Ted Dekker   [1962]

Ted Dekker is a New York Times best-selling author of mystery, fantasy and thriller novels with a bend towards good and evil. According to the latest reports he has sold well over 5 million copies of his various titles. He is a self-made author who decided to become one after holding several positions in the corporate world, and even tried some business pursuits. Being an independent businessman did not give him the satisfaction he yearned for.

 In the early nineties a friend of his wrote a novel, and Ted became fascinated with the idea of becoming a fiction author himself. While still involved with his business, he began writing and over a period of two years wrote two novels. He apparently shopped them around to a few publishers and discovered his first two attempts were wanting. So he put them on the shelf, and with what he had learned from his first attempt at becoming an author, he decided to start over again, but this time on a full time basis.

Dekker sold his business and devoted full time to writing. It is not clear how many books Dekker wrote, or attempted to write, during the first three years of full time writing, but it took him three years before his first book was accepted by a publisher.

In the subsequent years book after book would flow from the master story teller Dekker has become. As of this writing he has written somewhere between 30 and 40 books. It is difficult to get an exact number because the reported numbers vary. My latest count from the Amazon listings amounts to over 40 titles. Since he has been writing for less than 20 years, his output is about two novels per year.

Early in his career Dekker wrote books which could be categorized as religious thrillers. His later books are more main stream with titles such as "Threes", "Obsessed", "Skin" "Adam" and "BoneMan's Daughters".

He also has a number of books in three mega-series. The first series is the "Circle Series", with the titles, "Black", "Red", "White", and "Green".  The second series is the "Lost Books Series", with the titles, "Chosen", "Infidel", "Renegade", "Chaos", "Luna tic", and "Elyon". The third series is the "Paradise Series", with the titles, "Showdown", "Saint", and "Sinner".

 As you can see from the above titles, Dekker likes to keep them simple and limited to one word if possible. The one exception is "BoneMan's Daughter", which has become a noteworthy success. The book is a mainstream thriller, and the movie rights, for a three picture deal, have been bought by Lionsgate entertainment.

Many of his books are published by the Religious Press, also referred to as the Christian Press. His books also remain popular by the Religious Press audience. Dekker, on the other hand, does not argue with success, and does not feel he is strictly a religious book author. In Dekker's own words, " Some say I'm secretly  a Catholic Priest, and yes, I have a novel titled the Priest's Graveyard. Some say I write religious fiction. Really? From the beginning my novels have always been suspicious of and challenged religion, particularly American Christianity as such. Some say I must be a raging liberal, others that I must be a right wing nut, although I've never spoken a word on politics."

From the above the reader can decide for himself what Dekker's beliefs or non-beliefs are. Having read a few of his books, I can vouch that they are thrilling with fascinating plots, and relatively clean, in the sense of language and plot use. In other words his books seem to pass the rules of the religious press' publishers.

Dekker was born and raised in Indonesia where his father was a missionary among the Dani tribe in Western Papua, Indonesia. Western Papua is known for its primitive tribes, with habits that are not far removed from cannibalism. As a child he was raised in an environment that was as far removed from our civilization as one can imagine. Without schools to attend in his parent's work environment, he was sent to boarding school at six, and was forced to live in an artificial home environment. It was at boarding school where he would meet the person who would later become his spouse, LeeAnn.

Dekker's father is John Dekker, a Dutch Canadian and a non-denominational missionary and Helen Dekker, an American from Montana. Every five years the Dekkers would get a sabbatical for a year which was spent at the mother's home town in Montana. Ted and his brother were at least able to spend a year with their parents during the full year leave.

After completing high school, Ted attended Evangel College in Springfield, Missouri, and studied Philosophy and Religion. Following graduation he found work in the corporate world in marketing. He later founded a business and became a small business owner, which eventually led to his writing career.

The Ted Dekker family currently lives in Austin, Texas. They have four children ranging in age from 15 to 26. Be sure to read at least one of his novels.

 

 

E-BOOKS AVAILABLE FROM AMAZON; GOOGLE: Kindle Store Pegels

 

 

 

PROMINENT DUTCH AMERICANS, CURRENT AND HISTORIC

 

EIGHT PROMINENT DUTCH AMERICAN FAMILIES: THE ROOSEVELTS, VANDERBILTS AND OTHERS, 2015

 

FIFTEEN PROMINENT DUTCH AMERICAN FAMILIES: THE VAN BURENS, KOCH BROTHERS, VOORHEES AND OTHERS, 2015

 

PROMINENT DUTCH AMERICANS IN U.S. GOVERNMENT LEADERSHIP POSITIONS, 2015

 

 

 

DUTCH PEGELS INVOLVED IN WARS

 

ALLIED EUROPE CAMPAIGN—1944/1945: TACTICAL MISTAKES, 2017

 

THE SECOND WORLD WAR IN THE NETHERLANDS: MEMOIRS, 2017

FRENCH REVOLUTION, NAPOLEON AND RUSSIAN WAR OF 1812, 2015

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REFERENCES

Who Is Ted Dekker? http://www.facebook.com/teddekker?v=app_7146470109

Meet Ted Dekker, http://www.christianbook.com/html/authors/4986.html

Ted Dekker,  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Dekker