I wrote a string of four or five novels like Heaven’s Wager over six years. Then I decided I wanted to go back to the kind of novels I wanted to write, like Blink. There are very few Christians in there, but they really do explore the character of God as aggressively as the other novels. They just do it in a slightly different kind of story. 

Thr3e, my story about a serial killer, got the (2004) Christy Award for best thriller and Gold Medallion Award (now called the Christian Book Award) for fiction.

I characterize my stories as pure escapism with truth. People are either searching for or absolving themselves of guilt, angst or secrets. I’m tapping into this vein that exists in all of us. One consistent is this full-throttled exploration of the struggle between good and evil.

What drives you to create these kinds of stories rather than take a more traditional approach to Christian fiction?

In 1 Corinthians 4, Paul says the task of Christians is to steward the mysteries of God.

Stewarding is taking care of and nurturing. You’re constantly working, almost in a business fashion, to bring about an end result, and that is understanding. You go and plumb the depths of a particular truth of God. But understanding is a two-way street: I’m understanding through my characters as much as my readers are.

A lot of writers will say, ‘My task is to simply explain His love…I have something to say.’ As a writer, you can’t simply mimic your beliefs. We’ve all heard so many stories about God’s love.

Why don’t we take a character into a situation where he is ravaged by everything but love, and in his search for hope, he finds something—the thinnest thread—and he begins to learn something new about himself, and in the process, something new about God?

If I’m successful, it will look like magic, because it took them seven hours to read what it took me two years to figure out.

What are you hoping to give readers with a Ted Dekker novel?

I want to take readers to a place where they say, ‘Oh my goodness, I can’t believe he did that’ and do it in a way that is palatable for Christians. I want to do it through scenes that are at once dark, disturbing and riveting, and at the same time, readers are saturated in the mysteries of God. I really like contrasting the dark and the light. When you bring hope into that context, it’s noticeable and almost overwhelming. In order to have light shine, you have to have darkness into which it can shine.

Your books are thrillers, but they often evoke deep emotion in readers. Does this surprise you?

In my fan mail one of the most common things people talk about is crying while reading my books. I got an email about my book, Sinner. This guy said, ‘I’ve never cried while reading a novel. I got up to ‘x’ chapters and sat down and wept for an hour.’ My book, When Heaven Weeps—I dare someone to read that and not cry.