I Hunt Killers Review

I'm currently away at BEA, so I thought I'd share some of my favorite reads so far this year that I haven't reviewed yet. 

I Hunt Killers
by Barry Lyga
From Goodreads:

 What if the world's worst serial killer...was your dad?

Jasper (Jazz) Dent is a likable teenager. A charmer, one might say.

But he's also the son of the world's most infamous serial killer, and for Dear Old Dad, Take Your Son to Work Day was year-round. Jazz has witnessed crime scenes the way cops wish they could--from the criminal's point of view.

And now bodies are piling up in Lobo's Nod.

In an effort to clear his name, Jazz joins the police in a hunt for a new serial killer. But Jazz has a secret--could he be more like his father than anyone knows?

My Thoughts: This books was suggested by my friend Steph.  She kindly offered to let me read it on her Kindle on the way to BEA, but I couldn't wait since I had to agree that it definitely seemed like a Midnight Book Girl read, so I just downloaded it off of Audible.

Because I am impatient like that and I have a monthly credit to spend.

It was hard for me not to compare this book to Dan Wells John Wayne Cleaver books.  But while both teens are in need of therapy, the supernatural twists in Wells series are absent here.  I Hunt Killers is a straight out thriller, but very much on the dark side.  It took a lot of self will (and a broke piggy bank) to resist the urge to buy a physical copy of I Hunt Killers since I only listen to audio books in the car for the most part and I just really wanted to find out who was behind the murders!

And I can honestly say the identity of the killer surprised me. Not in a "the author completely pulls a mysterious killer out of his ass" twist, but an honest to gosh, "why the hell didn't I figure that out, I'm such a bad detective!" kind of surprise.

I had a hard time with Jazz sometimes.  As main characters go, he's a bit all over the place.  I don't think he's a sociopath per se, but borderline personality disorder isn't too far from the mark.  Of course, if you look up the definition of borderline personality disorder it pretty much describes almost every teenager I've ever known. He's like a faucet, able to turn on the cool water at will, but sometimes he's just so hot tempered you can practically see the steam rising off of him.

Jazz has a lot going on.  He lives with his crazy grandma (who both adds humor and genuine sadness to the story), trying to keep the social worker from taking him away to a foster home.  I really couldn't fault Jazz for being ticked off about that.  He's less than a year from being 18, and even a really great foster home isn't going to magically heal his troubled childhood in that short of time.  Plus, he'd lose what little he had left if the state took over.

Then there's the fact that Jazz was raised by a notorious serial killer father, and still hears his voice in his head, instructing him on the finer points of life through the eyes of a killer.  Jazz is just not like other kids.

But Jazz has Howie and Connie, and they are infinitely likeable.  Although I have to point out that the narrator on the audio kind of makes Howie sound like Yogi the Bear (I honestly kept waiting for him to say "Hey, Boo-boo").  Other than that, Howie is the best side kick in the universe and if I ever commit a crime, I want Howie to have my back.  And Connie is like Jazz's conscience, she is pretty much the only one that can offer some stability to Jazz.  At one point in the book I do question her sanity, but Connie is one unruffled duckling.  Although, if my future daughter ever dates a boy with that much issues and pent up anger, I will go all medieval on his butt. 

I was surprised with some of the crime scene details in this book, it read much more like an adult thriller that just happened to feature the teen son of a serial killer in it.  So, it's not for the faint of heart.  I don't think it's too harsh for teens who've been raised on a steady diet of Criminal Minds and CSI though.  Teens tend to gravitate towards the morbid anyway, and this is a book that is easily appealing to teen boys.

 I Hunt Killers gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

The cover gets a Midnight Book Cover Rating of:

I think it goes well with the story, and I like that it's obvious that this is a book with blood in it, but it's not terribly eye catching or original.