This is the second book I’ve read by Dekker, the first being Green.
Showdown is set in a small mountain town, Paradise, in Colorado, where a terrifying character, Marsuvees Black, walks into town one afternoon and turns the place into a type of hell. It is up to a young boy from a monastery, Samuel – enlisting the help of a local, Johnny – and his father to save the people of the town; it is, essentially, the story of Jesus Christ and salvation.
Dekker’s novels are graphic and dark, and he tells the gospel story from a warped angle, which always makes for a riveting read. Dekker finds ingenious ways of painting stories that you have heard time and time again, in a new way, in a way that grips you. I was hooked on Showdown from the start, and could scarcely put it down, although I found that Dekker's descriptive sometimes drew out too long and would dull down the pace of the story in parts.
I rate the book 6 over 10.