Book Review: I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

Published by Little Brown for Young Readers -April 2012

Reviewed from finished copy provided by the publisher

Summary:

What if the world's worst serial killer...was your dad?

Jasper (Jazz) Dent is a likable teenager. A charmer, one might say.

But he's also the son of the world's most infamous serial killer, and for Dear Old Dad, Take Your Son to Work Day was year-round. Jazz has witnessed crime scenes the way cops wish they could--from the criminal's point of view.

And now bodies are piling up in Lobo's Nod.

In an effort to clear his name, Jazz joins the police in a hunt for a new serial killer. But Jazz has a secret--could he be more like his father than anyone knows?

My thoughts:

I am a wimp. (or highly sensitive) :)  I avoid scary movies -even the previews, scary television (IMO) like Dexter  or Criminal Minds as well as scary books. This book sat in my to-read pile for some time before I had the courage to pick it up.  I like thrillers, but tend to avoid books about serial killers as they usually give me nightmares. 

 The main character in the story "Jazz" has had his own nightmare to live through. Being raised by a serial killer father...an incredibly successful one at that was no picnic. Though Jazz was raised to believe what his father was doing, what he was witnessing was normal.  

  After his father's conviction, he attempts to pull himself together but always lives with the fear that he will be like "Dear Old Dad". When the killings begin again, Jazz becomes desperate to uncover who the killer is and prove to the world (and to himself) that he won't follow in the family business.

   The writing in I Hunt Killers is superb. Lyga paints a dismal & disturbing picture of death with incredible detail. I couldn't stop reading. I wanted Jazz to be free of his father, and of his past. I was desperate to find out who the new killer was...(no spoilers here).  Did I Hunt Killers disturb me? Absolutely.  In fact, there is a paragraph or two that are still replaying in my head a week later. It's like once you've seen something you can't un-see it.  I'm not sorry I read it, but it won't be one I'll forget any time soon. Perhaps that's the point? 

Recommended for fans of Darren Shan, King, Kootnz, Jeff Lindsay, and those with strong stomachs. 


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