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I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga
The Blurb On The Back:
You’re fifteen years old and your father is the most notorious serial killer America has ever produced.
He brought you up. Taught you everything he knows. Everyone in your ordinary American town knows who you are. So even though Dear Old Dad is safely behind bars, when the killing starts all over again you are the first person the police come to see …
They don’t know whether it’s nature or nurture. And neither do you …
17-year-old Jasper “Jazz” Dent is the only son of notorious serial killer Billy Dent. Officially, Billy killed 123 people before Lobo Nod’s sheriff caught him two years ago but Jazz always believed his mother was a victim too as she disappeared years earlier. Billy taught Jazz everything he knew about killing and avoiding detection. Haunted by nightmares of his mother, Jazz is terrified that he shares his father’s proclivities. Despite living in a remote house with his senile grandmother, Jazz’a best friend, haemophiliac Howie and girlfriend Connie, keep him sane and he tries to live as normal a life as possible, going to high school and thinking about his future.
When a body turns up in a Lobo Nod field, Jazz instinctively knows that a new serial killer is at work. As the bodies mount up, it becomes clear that someone’s copying Billy Dent’s work. The media speculates that Jazz is involved. Desperate to catch the culprit, Jazz finds himself battling his own nature and forced to confront his own darkest urges, urges that want him to assume his father’s legacy …
Barry Lyga’s novel is a well-written, well-plotted crime thriller that’s DEXTER meets SILENCE OF THE LAMBS with cross-over appeal for grown ups and young adults.
Jazz is a fascinating character. Schooled in the ways of the serial killer by his father, he has an insight into their psychology and methodology but is haunted both by his failure to stop his father and his own urges to kill. I loved his friendship with Howie, a haemophiliac whose vulnerability gives Jazz a sense of redemption but who’s complicit in Jazz’s schemes. I also loved his relationship with Connie, an African-American girl whose father disapproves of her dating a white boy and who, despite knowing Jazz’s family history loves him for who he is and who he can be and calls him on his b-s.
The serial killer element is, obviously, dark but while the crimes are horrific they’re not excessively gory. There are plenty of red herrings for the identity of the killer, which kept me guessing and a scene where Jazz visits his father to ask for help is wonderfully chilling.
In conclusion, this was a really entertaining read from start to finish and has enough appeal there for adult crime thriller readers and teens new to the genre. I really hope that there will be a sequel.
The Verdict:
Barry Lyga’s novel is a well-written, well-plotted serial killer crime thriller that’s DEXTER meets SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and has the kind of cross-over appeal that will draw in grown up and young adult readers. It’s entertaining from start to finish and although it’s obviously a dark book, it’s not excessively gory. I really hope that there will be a sequel soon.
I HUNT KILLERS will be released in the UK on 12th April 2012. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the ARC of this book.
He brought you up. Taught you everything he knows. Everyone in your ordinary American town knows who you are. So even though Dear Old Dad is safely behind bars, when the killing starts all over again you are the first person the police come to see …
They don’t know whether it’s nature or nurture. And neither do you …
17-year-old Jasper “Jazz” Dent is the only son of notorious serial killer Billy Dent. Officially, Billy killed 123 people before Lobo Nod’s sheriff caught him two years ago but Jazz always believed his mother was a victim too as she disappeared years earlier. Billy taught Jazz everything he knew about killing and avoiding detection. Haunted by nightmares of his mother, Jazz is terrified that he shares his father’s proclivities. Despite living in a remote house with his senile grandmother, Jazz’a best friend, haemophiliac Howie and girlfriend Connie, keep him sane and he tries to live as normal a life as possible, going to high school and thinking about his future.
When a body turns up in a Lobo Nod field, Jazz instinctively knows that a new serial killer is at work. As the bodies mount up, it becomes clear that someone’s copying Billy Dent’s work. The media speculates that Jazz is involved. Desperate to catch the culprit, Jazz finds himself battling his own nature and forced to confront his own darkest urges, urges that want him to assume his father’s legacy …
Barry Lyga’s novel is a well-written, well-plotted crime thriller that’s DEXTER meets SILENCE OF THE LAMBS with cross-over appeal for grown ups and young adults.
Jazz is a fascinating character. Schooled in the ways of the serial killer by his father, he has an insight into their psychology and methodology but is haunted both by his failure to stop his father and his own urges to kill. I loved his friendship with Howie, a haemophiliac whose vulnerability gives Jazz a sense of redemption but who’s complicit in Jazz’s schemes. I also loved his relationship with Connie, an African-American girl whose father disapproves of her dating a white boy and who, despite knowing Jazz’s family history loves him for who he is and who he can be and calls him on his b-s.
The serial killer element is, obviously, dark but while the crimes are horrific they’re not excessively gory. There are plenty of red herrings for the identity of the killer, which kept me guessing and a scene where Jazz visits his father to ask for help is wonderfully chilling.
In conclusion, this was a really entertaining read from start to finish and has enough appeal there for adult crime thriller readers and teens new to the genre. I really hope that there will be a sequel.
The Verdict:
Barry Lyga’s novel is a well-written, well-plotted serial killer crime thriller that’s DEXTER meets SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and has the kind of cross-over appeal that will draw in grown up and young adult readers. It’s entertaining from start to finish and although it’s obviously a dark book, it’s not excessively gory. I really hope that there will be a sequel soon.
I HUNT KILLERS will be released in the UK on 12th April 2012. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the ARC of this book.