I Am Not a Serial Killer (2009)

The book was well-researched and well-written. I think it's a real challenge to make the protagonist someone who has an extremely small emotional range.

*** SPOILER ALERT ***
I was surprised that our hero's protagonist turned out to be a demon. It felt like a reality-based book except for that. I think that disappointed me — it felt like a kind of cop-out. At the same time, it created an interesting contrast, the young sociopath unable to connect to others and the elderly demon who felt love and empathy. ( )

John Wayne Cleaver lives in a mortuary. But before you go thinking this is all fun and games like My Girl (well, at least before Thomas J and the bees), you should know that John Wayne is a killer. Well, at least he thinks he is. As a teenager, his internal monster makes life considerably harder, especially because John feels no connection to his peers and little to no emotion. [b:I Am Not A Serial Killer|7617119|I Am Not A Serial Killer (John Cleaver, #1)|Dan Wells|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51pGXgxZ75L._SL75_.jpg|6154629] follows John as he deals with having a serial killer in his town--Will being so close to an actual killer cause John to lose control of his own monster?

At times, [a:Dan Wells|2740668|Dan Wells|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1269559505p2/2740668.jpg]' debut novel seems a bit too juvenile. Anyone who knows my reading habits knows how much young adult literature I read. My expectations of this work were that I was going to be reading Dexter Lite. In actuality, this book had very little gore and it read like someone did research on serial killers, found out about the Macdonald Triad and then just wrote a book about it. I don't meant that to sound harsh but I honestly feel that it could've been so much better. John is in high school but it felt like a middle reader book. (as much as a book about serial killers can)

In terms of the storyline, I was trucking along until page 103, when a total WTF moment pops up. Without spoilers, I'll just say that I thought I was reading a book about a serial killer in reality. Turns out, I was reading a book with a supernatural/paranormal element. Major buzzkill. There were just too many "no way" type moments for me in this story--the one that kept popping up (much to my dismay) was the fact that John simultaneously shovels snow several times a week yet also bikes everywhere (even to a lake outside town). If there is enough snow to be shoveling more than once a week, you are not bicycling. Especially in a small town where there is less traffic to melt the snow on the roads. (Yes, I know it is possible and some people enjoy biking in winter but I don't buy it here) [note: More "no way" moments below but with spoilers]

There are tons of glowing reviews for this book on Goodreads, so maybe it is just me. And that's great. But this book is the first in a series of three--I will definitely not be reading any further. I see that a few of my friends on here gave up on this one and to them I say--Cheers on a choice well made:-)

And to Linda, whom I still trust for recommendations, I was excited to read this one. You were right to recommend it. But I need more blood and guts in my killer novels!


****************SPOILER ALERT************





Also, and this is a huge also, if a freaking demon has been killing people for decades, I'm pretty sure he'd catch on to a high school kid who keeps leaving notes for him. Someone that is used to stalking prey will not just go on with every day life (la-la-la) while someone is trying to expose them. Are you kidding me? They'd spy back and figure out who it is.

A large part of me thinks the paranormal element might've been added in because the book is YA and, for some reason, either the publisher or the author felt like it would be too gruesome to have a regular human doing all the killing and body part snatching. To them, I say, yeah right. Have you read YA these days? Bring on the regular serial killers!

( )

I thoroughly enjoyed the first 1/3rd of this book. I loved reading about the character and both how he felt and how he fought those feelings. There were many similarities to the character of Dexter in Jeff Lindsay's series, but I was able to overlook them. However, in the remainder of the book, it took a more supernatural, unrealistic turn which I DID NOT like and could not overlook. I kept waiting for main character to realize that this was all in his head, something he made up as a way to play into his darker urges, but I was disappointed. Overall, I am left disappointed that the author felt the need to fall back on the supernatural rather than to write about the very real demons in the world today. ( )

The Young Adult take on a sociopath was interesting, the way the story played out was not my favorite. I like Mr. Wells, but I wasn't a huge fan of this one. ( )

So, it's nearly impossible to review a book like this without spoilers. I'll do the best to keep spoilers vague, though, because I think this is a really fun and satisfying book. and would prefer people pick it up knowing only what the book description says.

I AM NOT A SERIAL KILLER is not exactly a serial killer book and yet it is.

(This as spoilery as I get:
More importantly, it's not exactly a book that hinges on the "WHOH!" moment, because that moment comes about 100 pages into the novel.So, it's not a twist ending. It's not miscategorized, and yet I can see people getting on board because they like the idea of a sociopathic narrator fighting the urge to kill.

But, let's be honest, the author knows you can't write 200 pages about a teenager trying NOT to kill. it would not satisfy. it might be a decent enough literary exploration of murderous urges, but even CRIME & PUNISHMENT has the murder and then the guilt. (oh, the guilt.) So, to withhold murder from a straightfoward book about a sociopathic teenager would be a failure.

Thus, the plot of I AM NOT A SERIAL KILLER. it's beyond the easy "just make the victims worthy of being killed" (ie, the Dexter plot).)

While the ending does hinge a bit too much on setup for the next book (this is part 1 of 3), I found the story engaging, fast paced, and easy to fall into. If you're the kind of person that gets upset about believability and accuracy, this book probably won't work for you. But if you're the kind of person that sets aside issues with "Would that really be how a therapist acts" or "This kid is SO not a sociopath!" or "That's not how Dexter would do it!" then you will ENJOY this book. Which is what matters. ( )