Book Reviews: I Don't Want To Kill You

After meeting Dan Wells in person, I determined that the title of his current book is telling the truth.  Maybe.

Sometimes you run across a series that you never would have read in a million years, if not for extenuating circumstances.  But once you do read it, you find a place in your heart for it that you didn't know was open.  That's what the John Cleaver series is like for me.  I was first introduced to Dan Wells through the Writing Excuses podcast, which I was listening to because I was taking Brandon Sanderson's creative writing class at the time.  Who I happened to know about because I picked up a copy of his first book, Elantris, from the campus bookstore bargain bin.  It must have been some kind of fate (corny as that sounds), because I normally don't buy books on a whim like that, even bargain bin books, but the blurb on the jacket cover interested me that much.  Then I later found out that he was finishing The Wheel of Time series, one of my all-time favorites, and the sole reason I had no social life during high school (have you seen the size of some of those books?  It took four years of dedicated reading to get through them).  So one thing led to another, and the moral of the story is: If you want your books published, then be on a podcast with a bestselling author.

Book Reviews: Mr Monster

I've noticed an interesting trend in media. Movie sequels, with a few notable exceptions, invariably suck. I think this is because when creating an original movie the creators have to put all their effort into making it good, because nobody in the audience has any prior experience with this new product. If the movie is no good nobody will go to see it, and they won't make any money. But while making a sequel it's all too easy to just rely on the success of the first movie and produce a less than stellar follow up.

When it comes to novels, this is not the case. Or at least it seems to happen less often. Most people agree that when it comes to a book series the best books are always later on in the series. It happened with the Dresden Files, which I am currently reading - expect reviews of those at a later date as soon as I catch up on my backlog of reviews. According to the people I've talked to the first book in that series isn't really good, but all the books after it are amazing, or close to it.

In the case of the John Cleaver series, this phenomenon holds true. Dan Wells has already proven that he knows how to disturb us with I Am Not a Serial Killer. With Mr Monster he's gone and proven that he is only getting better at this. Mr Monster is not only creepier, but it contains less gore than its predecessor. Where certain scenes in I Am Not a Serial Killer made me physically ill either by their graphic nature, or the pure creepiness of reading about an embalming being performed, Mr Monster made me stop in the middle of my reading and realize that I actually want the teenage sociopath to commit murder.

(Please note: This does not reveal any disturbing information about my personality, I have spoken to several other people who have read the book, and all confess that they had the same reaction to the scene I am referring to. So please put down that straight jacket.)

Mr Monster is a creepy, creepy book. If you don't like horror, don't read it. Actually, I don't like horror, and I still loved this book. How strange. I guess I have no choice but to highly recommend this book, just don't expect a fairy tale happy ending. If you keep in mind that things will turn out for the better, but not the way you'd expect, you'll enjoy this book.

The biggest reason for reading this book, for fans of literature and writing in general is Dan Wells' prose. The book is written in first person, as seems to be the trend in much of speculative fiction these days, and does a masterful job of bringing us into John's head. Mr Monster improves on I Am Not a Serial Killer by keeping the identity of the main antagonist a mystery until the beginning of the climax. And from then on it's all downhill for our friend John.

Towards the latter half of the book Dan Wells manages to build an interesting mythology for his world, that I can't wait to see explored in I Don't Want To Kill You - scheduled for release next year. My only regret is that we won't get to see much more of the world he's created as the third book will also be the final book. I won't make any predictions about it, but I can only expect that it will be phenomenal.

I didn't really talk about the plot, and I shouldn't have to. This is the kind of book where not only do I not want to give even the slightest detail away, but oddly enough, not much happens in the first half of the book. It's a very slow paced novel, building up the creepy atmosphere for the final half of the book where everything comes to a head, and John is faced by all of his darkest desires he has been trying to overcome throughout the first half of the book.

It's everything I Am Not a Serial Killer was, and much, much more. If you liked the first book, you'll love Mr Monster. If you haven't read either of them then go to the library and pick up a copy of I Am Not a Serial Killer. Or better yet, find my review of it and order it off amazon. Once you've done that, pre-order Mr Monster. It comes out September 28.

You can order the Hard Cover here: Mr. Monster (Hard Cover)
Or, if you'd rather have the Paperback: Mr. Monster (Paperback)
If you don't want to wait, here's the UK Edition (the one I read): Mr. Monster (UK Edition)
And for you fancy technological types, the Kindle Edition: Mr. Monster (Kindle Edition)

And with that I leave you, now go, and buy this most excellent book. If you need any more incentive to buy the book, know only this: Mr Monster wins my award for the "Most Metal Ending Ever."

What this ending is, I won't spoil. But if you don't buy this book, you will be missing out. Dan Wells is a promising author, and the more people buy his book, the more we will be able to enjoy his excellent brand of horror.

Book Reviews: I Am Not A Serial Killer

I've met Dan Wells before when he visited our creative writing class to give a guest lecture. It was a great lecture, he was a very good speaker and had a great sense of humor. I'd have to say that the best part was when he joked about how the people in his writing group didn't want to be in alone in a room with him ever again after reading his book. After his mother in law read the book for the first time she called his wife and asked her if she felt safe at home with him.

The entire class laughed, because we all knew how ridiculous it was to be afraid of him no matter what he wrote. He's just that nice of a guy.

Then I read the first chapter of I Am Not A Serial Killer. Well, I read the first half and had to skip to the second chapter. It wasn't even a very frightening scene, it wasn't frightening at all. At first I thought the embalming scene, which began about halfway into the first chapter, was incredibly interesting and detailed. Very informative. Then it got a little too detailed, and we actually had to stop the car so I could get out and hurl on the side of the road. Please note that I have a sensitive stomach that has plagued me my entire life. The one good thing that came out of reading this first chapter is that I finally figured out what my specific problem is. I don't mind so much when I get injured and bleed, or when I see injuries or general gore. Instead what I have is a phobia against the circulatory system, especially when it is being discussed in clinical detail. To say the least, I had flashbacks to high school biology while reading this first chapter.

So, congratulations Mr. Wells, your book made me physically sick. (And you know the funny thing, those of you who aren't Dan Wells? I'm pretty sure he'd take that as a compliment!)

Still, writing something that makes me physically sick isn't exactly very hard, nor does it suggest a disturbed, dangerous psyche on the part of the writer. So I still figured, "Okay, that was gross, but I still don't see how anyone would think he's dangerous just because he wrote this."

Then I actually finished the book.

Next time I'm in a room with Dan Wells I'm making sure I remove all clocks from the room.

I Am Not A Serial Killer revolves around John Wayne Cleaver, a fifteen year old boy suffering from Antisocial Personality Disorder, or, as he puts it in his own words, Sociopathy. He lives with his mother who runs a mortuary, and spends a great deal of his time around corpses. You'd think that with his apathetic views, and bizarre obsessions he wouldn't make a good protagonist. You would be wrong. John may think destiny wants him to become a Serial Killer, and usually that would be pretty creepy, but he himself does not want to become one. With a clear personal goal like that it is very easy for us as readers to root for him.

The main plot revolves around the Clayton Killer, a serial killer who brutally tears his victims apart, and steals a piece of the body. A friend of mine, Alex, pointed this out, and he said this before I'd read the book (he was reading my copy, I loaned it out before even reading it myself), but once reading it I realized how right he was. With a stipulation. I don't mind that we find out fairly early who the killer is, what bugged me while reading was that his supernatural nature was revealed in an offhand comment in the narrative before we even knew who he was. I love the book, and this flaw doesn't really detract from it, but I do think this was it's biggest flaw. And since it's only one major flaw, that's pretty good.

Like Nathan already said, the prose really is beautiful, and for a break through novel it is practically phenomenal. I'm not a huge fan of the first person narrative, but it seems to be gaining in popularity. In Dan Wells' case he uses it masterfully. There is so much we learn about John that we wouldn't have been able to if we were outside his head. Hearing everything from his point of view, his struggle against the monster inside him, makes for a much, much more chilling read.

This book doesn't really fall into any specific category, as Dan himself has said, but overall I'd say it's appropriate for older teenagers. Keep in mind, it is a horror novel, so if you don't like horror, obviously don't read it. Though, it is different from most horror novels I've read, where the monster isn't the thing scaring you, it's the protagonist who gives me the chills.

If you liked my review, buy the book here: I Am Not A Serial Killer (John Cleaver)