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Saturday 2 April 2011

I DON'T WANT TO KILL YOU by Dan Wells

Sixteen-year-old John Wayne Cleaver has always known he's different, but not because he only has one friend (and doesn't much like him) and not because he regularly helps out in his mother's mortuary. He's different because he recognizes the classic signs of an incipient serial killer in his own personality, and he's created a rigid set of rules to follow to keep his darker nature, the one he calls Mr Monster in check.

But John discovers it's the personality traits he so fears that put him in the best position to save the people of his town from a series of horrific and disturbing killers...

After absolutely loving the first and second books in the John Cleaver series, I couldn't wait to get stuck into this one... and it didn't disappoint.

John's not like other teenage boys. He doesn't have real friends, he tries to keep his distance from girls, he enjoys helping his mother in the family mortuary, he's an expert on serial killers, he has a set of rules he constantly recites to himself, and he's a sociopath. Oh, plus he's killed two demons. Evil demons that decided to terrorise his town. And now, there's a new demon in town and she's got her eye on John.

The new killer in town seems to be very ritualistic and kills public leaders. While John is trying to figure out how he can stop Nobody--the female demon he's sure is responsible for these deaths--he befriends Marci. However, not all is as it seems and for once, John might actually find himself up against a real serial killer, and another who is directly connected to the unexplained number of teenage suicides...

I particularly liked seeing how John dealt with a girlfriend--something he's never wanted, but unwillingly finds himself with. Marci, the hot girl in school who shouldn't technically even look his way, really affects him. She makes him realise that he's not as alone as he always thought he was, and that other people are also interested in murderers and what makes them tick. Their relationship was sweet, and tragic. And it changes John, in the most devastating way.

I Don't Want to Kill You is an awesome book! It's entertaining and dark, and I enjoyed it very much. It's just as addictive as the two before it and a real page-turner. I couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen next, but was saddened when I got to the end.

I really enjoyed this trilogy, and just found out that this will be the last book in the John Cleaver series. No! I could totally read more books with John as the narrator. Still, this was a wonderful end to John's trilogy. Not just because it intensified everything, but because we get to see a side of John we haven't seen before... in a very human way.

I Don't Want To Kill You, March 2011, ISBN 9780755348831, Headline Paperback

H&UFRC books read: 16/24

2 comments:

Ericka Scott said...

This books sounds like a whole lot of fun. My daughter, who's addicted to the show Dexter -- and shouldn't be, but what can I say -- would probably love this. Putting it on my TO BUY list...but will have to wait until after Easter as I gave up buying books for Lent. Sigh....

Yolanda Sfetsos said...

I love Dexter too! That's why this trilogy is so cool. It's like Dexter, if he was a teenage boy and kills demons instead of people. ;) Either way, it's cool.

Hope your daughter enjoys it when she checks it out. After Lent, of course. :)

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