Outlaw, by Ted Dekker

Outlaw
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

BOOK DESCRIPTION:   The story of how I, Julian Carter, and my precious two-year old son, Stephen, left Atlanta Georgia and found ourselves on a white sailboat, tossed about like a cork on a raging sea off of Australia's northern tip in 1963, is harrowing.

But it pales in comparison to what happened deep in the jungle where I was taken as a slave by a savage tribe unknown to the world. Some places dwell in darkness so deep that even God seems to stay away.

There, my mind was torn in two by the gods of the earth. There, one life ended so another could begin.

Some will say I was a fool for making the choices I made. But they would have done the same. They, too, would have embraced death if they knew what I knew, and saw through my eyes.

My name is Julian and this is my story. But more, it is the story of my son who was born to change the world.


Full of harrowing twists, sweeping violence, and wild love, Outlaw takes us beyond the skin of this world to another unseen.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR (from teddekker.com):  Dekker was born to missionaries who lived among the headhunter tribes of Indonesia. Because his parents’ work often included extended periods of time away from their children, Dekker describes his early life in a culture to which he was a stranger as both fascinating and lonely. It is this unique upbringing that forced him to rely on his own imagination to create a world in which he belonged.

After leaving Indonesia, Dekker graduated from a multi-cultural high school and took up permanent residence in the United States to study Philosophy and Religion. Upon earning his Bachelor’s Degree, he entered the corporate world and proceeded to climb the proverbial ladder. But his personal drive left him restless and, after many successful years, he traded corporate life for wide range of entrepreneurial pursuits that included buying and selling businesses, healthcare services, and marketing.

In the early nineties while visiting a friend who had just written a book, Dekker decided to pursue a long held desire to be a novelist. Over the course of two years he wrote two full length novels before starting from scratch and rewriting both. Now fully enamored by the the process and the stories, he realized that storytelling was in his blood and a new obsession to explore truth through story gripped him anew.

He sold his business, moved his family to the mountains of Western Colorado and began writing full-time on his third novel. Two years and three novels later his first novel was published.

Dekker’s novels have sold over 10 million copies worldwide. Two of his novels, Thr3e and House, have been made into movies with more in production. Dekker resides in Austin, Texas with his wife Lee Ann and one of their daughters.


SERIES: This book is not officially part of the Outlaw Series (3 books), but you'll definitely understand more about the main character of Outlaw that ends up making appearances in each of the other 3 books if you read this one first.

PARENTAL RATING:  PG-13 for some violence, sexual themes, and peril.

MY THOUGHTS:  The opening words drew me in and I couldn't stop until I'd finished. This story was pure action from one page to the next, but not just in that adrenaline-laced, testosterone-filled sort of way. The characters were facing emotional traumas and being stretched in ways that shook the foundations of what they'd always known to be true.

When Julian enters the brutal world of these tribal clans, the culture clash between the two worlds impacts the very core of that hidden society. How each person adjusts to these changes and the outcome is a web that only Dekker can weave.

I'm a huge fan already, but this book stands out from anything he's written in years. LOVED IT!

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