Kiss, by Ted Dekker and Erin Healy, is a terrific novel that tells the story of Shauna, a politician’s daughter who finds herself caught in a life-threatening drama when she wakes up from a coma with selective amnesia. In her desperation to regain her lost memories, she begins to discover that those memories may not only be unpleasant for her to remember, but that some people would take drastic measures to keep her from remembering. Filled with a suspenseful plot, signature Dekker twists, and vivid imagery, Kiss is guaranteed to keep you ensnared from cover to cover, then leaving you in awe as the book’s deeper themes begin to sink in.

I have been a fan of Mr. Dekker’s books for quite some time now, and Kiss definitely lives up to its billing. While his most recent novels have been quite excellent, Kiss quickly distinguished itself as one of his best. Ms. Healy’s contribution to the work enriched the entire story, and it’s clear to me that as much as Kiss fully belongs to Dekker, it belongs just as fully to Erin Healy. Personally, I felt that the character development was richer in this novel as compared to many of Dekker’s more recent works, which made the character’s discussions even more poignant. The theme of how we deal with our past is one that I believe we all struggle with, and through the story of Shauna McAllister, I feel that Dekker and Healy have brought illumination and encouraging perspective. I look forward to many more future Dekker/Healy collaborations, beginning with Burn (in 2010)!

Rating: 5/5