Mr. Monster and I Don't Want To Kill You Reviews.

Mr. Monster (John Cleaver #2)
by Dan Wells
From Goodreads:

I killed a demon. I don’t know if it was really, technically a demon, but I do know that he was some kind of monster, with fangs and claws and the whole bit, and he killed a lot of people. So I killed him. I think it was the right thing to do. At least the killing stopped.
Well, it stopped for a while.
In I Am Not a Serial Killer, John Wayne Cleaver saved his town from a murderer even more appalling than the serial killers he obsessively studies.

But it turns out even demons have friends, and the disappearance of one has brought another to Clayton County. Soon there are new victims for John to work on at the mortuary and a new mystery to solve. But John has tasted death, and the dark nature he used as a weapon---the terrifying persona he calls “Mr. Monster”---might now be using him.

No one in Clayton is safe unless John can vanquish two nightmarish adversaries: the unknown demon he must hunt and the inner demon he can never escape.

In this sequel to his brilliant debut, Dan Wells ups the ante with a thriller that is just as gripping and even more intense. He apologizes in advance for the nightmares.

My Thoughts:  John Cleaver became one of my favorite characters the moment I read I Am Not A Serial Killer.  He's like a teen version of Dexter, but with demons.  I like that John struggles so much with his nature, especially after the events of the first book.  He's had a taste of what he's dreamed about, and now with the possibility of a relationship with a girl he likes, his own personal demons are becoming just as dangerous as the one he destroyed in the first book.  I remember being really surprised by the supernatural turn the series took in the first book, but actually it works really well.  Mr. Monster isn't quite as engrossing as the first book, but its still such a unique and interesting concept and it makes a great read.  I am a fan, Dan Wells!

Mr. Monster gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

I Don't Want To Kill You
by Dan Wells
From Goodreads:

 John Cleaver has called a demon—literally called it, on the phone, and challenged it to a fight. He’s faced two of the monsters already, barely escaping with his life, and now he’s done running; he’s taking the fight to them. But as he wades through his town’s darkest secrets, searching for any sign of who the demon might be, one thing becomes all too clear: in a game of cat and mouse with a supernatural killer, the human is always the mouse.

In I Am Not a Serial Killer we watched a budding sociopath break every rule he had to save his town from evil. In Mr. Monster we held our breath as he fought madly with himself, struggling to stay in control. Now John Cleaver has mastered his twisted talents and embraced his role as a killer of killers. I Don’t Want to Kill You brings his story to a thundering climax of suspicion, mayhem, and death.

It’s time to punish the guilty.

And in a town full of secrets, everyone is guilty of something

My Thoughts: I loved this 3rd book, despite some really sad, er, situations for characters I liked. John grows as a character, which was nice and realistic. I'm really interested to see where this series is going, even more so than before. The creativity behind the different demons John has had to confront is very clever. I don't think John Cleaver is your text-book sociopath, because he is maturing and becoming an anti-hero.  I know I've compared this to Dexter or the Hannibal Lector series, but here is a serial killer you can root for (although, I guess John's really a serial demon-killer so far). I Don't Want To Kill You has been my favorite book in the series so far, which is rare in a third book.  It's fast paced where book 2 was slow, and John has truly gotten better with age.  I cannot recommend this series enough, at least to all my friendly readers that like a little, okay a lot, of gore and violence and sympathetic serial (demon) killers.  Dan Wells is officially going on my favorite authors list!

I Don't Want To Kill You gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

 So run, skip, drive, hitch a ride and get the first book, I Am Not A Serial Killer, and enjoy!