters" he portrays a psychologically traumatized father who seeks to rescue his teenaged daughter from a malevolent evil. Interwoven in this plot is a depiction of the true Father's love for all His children.

BoneMan, a serial killer targeting young girls in Texas is striving to posess the perfect daughter. When none of the girls he abducts measures up, he methodically breaks their bones without marring their perfect skin. When BoneMan targets intelligence officer Ryan Evans daughter, Bethany, the estranged father must use any means to free his daughter. In the process, Ryan experiences the feelings of God, a Father who will move mountains to liberate His children.

"Boneman's Daughters" grabs you from the very beginning. The characterizations are superbly drawn, particularly the depiction of Boneman and Ryan. Boneman is strangely empathetic to the reader even though he is repellent. The reader desperately hopes that Ryan will succeed in his quest and can therefore forgive him for his often irrational behavior. After all, doesn't God defy the world's logic at times?

I gave this novel four stars because I felt the author overstated the spiritual symbolism at times. Even though I absolutely love stories that mirror Scripture ,I don't think authors should repeat the symbols continuously. For instance, Boneman refers to himself as Satan on countless occasions. Shouldn't this fact already be obvious to the reader?

Please don't allow this nit-picking criticism to deter you. The book raises some very poignant questions about the nature of evil, and the plot is riveting. Please give this novel a chance. God bless you all.