KISS
Ted Dekker and Erin Healy
Thomas Nelson
Suspense
ISBN: 9781595544704
True to Ted Dekker's signature style, KISS has all the elements that make for a suspenseful read: an intriguing plot riddled with chilling possibilities, characters who may or may not be who they seem to be, elaborate twists and turns that keep you guessing, and moments when you come close to vocalizing the thoughts in your head, like "Don't trust him!" and "Don't go there!"
Adding to all that is the writer's voice of Erin Healy, who lends authenticity and a female perspective to the main character, Shauna McAllister, who awakens from a coma to discover that she has no memory of the last six months of her life. Amnesia can be a tough sell to readers who have seen it used too often as a cheap and quick fix for a flagging storyline, but here, Dekker and Healy add a fascinating twist: Shauna's amnesia is intentional, provoked by a sinister cabal determined to keep her from exposing a scandal that will demolish the presidential campaign of Texas Senator Landon McAllister --- her own father.
Soon enough, the tables turn on those responsible for the "accident" that caused Shauna's coma and left her beloved brother, Rudy, mentally and physically disabled. Shauna discovers that through physical contact, she can steal other people's memories, totally erasing them from the person's mind. She soon realizes that she can use this paranormal gift to her own advantage in her efforts to get at the real cause of her accident, the motivation behind it and the reason so many people are either getting killed or being threatened.
After a somewhat sluggish start, KISS moves along quickly; once the pace picks up, it slows down only when the reader needs a bit of a break from the suspense. There's no doubt that Dekker's loyal fans and many new readers will find this to be a satisfying read and even better than some of his previous efforts.
There were a few issues with the primary characters. Shauna wakes up from her coma to a world populated by domineering personalities. Some are downright mean, starting with her distant father and her wicked stepmother. For two people who hope to move into the White House in mere months, they certainly lack grace and even the pretense of being decent people, not to mention any concern that their abusive treatment of Shauna might compel her to write a tell-all someday.
They and the other people at Shauna's bedside are calling the shots in her life, and Shauna doesn't put up much of a fight. Maybe it's just me, but drugged or not, I would find my fighting voice if I discovered I had been given experimental drugs while I was out cold --- and with my estranged father's consent, no less. Shauna, who is all of 28, doesn't even raise a stink when she finds out that her Wicked Stepmother has confiscated her laptop. There's more, but suffice it to say that all this dilutes Shauna's strength as a sympathetic character (which may also explain why she has no friends who can help her remember her recent past). And yet, this is the same young woman who later boldly confronts a bad guy, gets right up in his face and devises a complex scheme that saves the day.
Elsewhere, Dekker and Healy seem out of their element when it comes to presidential campaigns. The election is several weeks away (Election Day in this world mysteriously has been changed to the second Tuesday in November, by the way), and yet Landon, a major presidential candidate, has an inordinate amount of privacy. The media is uncharacteristically absent, which is convenient given all the clandestine comings and goings at the McAllister estate. And some of the McAllister family secrets that are exposed in the end surely would have been discovered early on by any political vetting team worth its salt.
The faith element in KISS is nonintrusive and subtle enough to find favor with a secular audience. Dekker and Healy (Dekker's editor on several previous books) are set to team up on several more books in the future, which certainly will be to the liking of many of Dekker's readers. All in all, KISS makes for a satisfying read, as long as you don't overthink the problem areas and get hung up on those pesky anomalies and inconsistencies.
--- Reviewed by Marcia Ford (misfit@marciaford.com)
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