I've thoroughly enjoyed all of Rachelle Dekker's previous books, and this one is no different. It's a female version of Jason Bourne, and the book pulls you along with each page.

This book kept me turning page after page. I was hooked and couldn't wait to find out who was good and who was bad. This was the first book I've read by this author and I was a little nervous--I was hopeful that she was a good author and not getting published because her dad is a great author. I needn't have worried. She held her own and this was a very good book. I look forward to reading more books by Rachelle Dekker.

Nine by Rachelle Dekker is a fast paced futuristic Christian thriller that will have your heart racing as you read.
The novel is about choosing who you want to be. You need to discover your identity and whose you are and then you will know who you are. We are not destined to repeat the mistakes of our parents. Neither do we need to repeat our pasts. We are free to write our futures learning from the past.
There is the theme of trust. Sometimes our trust is misplaced as people deliberately set out to deceive us.
A name change signifies a character change. When we become a Christian, Jesus gives us a new name. He calls us His child, His beloved.
Life is a battle between the forces of good and evil. It is no coincidence that the evil one is called the deceiver and the father of lies. We need to de-tune his voice and tune into the life affirming voice of God.
There is a powerful force that is capable of changing hearts and minds – and that is the power of love. We see the effects of love on the characters within the novel. Love de-ices hearts of stone. Love changes lives for good. Love is what makes us fully human. We love because He first loved us.
Nine was a cleverly constructed thriller. It follows on from The Girl Behind The Red Rope as it mentions scenes, places and names from there. I would recommend reading that first to enable you to have a fully rounded experience of understanding of Nine but you do not have to. Nine can be read in isolation.
The action is fast paced. The reader twists this way and that as we try to decipher the action and predict the outcome.
Nine is an exciting read that fully engages the reader’s senses as we experience a roller coaster ride of emotional responses as we work our way through this book.
I received this book for free. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.

As with most books from the Dekker family, this is a well-written, tight story. Not sure which member of the family I enjoy reading the most, but give them all a try for an intriguing, suspenseful read.

Lucy has lost her memory. All she knows is that Olivia has sent her west, to Corpus Christi, to find Summer Wallace and the robin. People are after her, to find the secret Olivia buried in her mind. Lucy meets Zoe, a waitress, in the first place she finds, and the two join up to get Lucy to Corpus Christi and hopefully figure out who Lucy is, who is chasing her, and why.

Nine is a fast-paced novel with lots of questions. The early questions are obvious: who is Lucy? Where has she come from? Why can’t she remember anything? The more challenging questions are those that appear as the novel progresses: who is Zoe? What secret is she hiding from her past? Who does Seely work for? Can Lucy and Zoe trust him?

The novel is set in our world and in our time, but has dystopian elements. (I hope.) It centres around the supersecret government department Olivia and Seely work for, and where Lucy aka Nine was born and raised. It’s one of those novels that gets you wondering about what the US government is up to in Area 51 or deep in the Colorado mountains … or other places. What is happening to people—children—in the name of research and politics?

There were a few things about the writing that bugged me. Some scenes were violent and showed the torture of children or teenagers. Was that necessary for the story? I don’t think we needed to see Nine almost drown while the “leader of the free world” watched (in case you’re wondering, he wore a blue suit and red tie). Zoe also had trauma in her background, but that was from a certified religious extremist, not from a government in “the land of the free”.

The evildoers worked for an unnamed organisation they refer to as Xerox, just not the Xerox we know (although I suppose Lucy and her compatriots were copies of sorts). And I wasn’t convinced by Seely’s character—it was never clear whether he was a good guy or a bad guy. Some readers might appreciate this ambiguity, but I like to know. I also found the ending somewhat abrupt—maybe there will be a sequel to answer the remaining questions.

The story isn’t overtly Christian fiction, but the overall message has definite echoes of John 15:13. The writing is excellent, and there are solid themes about identity and sacrifice. Recommended for fans of speculative and dystopian young adult fiction.

Thanks to Revell and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

I've read several books by Rachelle Dekker and have enjoyed them all. Her books are easy to follow and very fast paced. Many times I had to stop reading and didn't want to. I highly recommend this book and anything else that she's written.

I liked this book for the most part. The writing was well done, and I enjoyed the character development and the storyline. It was really a unique concept. The pacing of the book was good, and the actions of characters believable, even the 'bad guys'. I would have liked a little more revealed about Zoe's background as we went along, as I felt the vagueness of it confusing at times.

What I did not like about the book was the violence. I hate it, actually. I get that there is fighting and people get hurt, but the descriptions of it all felt a little overdone. There didn't need to be that much description of what was happening. I almost put the book down because of it, but the writing was so good I was sucked in for the long haul.

Another thing that was off-putting to me was the lack of spiritual content. I have noticed in more recent Ted Dekker books I've read that the spiritual element has been minuscule, or even nonexistent. I felt that way about this book as well. Zoe's past with the strict religious cult she grew up in was basically the only spirituality referenced. The actual truth of the Word of God is nowhere to be found. It is eluded to in a parable-type way, but not stated outright. That was disappointing to me.

I was provided this book free by Netgalley in exchange for honest review.

Nine
by Rachelle Dekker
Revell
Christian
Pub Date 01 Sep 2020



I am reviewing a copy of Nine through Revell and Netgalley:


Zoe Johnson has spent the majority of her life living in the shadows. She never drew attention to herself and never invested in people or places. But after a wide-eyed, bedraggled teenager with no memory walks into the diner where Zoe works, everything changes. It is against her better judgement that Zoe who has spent these years avoiding her painful past, finds herself helping a young teenage girl who seems to have no past.






The girl Zoe is trying to help knows only one thing that she must reach a woman hundreds of miles away in Corpus Christi Texas, before the government agents who are searching for her catch up to them.



If you are a fan of action and suspense, I highly recommend Nine!


Five out of five Stars!



Happy Reading!

BOOK REVIEW

Nine by @rachelle_dekker

Wow! This one was not at all what I was expecting! But what it was, was even better!

If you’ve read The Girl Behind The Red Rope this is another YA suspense that ties into that a little. But I haven’t read it, so if you haven’t either, it doesn’t matter, this one does stand alone.

Zoe is working as a waitress, hiding from her past, when a teenager walks into her diner with no memories - except that she has to find a certain woman in Corpus Christi.

As you might expect from that summary, there’s definitely some Bourne vibes here... but aside from that - and a little similarity between the feel of the memory recovery process in this novel and the simulations from Divergent - this is a highly original work...

It’s very well written, with non-stop action, and you will not want to put it down. There were moments referencing Zoe’s past in a cult that got a little scary dark, but they’re only a couple of paragraphs in the whole book and the rest of the story is straight, engaging thriller, so I didn’t find the dark stuff too much. On top of that, it’s one of the most mature YA novels I’ve come across, and has some of the best developed characters I’ve ever read in a YA novel. Every character is complex - the 3 leads extremely so - with complex motivations and well-developed personalities. In fact, Seeley is probably the most well-written, compelling and charismatic character I’ve ever read. I never really knew whether or not to trust him, or what he was saying, the whole way through, despite the fact that you know what he’s thinking! He’s just so charismatic, he even convinces you, as the reader, to believe what he’s saying in moments when you fully know he’s being disingenuous. And that, to me, is a sign of really, really good writing!!

If you like thrillers, you’ll enjoy this one, even if you don’t necessarily enjoy YA. It is fairly intense on the violence though! So fair warning for those who don’t enjoy that, but I don’t mind it & I loved this one! Very highly recommended!

Thanks @revellbooks and @netgalley for the review copy. I was only required to provide an honest review in return.

I’ll start off with the positive –

Rachelle Dekker’s latest release, Nine, engages the reader’s imagination without hesitation. It is creative. Symbolic. Action packed. Freaky. And most important (at least to me), thought provoking. It holds an almost dystopian story, with a strong message of choosing one’s own identity. The driving force behind this novel? Its three leading characters. Their journey of self discovery and self worth were what encouraged me to keep turning pages. I liked how each had their own unique stories, overcoming different backgrounds. Something I rarely see in fiction.

Now on to the somewhat negative –

Oh, how I wanted to love this book! Really.There wasn’t a reason why I would not love this book when I first saw it. After all, it seemed to have everything that makes a novel phenomenal: a talented author, an intriguing storyline, and a solid theme. And in all fairness, it did have all of those things. But it just didn’t “come together” for me. For whatever reason.

In sum, Nine is a good book with a neat story. I enjoyed the time spent reading it. And who knows, maybe I’ll pick this up again in a few months and love it. But for now, this wasn’t the book for me.

Whenever I see Rachelle Dekker's name on a book I get excited. You can count on her to turn out a riveting story that will draw the reader in from cover to cover. Nine fit that same description. The genre is suspense but I would go even a step further and classify it as a psychological thriller.

The story centers around Zoe and Lucy, two girls, that in normal circumstances, would never be found together. But Zoe has a soft spot for the seemingly naïve and innocent Lucy. That soft spot will lead to all kinds of danger. There's a rogue government agency involved and numerous layers of secrets and deceit to unravel.

The buildup to the ending is stressful. But it is absolutely worth it to get to the ending. There is graphic violence so if you're squeamish proceed with caution. But if you are like me and like to have your heart pounding while you are reading I think you are in for a treat with this one.

I received a copy of this book to facilitate my review.

This is a solid 4.5 star read for me. I truly enjoyed this story and all the suspense that it gave. This is such a perfect fall read!! The atmosphere of the book feels dark enough to give off those "spooky" suspense vibes without the demonic, supernatural elements. The characters were all so interesting and well written. I liked them all for different reasons. I absolutely love the "minor" connection of this book with The Girl Behind the Red Rope, that book got a 5 star rating from me.

Rachelle's writing style is so easy to get into. She leaves enough space for you to guess, but also does such a fantastic job at foreshadowing. It's such a compelling read that really pulled on my emotions at times. The pacing of the story was perfect, it's action packed and many of the plot twists kept me going.

If you are not big on violence in your Christian fiction novels, this might not be for you. This does have violence and it also talks about a cult. Violence doesn't bother me, so I didn't find it troublesome to read.

Overall, I enjoyed it and was excited with each turn of the page. I can't wait to read more from Rachelle Dekker in the future. Her writing is simply impeccable for me. I will be doing a second re-read of this so that I can thoroughly annotate this book!!

Normally I tend to pick up murder mystery/suspense novels. But Rachelle Dekker is one author who can get me to read outside my typical genres. I appreciate the way she tells a story so that I can’t quite work out what is going to happen. Often, I feel like my brain is bending a little bit when I read a Dekker book (both from Rachelle, and her father Ted Dekker). I am more required to set aside what I know in order to fully immerse myself in the story.

Nine is one of those stories that makes you suspend belief a little bit. I’m not typically one to read or watch any kind of science fiction, but I would say this book steers a little bit in that direction.

The Synopsis
Zoe Johnson likes to keep to herself, not trusting others and most certainly not letting anyone else in. That is until the day Lucy walked in her diner – bedraggled and leaning heavily on the phrase “I don’t know.” Making a split decision, Zoe decides to let Lucy in. Little did they know, hours later they would be on the run, trying to find a person neither of them knew with the hopes that this person could save them.

My Thoughts on Nine
When I picked up this book, it was purely because of Rachelle Dekker. I’m not sure I even really read the synopsis. I just knew the book would take me on a journey and I wanted in. I wasn’t disappointed.

Nine was filled with suspense. As the intro began to unfurl and make sense, the story picked up and ran all the way towards the end. I felt like I was being taken on a journey with Zoe and Lucy. I was rooting for them. Against the evil forces in the story. And questioning what I really believed about their predicament in the end.

There is some heavy violence in this story, that at times felt a little bit clunky as each fight scene was battled out in detail. Despite this, I thoroughly enjoyed this story. I truly felt like I was part of the story as I eagerly flipped the pages.

This is a great book with a government conspiracy theory! And the true question, can you change who you are? Are you a product of how you were raised? Who do you want to become? Can you listen to another voice in your head? Rachelle Dekker sure makes you think about these things in this book in a new way! Super read!

Reading and thinking about this book is keeping me awake at night. I've found it difficult to put down and hard to sleep without knowing what happens next. From its first pages it really grabbed my attention with an intense situation, two females frantically running for their lives in the woods while being chased by a large group of armed pursuers with ill intentions. The older of these females is rescuing the younger one from...

I don't want to spoil anything here. I'll just say that if you enjoy an eerie mystery/suspense/thriller story that's fast-paced, with an action-packed theme of good versus evil and a hint of science fiction, I highly recommend picking up this book.

My only complaint is that there is a little too much violence in this story for my liking.

Thank you NetGalley and Revell for sending me this book to read and review!

Dekker knows how to write a page-turner that keeps the reader on their seats. It's one of the reasons I enjoy her stories. In this story, we have 3 combatants who are all in various stages of dealing with their pasts.

Zoe Johnson, comes from a traumatic family situation and has spent many a day in front of psychologists and other people who apparently seek to help her and her brother. She meets Lucy, a lost runaway, who happens to wander into Zoe's cafe where she works as a waitress. Zoe soon discovers Lucy is on the run and trying to get somewhere 700-odd miles away in Corpus Christi. And there are some serious people who want to find her and won't stop until they do.

Enter Agent Seeley, the lead pursuer. He too has a past that has led him to surrender to the darkness in himself which makes him a perfect agent: uncaring, unflinching in his duty.

It's exciting and Dekker keeps up the pace so those pages keep on turning. We discover Lucy is part of a human experiment (she's Number Nine), commissioned and approved by the President. She reminded me a bit of an American equivalent of Angelina Jolie's Russian 'Salt' - Lucy is a trained mercenary with very special skills.

It's hard saying much more without giving spoilers. It's thoroughly entertaining but I will warn you there is a lot of close hand killing which some readers may not appreciate.

But it's the struggle the 3 of them have with their own identities that takes the story to another level. Are we resigned to be who someone else wants us to be or defined by what happened in our past? Can we chose to be someone else? Fascinating themes. But this is where I struggled a little with the story. If it was a secular novel then all is good - some of the conclusions and discussions wouldn't have fazed me. However, who we are and who we were made to be are pivotal aspects of our stories and a relationship with God helps us to unravel it. I feel the novel missed an opportunity to present a powerful picture of how a relationship with God does this.

I'm hoping there's more to come in these three characters stories as Dekker has really only touched the surface and be fun to explore both their backstories and their futures.

I received an early ebook copy of the novel being a member of the Revell Reads program via NetGalley but with no expectation of a favourable review.

My pause spiked as I ran for my life alongside Zoe and Lucy. I had no idea who the bad guys were. Was it Lucy? The government agents behind us? Fast pace good! As I read along, I cheered each POV not knowing if they were trustworthy. Probably the best thrillers my hands has grasped this year. Outstanding job Rachelle Dekker, Five star quality all around!! It's kind of a spin-off of The Girl Behind the Red Rope by Rachelle and her father Ted Dekker. But this novel has nothing to do with a cult only in the sense that Zoe escaped it as a child and now has trust issues as an adult. Not a good quality to have when you need help to survive. 😉 It's a stand-alone suspense with a bit of sci-fi and a lot action.

Nine by Rachelle Dekker
This is the second book I have read by Rochelle Dekker. The first book was a calibration with her father Ted Dekker. I think this was a good book but it wasn't my cup of tea. The book didn't catch my attention in the first chapter. It was hard to stay focused on the book. I have to say the people were likable. I think this book will be excellent for people who are younger.

I am rating this book a 3 out of a five.

I will recommend this book because, it is probably others cup of tea

I got this complimentary copy from Reveal and netgallery for a honest review. All thoughts and opinions are mine.

I’m left not completely sure how I feel about the book, to be honest. It sucked me in, kept me engaged and wanting to cover my eyes at the flagrant violence, and yet unable to put it down. And still, much of the story was left unresolved (though hopeful) and I’m just sort of wondering what’s ahead for these characters. The teaser or whatever at the end implies there’s more to come from Zoe’s past (maybe? It’s unclear whose POV it actually is, and truly, it’s just made me go back and read the last page on Nine/Lucy’s POV and call that the real end. All I know is I think I liked it, but my brain hurts and maybe my body too after that ride. Some interesting points about finding one’s identity outside who the world says you are, but for a Christian publisher the whole Truth was sadly lacking. I’d have liked to dig deeper and felt more.

Given a copy from NetGalley and all opinions expressed are freely given and wholly my own.

"She could have walked away a dozen times before arriving at this moment. She could have followed her gut, which had screamed for her to listen at every turn. She could have blocked out Lucy from the beginning. Done what her mother had always taught her: to fear. And what the world had never stopped reminding her: to protect."

This was the first of Rachelle Dekker's books I've read, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Honestly, I was a little surprised by how much I enjoyed this story! It does have a bit of a dystopian/sci-fi element, but not so much that it didn't feel like it could have been ripped from future headlines. The action and emotion are intense, as there are twists around every corner for Zoe and Lucy, and they never know who they can trust.

The gripping storyline is given more intensity by the powerful message that we don't have to let our past define us, but we can make the choice to leave our fear, our mistakes, and our guilt behind as we become the people we were made to be. Each of the main characters - Zoe, Lucy, and Agent Seeley - come to experience forgiveness and redemption in their own unique ways. I'm a new fan of Rachelle Dekker, and I can't wait to see what she writes next!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you, Revell!