The release of BoneMan’s Daughters is upon us. The one question I am asked at nearly every interview is, “What inspired you to write this novel?” My answer is nearly always the same, I write to explore.
But BoneMan’s Daughters has a unique story behind it: The unnerving story of my own daughter.
Now, I would like to think that I am a good father. That I have raised each of my children in the way they should go, and given them freedom to make their own choices once they have enough of a sense of the world not to be crushed. But when my daughter began to fall for this one particular creep at the tender age of sixteen, I began to sweat.
No one else saw him as a creep, mind you. He was the kid at her birthday party who could break-dance and smile ever so charmingly. He seemed kind and thoughtful and all of the girls thought he was, for lack of a better word, hot.
I don’t know, maybe it was the way he kept looking at me with piercing eyes, or the way he yelled at me when I asked him not to date my daughter (go figure) but this kid scared me.
Fast forward two years. It was three days before Christmas. I’d learned that my daughter, now eighteen and in college, was madly in love with this boy. By this point I was certain that the kid was not only a punk, but truly dangerous. He’d yelled at me on numerous occasions. He’d told me I had no right to my daughter. He’d threatened my family.
But most of all, this kid, now twenty, had won the heart of my daughter and for that I began to hate him. My anger was directed at him, not my daughter, you see, because he was the monster and she was my precious baby and the fact that he’d found a way to seduce her was infuriating.
And that night… that night three days before Christmas, everything came apart, because that night my daughter informed the family that she was leaving our home to live with this monster. There are six of us in the family; five of us stood there at the door, crying, while the monster led the sixth out the front door. I can still see his face—he was carrying her suitcase and he was smiling.
But what could I do? My wife and I, and the other children had all begged her not to go with him. But, like a victim of Stockholm Syndrome, she had given her heart and mind to the monster, unable to see his fangs.
LeeAnn and I tried to comfort our other children. Our youngest, only a small child at the time, was devastated and we couldn’t stop her weeping. For hours she cried and hiccupped and all we could do was hold back our own tears for her sake while we held her.
Then, like the twin dead, we walked to our own room, closed the door, fell on our bed, and sobbed. And we sobbed.
For the next two months our bedroom was the weeping place. The monster had our child and there was nothing I could do about it. I talked to the police, I called all of our friends, I dialed the FBI, and I would have called the President if I thought it might help. I begged our daughter to reconsider every time I talked to her, but it was her life and I could only pray that she came to herself before he destroyed her.
It stuck me then that I would do anything to save my daughter. Anything. And every time I thought about the monster my outrage at his seduction grew. In my mind he was BoneMan. My daughter was now BoneMan’s Daughter!
In the end all I could do was stare at my blank computer screen for hours, lost in desperation. I knew then that I had to discover the meaning behind this terrible love I had for my daughter through a fully fleshed story. I had to write a story that made absolute certain in the mind of every daughter how precious they are to the father.
My pain was intensely personal and I needed to understand that pain in the context of every father who loses a daughter, be it in Iraq or in Hollywood or in Colorado. Even more I had to grasp that same pain in the context of my own Father’s love for me. Is this how God loves each of his children?
I still remember the day the call came. It was my daughter. She was crying so hard she could hardly get the words out. She wanted to come, oh how badly she wanted to come home, she’d wanted to come home for weeks, could we please, please take her back? Heaven filled our home that day.
And then we learned the terrible truth. The monster had abused her. That devil had crushed her! She was too ashamed to call, too proud to come home, but she’d laid awake in bed many nights crying for home.
Four years have passed and now, two months before the day Rachelle is to marry a man we love, she will tell you that she was snatched out of hell itself that day. I cringe to think what might have happened. And I cringe to think what goes through the mind of a father who has lost his daughter forever.
Not since writing When Heaven Weeps following the death of my brother many years ago have I written such a personal story as BoneMan’s Daughters. I’ve dedicated it to Rachelle, but this love story is for you. For every daughter, every son, every father, every mother.
Read the novel. Then go to your daughter, your father, your son, your mother, hold them close, and cherish them forever.
*P.S. Read the latest poll on the home page and leave your comments. This one’s for all of us.
P.P.S. You can hear Ted tell this story during his interview on the Laura Ingraham Show. Click HERE to listen to it now.
After reading Ted’s thoughts on “Bonemans Daughter” the book does make more sense. but–while I really enjoyed reading “Blink” and several of his other books, I cannot reccomend Bonemans Daughter. My reasons for it are :
1. Boneman’s character was very disturbing. And I don’t mean like “ohh yeah, he was an evil character or whatever” I mean, alot of what Ted wrote about him was entirely unnecessary and uncalled for, and as one friend put it “some stuff actually made me cringe.”
2. there is a fine line between PORTAYING that which is evil, and DWELLING on it. and i just kinda felt that the book flirted with that line.
3. something has been lost since Ted went mainstream. I DO NOT DOUBT that he is a christian, but I do wonder if some part of his message has been compromised for the sake of “reaching” more readers. In reading about Ted, all I am finding is that he is a “New York TImes Best Seller!” but I’m not seeing the man I used to in his writings.
I also agree with Elaine and Matt Free. If you say that Ted Dekker is not saved then you obviously haven’t read his earliest books. I just finished the Mayrter’s Song series and it was beautiful. They made me laugh and cry. I hyly recommend them to anyone who wants to read a good Christian book. Ted portrays God’s love in such a lovley way. Though it still has the same suspence of his other books it also has something that they lack. It reveals the supernatural happening to people living in the natural. These books will make you love life and anticipate Heaven. They will make you desire to know God at a deeper level. Thank you Ted for writing these books!
hyly*highly
Hi Ted,
First I would like to say that I’m so happy your daughter is back with your family. I will be praying for her and your family.
Now I must agree with some of the bloggers on this site about your book “Boneman’s Daughter”, which hurt me a lot to see the a** word in your book. I understand at the time you wrote this book you were going through a lot of pain. I loved SHowdown and House very much but this book was not that great.
To use that word made me not want to tell my friends who were interested in your book.
But I must say to the people who are saying that you are not a Christian is very wrong. Only God can jugde you and not man.
So that’s it just was hurt that you cursed in your book and I’m praying I won’t have to stop reading your books in the future.
My prayers go out to you and your family. God bless
i am currently reading BoneMan’s Daughters and it didn’t really make sense to me at first, but after reading Ted Dekker’s own comments on it, it totally makes sense. i love the suspense i love the plot.
oh also PFY (praying for you) i was truly scared halfway through reading this page. but i’m so glad god has mended your family. my mother and i fight all the time we never agree. im a stubborn arrogant brat at times. well a lot but this has inspired me to make it right…..thank you
well I guess I havent read enough to know what mr Dekker’s writing was like before tagged as a new york times bestseller but wow no need for the bashing I literally finished BoneMan last night and while I wish the ending had been a bit longer tying some things together I still loved the book I read over half in one day and I wasnt just stuck at home that day either I found myself obsessed with knowing how it ended and as far as the character BoneMan being disturbing, of course he is, your average person doesnt seek out people to be their offspring so they can feel loved and I know I have heard worse about real people. I personally loved the book and started Green today so I will see if I understand what the previous posters meant but personally I dont think I will though Green has been suspenseful from the first page so far. Keep it up Ted I love your work.
Oh My Gosh! Wow! I Love the circle trilogy! i have just recently finished red and am trying to decide whether to read white or green first! I am maddly in love with the books of history chronicals! I just rushed through the first four lost books in four days and they where amazing! I have also read all of the paridise novels and they were totally awesom! I cannot wait to see what Ted does next in the books of history chronicals! Chaos kept me on my toes and begging for more as did Black, and Red! Ted Dekker is now my #1 favorite auther! Thanks so much for blessing me with these FANTASTIC books!
Hey Tedd.
I’ve read about 7 of your books and i like them all. I know most christians dont agree with swearing in books, and since i am writing a book (and a christian), should the villain use any swear words? Thanks for your books! I love reading them
First off Ted I absolutely love your works and the work God does through you. And I have to stand and say I deeply respect your commitment to being real and touching those places that may be sensitive. The other day I was reading some of the comments here about Boneman being disturbing…..and I thought so is the way the devil is represented in the Bible. And about your use of the word “A**” and I thought “Oh my goodness, what has become of us?” And I was about to respond then about how much I respect the fact that your novels are real, and they touch people where they may hurt…and help them heal. And about how I respect the fact that even though you are so “mainstream” (????) that your message is still very strong and clear, maybe even more so. And, here’s a thought…maybe by being a “Best Selling Author” your message is getting to people who wouldn’t venture inside a church. (Sounds a bit like Jesus’ ministry to me)
But I held off responding, because I didn’t want to be, well, offensive or anything.
But just now I read your note “What’s wrong with this picture” regarding the “Love Inspired Guidelines.” And I couldn’t hold back any longer. I so agree with your statement:
“In our stories we need to concern ourselves with truth. When we write about love, for example, we need to understand that there is more than just love in the world. That there is much ugliness which stands in the face of true love. Our characterization of that ugliness in our writing must be consistent with its true nature. To whitewash the page of that contrast makes a mockery of love’s ability to overcome offense and ugliness.”
And I commend you for holding to that value. It seems to me that Jesus and the writers of the Bible did not hold punches on truth, thank you so much for doing the same. I will continue to read your bold statements that may rock our worlds (in a good way), reach out to readers who will never pick up the flowery, pharisaical (love that word by the way), watered down Christian fiction and touch on subjects that need to be broached, not avoided because they are sensitive.
Heaven forbid the day you as a Christian writer can’t use the word SEX. Because we all know if you don’t talk about it, it doesn’t exist. And the Bible never refers to it at all, never talks about prostitutes, “knowing”, etc……let’s see? Woman at the well, maybe?
Stand tall my brother, fight the good fight, don’t back down. And for all our sakes, never sign with Steeple Hill.
Thank you for all your books. I have enjoyed them immensely and appreciate all the hard work and dedication you give to your writing.
I loved the circle trilogy and in many ways liken you to CS Lewis in the ways you can portray the gospel through fictional writings, this again is very commendable.
However, I have just finished BoneMan’s Daughters and was slightly disappointed by the ending. I can see the analogies that you try to bring about but feel that Ryan should not have set fire to BoneMan’s house, killing him. Yes there was a need for justice, but not revenge. Yes BoneMan was evil, yet he was still human. And yes Ryan was the good guy, the saviour, but he was not God and so did not have the right to serve this judgement upon BoneMan. Surely it would make Ryan a stronger character for him to admit his fault in the situation and for him to offer forgiveness to Alvin, and for Alvin to be dealt justice by the law (and possibly psychiatric help) and later by God.
But I don’t want to end on a negative note - thanks again for keeping on keeping on, and looking forward to ALL your future works.
Boneman’s Daughters utterly scared me.
However, now that I’ve read what took place behind the scenes…it’s situations like these where one can only marvel at the grace of God. My family’s been through something very similar to Ted’s…I feel the emotion leaping off the pages. It’s something that sometimes can’t be tamed…I would reccommend this book. It is raw. And scary. And sometimes questionable. But…maybe it’s because I Now know where he’s coming from…this is something we all need to be reminded of. Life’s dark times reveal things about us. Good. Bad. Ugly. You can’t put this book into the same category as all Dekker’s previous works.
Praise God.
Haha talk about thinking faster than I can type.
Oh well, hopefully yall understand what I’m trying to say