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Tor, Copyright 2010, 287 pages
Editor – Moshe Feder
ISBN: 978-0-7653-2790-1
Read: December 2012 (at age 34)
First time read
If you haven’t read it
This is the sequel to I Am Not a Serial Killer, starring our
favorite sociopath who’s trying to do the right thing. This book’s a bit more disturbing than the
first book, so be warned. Also, there’s
a bit of a cliffhanger – you may want to grab the third book I Don’t Want To Kill You before starting
in on this one.
From the back cover:
I
killed a demon. I don’t know if it was
really, technically a demon, but I do know that he was some kind of monster,
with fangs and claws and the whole bit, and he killed a lot of people. So I killed him. I think it was the right thing to do. At least the killing stopped.
Well,
it stopped for a while.
In I Am Not a Serial Killer,
John Wayne Cleaver saved his town from a murderer even more appalling than the
serial killers he obsessively studies.
But
it turns out even demons have friends, and the disappearance of one has brought
another to Clayton County. Soon there
are new victims for John to work on at the mortuary and a new mystery to
solve. But John has tasted death, and
the dark nature he used as a weapon – the terrifying persona he calls “Mr.
Monster” – might now be using him.
No
one in Clayton is save unless John can vanquish two nightmarish adversaries:
the unknown demon he must hunt, and the inner demon he can never escape.
In
this sequel to his brilliant debut, Dan Wells ups the ante with a thriller that
is just as gripping and even more intense.
Reactions below the break:
This was a worthy sequel to I Am Not a Serial Killer – it was more
disturbing, less happy, and even creepier than the first, which was pretty creepy
to start with. It was a quick,
satisfying read. It was a bit too dark
and creepy for me to enjoy fully. I
could appreciate it, and I did enjoy the book, but on balance, I preferred the
somewhat lighter fare in I Am Not a Serial Killer.
Rating:
4
Premise:
Another demon’s in town and it’s killing people. John Cleaver sees an outlet for his murderous urges, if he can stay sane enough along the way.
Setting:
The same small town as before. It’s still good.
Characters:
The characters were much the same as in the
previous book, with the exception of the new girlfriend, Brooke. She was great, and I’m hoping to see more of
her in the next book. John Cleaver
remained very interesting, but his fantasies were much more graphic and
visceral through this book – he got even more disturbing.
The bad guy, on the other hand, wasn't
quite as good as the previous book. He
was more purely evil, and therefore less interesting than in the first. Still good, though.
Plot:
The plot was satisfying – enough twists and
turns to keep things interesting, and still the balance between the inner and
outer demons that makes this character work. It definitely ended, but the last couple pages started in on the next book. Not as tidy of an ending as I would have liked, in that way. I was going to read it anyway - no need for the cliffhanger.
Readability:
Well written, straightforward writing
style, and very visceral in places.
Other opinions:
This is a heavily reviewed book.
A few I enjoyed were:
…maybe a bit of a conflict of interest,
coming as it does from the publisher’s website, but still. Nice review.
Well written, nice commentary.
Positive, of course.
Another positive one. I didn’t find any dissenting voices.
Yep, another positive one.
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