I am Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells

Hi all,

I actually finished reading this a while back. Sometimes it's nice to read something a little bit shorter and Dan Wells has done a good job of creating a page turning thriller but also a fasinating character study. The tale begins in a morgue, where the very twisted sociopath John Cleaver is helping his mother and twin sister (both morticians) clean up a dead body. This is something John Cleaver enjoys as well as an unhealthy obsession with serial killers.

The interesting thing though is that John Cleaver has a very strong desire to be normal and keep the monster inside him at bay. In fact as he talks to his psychologist we learn he has certain rules for himself to stop the inevitable occuring. I find this a very endearing quality about John Cleaver. He is the perfect example of free will over determinism. He is forcing himself to rebel against his own nature every day. As such for a teen he comes across rather mature and much older.

As the say though one cool idea is not enough to make a book. So once we get our bearings on John Cleaver and his twisted existence, although what I like so much about him is how relatable he is. So through his workings in the mortuary it becomes clear there's a serial killer in the local town and John Cleaver is the first to noitce it due to his obsession with serial killer lore. This bugs his mother enough when he says it out loud that she banishes him from the mortuary.

So John Cleaver begins a quest as more bodies pile up to unearth who the killer is. When you think though you have your bearings on this book it suddenly surprises you. I do admit the back cover gives this away and there are sentences dotted through the first 100 pages or so which blatantly spell it out, but I didn't buy until I got to the first major turning point in the story. All who want to avoid any spoilers read no further, although I'm pretty sure the book is advertised with this spoiler included.

Because the story takes a fantastical turn. It turns out the killer is not in fact human at all, but a demon. Why does he kill? How to kill him? These are all things John Cleaver must work out and in my opinion this was a great idea to include this fantasy element into Cleaver's suburban world. Although I know that this may simply turn other people off, but I suppose with Dexter running a similiar concept the demon killer angle is a way of distinguishing himself, but in all honesty I think what distinguishes this novel from Dexter, is this is a guy who is facing a critical choice. Who do I want to be?

I think that's what makes this so interesting and of course it's always interesting watching a sociopath who doesn't really want to connect with people, connect with people. He has an odd romantic feelings...I say odd, because really his romantic feelings come packaged with feelings of wanting to torture and bleed this girl. To Cleaver that is emotional intensity and yet somehow we feel for this guy. Why because he knows how messed up he is basically...and his relationship with his mother is pretty interesting too. He has an annoying best friend, but his closest relationship is probably with his psychologist who Cleaver can be most honest with.

It's odd for me to go into so much detail about the book itself, but this is a good read. I enjoyed it so much I reached a point where I literally had to see how it ended. So it's a good thriller and I think what I like about it is it's really different. I know Dexter is out there and stuff like that, but I think this is a good place to start. It's about a teen and it's a quick easy and delightful read. Although admittedly it's quite dark so don't let the age of the characters fool you, this is no kids book, but it is a very interesting twist on a typical crime novel, although I suppose technically Dan Wells describes his writing as horror. So let's call it that.

I'm currently working on the Leviathan Trilogy I had planned on writing a review for Leviathan, the first book in Scott Westerfield's very awesome trilogy, but I think I'll write one for the trilogy as a whole, because what is great about it, is unlike even the Hunger Games I feel as though each book is absolutely essential and it really is just one story broken up into three parts. Don't get me wrong I loved the Hunger Games, but by the end of Leviathan nothing is really resolved we've basically just had our first act, whereas the Hunger Games is written so you have an ending at the end of book 1 and then it does that thing becoming increasingly more common where the next two books are basically Part 1 and Part 2. So in that sense I'll call it a proper trilogy.

Anyway it's really good and I'm loving it so I must get back to the second book Behemoth. So until next time happy reading everyone! There are so many great books out there, so I highly recommend having a good browse over the internet and finding something you may not have tried otherwise. It's a great time to be a reader, particularly a fantasy reader I reckon.