Showdown

Showdown is a 2006 novel written by Ted Dekker and is the first in the series of the Project Showdown Books which are also called The Paradise Novels.

Showdown is a book about a black-cloaked man, Marsuvees Black, that arrives in a sleepy town named Paradise, Colorado and becomes the talk of the town, and a young man named Johnny Drake that tries to stop his plans of destroying Paradise.

The story has two stories side by side. The story of Johnny Drake in Paradise, and a group of children in the Project Showdown in a monastery not far from Paradise, Colorado, where the children are taught to be the next world leaders by way of teaching through being kept from the world and taught only God's love and ways he wants people to live. A young man by the name of Billy Rediger finds a library full of books that have the ability to create what is written as long as the person has the faith of a young child. He uses the books to create a man named Marsuvees Black, a demon-turned-preacher and sends him to Paradise to reveal the sinful hearts of man.

Connection With Books of History Saga
Showdown is the first 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. All the books in the Saga (Black, Red, White, Green, Chosen, Infidel, Renegade, Chaos, Lunatic, Elyon, Showdown, Saint, Sinner, House, and Skin) 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 in the time frame between Black and Red and following the events of White with Lunatic and Elyon, and follow 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.