Saint (novel)

Saint is a 2006 mystery novel written by Ted Dekker. It is the second in the series of the 'Project Showdown' Books which are also called 'The Paradise Novels'.

Plot summary

We are introduced to a man named Carl Strople who seems to be going through a bit of an identity crisis. He was stripped of his identity when he was inducted into an elite underground assassin group called the X Group. We are also introduced to Kelly, Carl's wife. After a series of intense training exercises, consisting of mock assassinations and hunting games, Carl is almost ready to be assigned his first mission.

Meanwhile, a man named David Abraham is the spiritual advisor to the President of the United States, Robert Stenton. David has informed the President about a great deal of Project Showdown, and while the President remains skeptical of the true extent of what happened fifteen years ago in Paradise, CO, he holds David's opinion in high regard; second only to his son, Jamie. Robert has been against the new peace treaty that Iranian Minister of Defense Assim Feroz has been pushing, believing that once the other countries had Israel disarmed, they would attack without hesitation.

Carl and Kelly arrive in New York City with Carl's mission, kill Assim Feroz. After a few days of scouting and setting up the hit, they are ready to assassinate the Iranian Defense Minister. Right before Carl pulls the trigger, Kelly informs him there is a change in the mission, and he is now supposed to assassinate the President of the United States. Carl can't bring himself to pull the trigger because his mind is screaming that the President is somehow his true father. He aborts and they decide to set up for another shot the next day. This time, despite the same mental anguish, he shoots, but is able to control the bullet's course, directing it to miss all the vital organs, leaving the president with merely a flesh wound. This is when Carl meets David Abraham. David, seeming to know more about Carl than Carl himself does, asks him to meet his son Samuel. When Carl sees Samuel, he is informed that his real name isn't Carl, but Johnny Drake, and that he was born in Paradise, Colorado. Samuel tells Carl/Johnny to go to Paradise to find out more.

Johnny then goes to Paradise with Kelly to see if he can piece together his past. There, he meets his mother and David, who tells him about his role in Project Showdown. However, he is quickly found by another member of the X Group, the Englishman. He has always been Johnny's rival, and is able to control his weapons telekinetically, making them float and fly through the air. Johnny barely makes his escape, but Kelly is taken hostage. Johnny travels back to New York to complete his original mission, which is to kill Assim Feroz. After doing just that and eluding Englishman, Kelly is freed with a message to Johnny that "he will be his own undoing."

Johnny heads back to Paradise and meets Samuel and Kelly. Samuel begins to explain why Johnny was sent into the X Group to infiltrate it and his unusual abilities are not of his own talent, but of the power he received from the "Books of History. (explained in the book Showdown)" Johnny then realizes that if he is going to defeat Englishman, he must regain the faith he had before it was stripped from him by the X Group. He finally accomplishes this and is able to control boulders and other objects telekinetically. They then go to the President's Ranch for a final battle against Englishman, which ends with Johnny losing his normal vision, going "blind", and the Englishman ceasing to exist. Englishman was a demon, and Johnny banished him back to hell. Kelly and Johnny decide to go to the desert in Nevada.

Connection With Books of History Saga

Saint is the second published novel in the Project Showdown series, which are also known as the Paradise Novels. Even though the books are their own series, Showdown, Saint, and Sinner are a part of what is referred to as the Books of History Chronicles.

In the Circle Trilogy, a man named Thomas Hunter discovers an alternate universe containing Books of History, which make anything written in them come true as long as the writer has the faith of a child. 30 years later, Showdown takes place. Saint and then Sinner take place 15 years after that.

Both House and Skin are directly tied into the Paradise Novels. Barsidious White (the antagonist in House) was created by Marsuvees Black (from the Paradise series) by using one of the blank books of the Books of History. In Skin some of the characters interact (via a dimensional rift) with characters from the Lost Books series.

All the books in the Saga (Black, Red, White, Green, Chosen, Infidel, Renegade, Chaos, Lunatic, Elyon, Showdown, Saint, and Sinner) contain and explore the powers of the Books of History. The Circle Trilogy first introduces the books; The Lost Books take place in the same world as the Circle Trilogy and take place throughout the Circle Trilogy, taking a different view, following young warriors searching for the original Books of History. Showdown, Saint and Sinner follow the events in our world that happen because of the books' power.