The Sanctuary by Ted Dekker

Danny Hansen is a former priest serving a 50 year sentence for murder. Determined to serve his time and live his life in non-violence Danny is transferred to Basal Institute of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Basal is run by Warden Marshall Pape who’s philosophy is An Eye for an Eye. Pape sees his job as Warden of his Sanctuary to rehabilitate the members of Basal by using a rewards and punishment system. Danny has his first taste of punishment the first day he arrives-he is thrown naked into a cell with only concrete for a bed and fed only once a day. It doesn’t take long for Danny to understand that the Warden has a special reason for torturing him. Danny is determined to endure the punishments of Basal in order to keep his girlfriend Renee Gilmore safe on the outside. 

Renee Gilmore loves Danny Hansen with every fiber of her being. After all, he took the blame for the murder of 2 men that she committed. When she receives a severed finger in a shoebox she panics thinking it is Danny’s finger. This is the beginning of the game that a mysterious person that she labels as “Sicko” pulls her into. Afraid for Danny’s life and determined to help him in prison Renee enlists the help of a former lawyer named Keith. Together they must follow “Sicko’s” directions in order to save themselves and Danny. At what cost will they pay? And will they be able to save Danny before it is too late?

The Sanctuary is a companion novel to Ted Dekker’s novel The Priests Graveyard which I haven’t read. I don’t think it is necessary to have read The Priests Graveyard in order to follow the story of The Sanctuary. But I am definitely going to have to read it now that I have finished The Sanctuary. But first I need to read something a little less stressful! The Sanctuary is not for the faint of heart that is for sure. There is violence, there are uncomfortable scenes of torture and some crudity. Danny’s character was a former vigilante priest that performed multiple murders as an avenging angel of the weak. He has now turned to non-violence and is serving his time, but he is thrown into a situation where the Warden is now the avenging angel determined in his own twisted logic to punish Danny for his sins. The Sanctuary kept me on the edge of my seat and my fingers turning the pages late into the evening. Definitely The Sanctuary is a story that will stay with me for a long while.

Thanks to FaithWords for my copy of The Sanctuary to review.