Nine

July 27, 2020
Dekker (coauthor of The Girl Behind the Red Rope) explores identity in this entertaining story of a woman with no memory. Zoe Johnson is working her shift at the diner in tiny Sherman, Tex., when she meets Lucy, who can’t remember anything except that she must get to Corpus Christi and find someone named Summer Wallace. Against her better judgment, Zoe decides to help. When FBI agents catch up with them and question Zoe when Lucy is away, she realizes she may be in over her head—but she’s not willing to abandon Lucy. As they race to find Summer and retrieve Lucy’s memories, the two develop a deep bond and also discover Lucy has superhuman strength and endurance. Then FBI agent Tom Seeley finds Zoe and gains her trust by explaining Lucy has been genetically engineered for “perfection” and insisting he has come to help, and an awkward romance strikes up. Unfortunately, the romance subplot feels grafted on and distracts from the tense mystery of Lucy’s purpose and larger questions about whether identity is based on genetic programming or on the choices one makes. Fans of Ted Dekker will be happy to see his daughter carrying on the family tradition.

August 7, 2020

Lucy doesn't remember anything, even whether she likes milkshakes. All she remembers is that Olivia told her to run. When she encounters Zoe, a waitress at a small-town diner who has her own hidden past, Lucy instinctively trusts her. Powerful people are after Lucy, though, and as the teens flee from the unknown together, it seems Lucy may not be an innocent child. Her skills are more fitting for a hardened military veteran than a young woman and, as she begins to remember her origins, it becomes clear that she may be more weapon than human. As secrets in every character's past are slowly revealed, readers won't know who to trust until the last page. VERDICT Dekker ("Seer" series) comes into her own with this thought-provoking companion to the Girl Behind the Red Rope, coauthored with her father Ted Dekker, exploring themes of good, evil, and the power of choice. Fans of thrillers by James Rollins, Ronie Kendig, or the "X-Men" comics series will relish this fast-paced story.--Christine Barth, Scott Cty. Lib. Syst., IA

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