White - Ted Dekker

Published in a omnibus edition as "The Circle Trilogy" : "Black"; "Red"; "White", by Thomas Nelson: Nashville, Tennessee, 2004.

 In the third novel of this trilogy, Ted Dekker again shifts the allegorical world into a new era of allegory while continuing the 'real world' thriller plot of seeking to undo the effects of the deadly Raison Strain that has been released around the world.

Now in the 'other' world Thomas leads a group of 'believers' called The Circle, who are in danger of fracturing into 'denominations' of sorts. The main area of dispute revolves around how to act regarding the Horde (the non-believer equivalents) who seek to destroy the fledgling community. One of Thomas' fellow leaders suggests leaving the Horde to their own devices rather than evangelising them at all, while another suggests 'watering down the gospel' by removing some of the more 'difficult' requirements of coming to faith. As in the earlier books of the trilogy, Thomas doesn't always make the right decision to begin with, but comes to see the right way forward as the plot unfolds. Once again, Dekker manages to add a few unexpected twists to the story while still providing an interesting and thought-provoking allegory for the Christian life.

The story also comes to an unexpected conclusion on one of the worlds; one that works but is also slightly cliche. However, cliche is often a side-effect of allegory, and this doesn't detract too much from the story, which once again kept me reading.

There are elements of all three books that could have been improved upon if I am being nit-picky - for example, the women tend to be a little too easy to fall for Thomas' charms - but I still enjoyed all three novels individually, as well as the trilogy as a whole.

Completed 25 June 2020.

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