I loved this book; it was hilarious and I adored our idiot, unreliable narrator Dougie. The whole book felt like a wonderful parody of the serial killer/thriller genre, and got more than a few laughs out of me--and I mean loud, audible ones.

To summarize the plot: Our lonely protagonist (yet to be named), is attacked by a serial killer--and wins. Bored, he decides to go through the dead man's pockets (who he recognizes as the killer "Grandson of Barney") and finds an invitation to an event. Thinking it was a fanclub, and being desperate, our narrator goes to the invite--to find out it was a club for serial killers. Using his dumb luck, he manages to convince them he is in fact the killer G.O.B. & finds a place where he belongs, and takes on the mantel "Dougie Fairbanks, Jr."

And Dougie will do anything to keep this slice of happiness-even if it means killing the other members who figure him out.

With dumb luck, of course. Dougie isn't the brightest bulb in the pack, and when Agent Kennet ("That's Kenneth without the 'T'") Wade shows up demanding he take out the rest of the club or fry on the electric chair--Dougie finds himself between a rock and a hard place.

I think more than I enjoyed feeling sorry for Dougie, was his relationships with the other club members. As the book goes along you start to realize just how good Dougie is at lying to himself at how the other serial killers see him. You get to see him develop from a good natured fool, to someone bitter and hurt as he finds out his 'friends' aren't really his friends. The narrative itself moves along in the same fashion--the more bitter and aware Douglas becomes, the more tense and less-humerous the story becomes. By the end of the book, the fun, laughable serial killers show their true colors and start showing off what true, homicidal lunatics they all are.

The serial killers are a fun bunch in themselves though, each with their own problems and neurosis. It's fun seeing them talk and be normal around a dinner table as they share their exploits. They seem so normal at the start of the book--almost to the point that you can't take them seriously. A guy who talks to his invisible mother, a guy who kills people with pitchforks, a woman who tattoos people to death, etc. They're exaggerated versions of the killers that usually populate the thriller genre, and how ridiculous they all are is just highlighted when you stick them all in a room together--up until the end that is, when the more realistic ones start to show off.

My favorite character though, had to be Agent Wade. He had the most development out of the characters, and what starts out as an exasperated FBI Agent dealing with an idiot (I'm hard on Dougie, but he really is an adorable sort of stupid), to an unhinged, manic version of a man himself whose behavior is often more unsettling than that of the killers. The tension and control between him and Douglas that develops as the story goes is intense. The two of them living and working together was fantastic & I loved the vitriolic best buds/hated enemies/why must I put up with you?/bromance thing they had going on.

If I had any complaint, it'd be the twist at the ending. The book spends most of the novel setting up this obvious conclusion--and then snatches it away at the last minute to go "Ha ha, fooled you." I almost think it would have been better in this case to have kept the obvious conclusion--the red herring would have made a better bad guy, I think. The tension, the stakes, and how downright unsettling this one character became by the end just felt right. Even if it was easy to figure out, it fit and having that expectation taken for the final 'reveal' at the end left me flat with the story and just a tad disappointed.

Aside from that, I enjoyed the entire novel immensely. I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys the thriller genre as a good laugh that makes fun of itself with dark humor, and a light read.