Paperback, 271 pages
English language
Published Nov. 19, 2010 by Tor.
John Wayne Cheever keeps his obsession with serial killers in check by a set of rigid rules that he lives by, hoping to the prevent himself from committing murder, but when a body turns up behind a laundromat, John must confront a danger outside himself.
Fun read! The narrator definitely didn't sound anything like a 15 year-old but besides that, the performance was fine. I'm thinking of picking up the next in the series. I enjoyed getting into John's head. It was a very interesting place to visit.
A surprisingly good book. The characters are great. There are two killers in this book; the scarier one for me was the protagonist. The author does a great job of opening up this kid's mind and showing us the alligators that live inside.
This book feels like it is geared to a YA audience. Every once in awhile something in the book would bug me (how quickly the protagonist gets around on his bike, for example - this kid is keeping up with cars) but I'd just chalk it up to the decisions that come as a result of it being a YA book.
There is a supernatural element to the book that seems to bug some readers, but I enjoy fantasy and it didn't bother me.
I read it in one day.
The clear point of comparison for I Am Not A Serial Killer/John Cleaver is to Dexter, so let's start there. I like John better, as a character and a serial killer. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy Dexter (also read 'em in a day), but I've never really been afraid of Dexter. Despite his total lack of empathy and tendency to murder, he blends in so well that I would gladly be his friend. We could golf, have barbecues. The wives and kids playing in the back yard while we drink something manly and appropriate and make quips about bloody meat (or something). Dexter is so in control that, for a serial killer, he's down-right cuddly.
John Cleaver is not. He's got his rules like Dexter, but Dexter's rules are to keep Dexter out of jail, and John's rules are to keep …
I read it in one day.
The clear point of comparison for I Am Not A Serial Killer/John Cleaver is to Dexter, so let's start there. I like John better, as a character and a serial killer. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy Dexter (also read 'em in a day), but I've never really been afraid of Dexter. Despite his total lack of empathy and tendency to murder, he blends in so well that I would gladly be his friend. We could golf, have barbecues. The wives and kids playing in the back yard while we drink something manly and appropriate and make quips about bloody meat (or something). Dexter is so in control that, for a serial killer, he's down-right cuddly.
John Cleaver is not. He's got his rules like Dexter, but Dexter's rules are to keep Dexter out of jail, and John's rules are to keep other people alive. And John just... can't... stop... himself... breaking those rules. Whereas Dexter feels almost like Troll Hunter (from the excellent Norwegian film), a kind of "sanitation engineer" that removes monsters from society, John Cleaver feels like a serial killer who's one bad day from snapping and killing some random person.
Stepping away from John, for a moment, the conflict in the book arises from another serial killer in town who starts killing people, and John starts investigating him. Without going too far into it, this other killer is surprisingly sympathetic, which caught me off guard. In fact, at times, I'd say s/he's more sympathetic than our hero protagonist. Which, honestly, adds even more to John's inherent threatening nature and, I'd say, makes the book stronger.
The downside, well, some of it reads like a Wikipedia article about serial killers. It's decently hid in dialog (for the most part), but the info-dumps are there. Luckily, I'm the kind of person who casually surfs Wikipedia for fun, so it wasn't too bothersome.
4 embalmings out of 5
Let's talk about IT, the reveal about 1/3 through the book. I knew about IT going in, and I think knowing is the way to go. Very rarely is it beneficial for a reader to be surprised by the genre that they're reading (Dexter in the Dark, I'm looking at you). In fact, I can't think of a single book that's done it well. Imagine if My Teacher is an Alien were titled I Don't Like My Teacher, and then surprise! Aliens. I suspect very few people want that. Normally, I go far, far out of my way so I don't reveal spoilers, but in this case I'm going to make an exception. But if you do want to be surprised, stop here.
The competing killer's a demon. I knew there were demons going in (thank you Writing Excuses) and the "reveal", for me, was who the demon was more than "OMG WAT A DEMON". (Of course, I also had guessed who the killer was going to be as soon as they showed up.) And as far as I'm concerned, all this demon business is perfectly okay. I mean, I'm also reading Stephen King, it's not like the occasional demon's going to break my suspension of disbelief--as long as I know that's the genre I'm reading.
Originally posted on Forest Azuaron.
I enjoyed this novel and it was the first in a while that I just could not stop reading. It does remind of Dexter certainly. I like the somewhat ambiguous ending. The biggest shock came just before that end and I wonder how that influences John in the future.
I like to be surprised (in books) and the book did that on at least two occasions with a big WTF ...
The portrayal of the young sociopath is really well-done. The book made me laugh (<3 dark humor), and cry (a little bit) and for me it had just the right amount of creep, blood and gore, meaning not too much of it because Horror is not usually my genre.
With both this and Mr. Monster I can't decide whether to rate this 4 or 5 stars. Ultimately, it comes down to the enjoyment factor, and for that, I'll toss the fifth star on anyway.
More detailed review here: www.andrlik.org/blog/2010/nov/10/review-i-am-not-serial-killer-mr-monster-dan-wells/
