Nine

Dekker (coauthor of The Girl Behind the Red Rope) explores identity in this entertaining story of a woman with no memory. Zoe Johnson is working her shift at the diner in tiny Sherman, Tex., when she meets Lucy, who can’t remember anything except that she must get to Corpus Christi and find someone named Summer Wallace. Against her better judgment, Zoe decides to help. When FBI agents catch up with them and question Zoe when Lucy is away, she realizes she may be in over her head—but she’s not willing to abandon Lucy. As they race to find Summer and retrieve Lucy’s memories, the two develop a deep bond and also discover Lucy has superhuman strength and endurance. Then FBI agent Tom Seeley finds Zoe and gains her trust by explaining Lucy has been genetically engineered for “perfection” and insisting he has come to help, and an awkward romance strikes up. Unfortunately, the romance subplot feels grafted on and distracts from the tense mystery of Lucy’s purpose and larger questions about whether identity is based on genetic programming or on the choices one makes. Fans of Ted Dekker will be happy to see his daughter carrying on the family tradition. (Sept.)