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Thunder of Heaven (Martyr's Song, Book 3)
by Ted Dekker
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Thomas Nelson (2005-08-30)
ISBN: 0849945178
EAN: 9780849945175
Dewey Decimal #: 813
Binding/Media: Paperback - 304 pages
Edition: Revised
SKU: 102309-1351
Condition: New
Comments: 0849945178 New, never read, may have minor wear on cover.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
The world's worst fears have dawned. Nothing stands in the way of total destruction...except the love of one woman. Deep in the Amazon jungle a young American woman and the son of plantation owners fall madly in love. For Tanya and Shannon, life is a paradise most only dream about. But today paradise ends. The jungle has hatched more than idyllic love. It has also spawned insidious evil. An evil shrouded in a plot so diabolically brilliant that all of America will be brought to her knees at the hands of a few terrorists. The plan is executed to perfection. There is no way out...save an ancient woman whose dark past has lead her to a life of prayer in preparation for the unspeakable terror about to be unleashed.
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Amazon.com Review
Novelist Ted Dekker spins an action-packed story of drug cartels, the CIA, and the power of God to redeem tragedy for good in his inspirational thriller Thunder of Heaven. Life in Venezuela holds nothing but good things for Tanya Vandervan, her missionary family, and her love interest, the musclebound Shannon Ritcherson, who lives with his parents on an adjoining coffee plantation. When terrorists take over the land, both families are murdered and Tanya and Shannon believe each other to be dead. Grieving her losses, Tanya moves to the United States, where she changes her identity and seeks to lay her nightmarish past to rest. Years later, Tanya is inexorably pulled back to Venezuela by visions from God, and finds that Casius, an assassin who has his own agenda for revenge, may hold the key to questions about her past and her future. Dekker relies on a fast-paced plot rather than finely crafted prose to move his story along, and those who like their novels served up with plenty of heroics and a dash of romance will find this an engaging tale. --Cindy Crosby
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Customer Reviews
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An enjoyable read
Rating  (3)
Date: 2009-03-28
The novel's strong suit is it's ability to keep up the suspense throughout the story. It's generally fast-paced and definitely kept me turning the pages. Without this pace, the novel's weaknesses would have been a lot more obvious. Instead, they stayed slightly nagging at the back of my mind until I finished the novel.
While the characters were easy to sympathize with, they each only seemed to have one emotional mode. They did round out into believable humans at the very end, but I would have enjoyed a greater emotional range earlier on.
The world was well-described, but it felt to me like a stage where secondary characters had no life once they left the scene. As an example, the jungle natives were mentioned several times, yet we never saw a single one in all the time we spent roaming around in their territory.
Also, some major story details were left unexplained. For example, Shannon has exceptional hearing and repeatedly hears the attack helicopter coming in the distance. But, at the critical life-or-death moment, he doesn't hear the helicopter until it's at close range and actively shooting at him.
I should mention that I don't think non-Christians would enjoy this book, partly because it contains a lot of theology and partly because God plays a major underlying role in the story.
I also questioned the theology at times. There's a minor character who says that God is playing a chess game with Satan and that the human pieces might not obliging move into their critical position in his plan (which would lose the game) so God's having to manipulate some of the pieces to get them into position. While the other characters don't completely agree with her ideas, I was baffled by such a pagan, non-Biblical theology coming from someone who's implied to be a Godly woman.
In the novel, there was no cussing or sex. There were several supernatural elements (visions from God and demon possession). Overall, I'd rate this novel as good, clean fun.
Genre Reviews
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The Rumblings of Heaven
Rating (3)
Date: 2009-01-28
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
I really like Dekker books. They make me excited, scared, and they always leave me wanting the next one. I must say, however, that THUNDER OF HEAVEN did somewhat disappoint me though. Things got off to a rather cliched and rocky start with a love story, but after a chapter or so, things started picking up. I really was cruising along, loving it as I went until the final chapters. And then I could barely finish.
The story centers around a girl, Tanya, and her teenage lover, Shannon. Both of them live in the jungles of Venezuela, loving life and each other until their families are brutally murdered. Years pass, and Tanya, now going under the name of Sherry, is attempting to forget her shattered past. But something keeps calling her back to the jungle. Something that has to do with the CIA, a nuclear bomb, and a crazed terrorist bent on American destruction.
Dekker had everything ready to go for him on this one. A good plot -- pretty interesting characters -- and his typical suspense. But, at the end, things just did not come together for me. There were numerous plot twists that I saw coming right off the bat, and then the love story progressed in an ultimately cheesy way that just made me want to groan.
Okay, I realize that this IS one of Dekker's earlier books, so I do give him a bit of latitude there, but still, a little more work on the ending could have brought this story with a pretty good message overall to a new level.
If you're just looking into Dekker, I would say start with some of his later stuff, like BLACK or SHOWDOWN. Or THR3E. Any of those would be a great introduction to Ted. But THUNDER OF HEAVEN? Well -- nice for a read if you really don't have anything else, but just know that ending is going to disappoint. It sure disappointed me.
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Thuder of Heaven - enjoyable
Rating  (4)
Date: 2008-08-04
Thunder of Heaven was my 1st Ted Dekker book. Overall I thought the book was very well written and the plot flowed smoothly. It was a pretty dark book that certainly drove home the point that not all things in God's plan are "peaches and cream" for those who follow him. I have two main criticisms about the story 1) I found it a little annoying that a character that was declared dead came back into the story - if you say someone is dead, they have to be dead (and the symbolic death of self to life in Christ didn't apply here either, which might have allowed for the delaration of the character to be dead. 2) I didn't like the idea of God's thunder as sounding as only soft whispers to us. Yes, God's voice is often the small quiet voice nudging at us, but if God makes some thuder, it's going to be loud! For me, the image made it sound as if God was making the loudest noises he possibly could, but such sounds were barely perceptible to us.
Enough with the critique, the book was enjoyable, and I got through it quickly, which is saying something, because it seems half the books I try to read don't seem to hold my attention and I don't even finish.
I look forward to reading another Dekker book.
-S. A. Davis, author of Iman's Isle.
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Great Book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rating  (5)
Date: 2007-04-07
Words don't do Ted Dekker justice I love all his books! This was one of those books once you pick up it is so hard to put down!!
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Entertaining and Thought Provoking
Rating (4)
Date: 2006-12-10
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
I have several Ted Dekker novels and they are all entertaining and thought provoking. 'Thunder Of Heaven' is no exception.
Dekker has blended an action plot involving terrorists with a nuclear device, romance, and spiritual themes. I am not one who enjoys romance, but the author does it in a way that is not obnoxious or overdone.
The action rolls along at a good pace and keeps the reader's interest throughout.
There was one error that should have been avoided. This may be somewhat of a spoiler so read further at your own risk. When one of the characters is imprisoned for a terrorist plot, he is located in the 'Canyon City Correctional Facility'. A participant in international terrorism would not be incarcerated in a local or state facility. It is a federal crime so he would be in a federal prison. With the type of crime and skill set/threat level possessed by this person, he would likely be housed in a United States Penitentiary (USP). This may not be a huge issue, but I think that technical accuracy is important in a good novel.
In spite of that one issue, I would recommend this book as well as any others I have read by Dekker. He is a highly skilled author who keeps one's attention.
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