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Jan122011
BOOK REVIEW: ‘I Don’t Want To Kill You’ by Dan Wells
by Carolyn • Posted in 3.5 Star Reviews, Authors U-Z, Book Reviews, Dan Wells, Horror, Supernatural, Young Adult
Title: I Don’t Want To Kill You (John Cleaver #3)
Author: Dan Wells
Publisher: Headline (UK) / Tor (US)
Publication Date: 13th Jan 2011 (UK) / 29th March 2011 (US)
Paperback: 310 pages
Genre: Supernatural Thriller/Horror
Young Adult
Source: Review Copy
Reviewed by: Carolyn
RATING: 7/10 – very good.
GOODREADS SUMMARY:
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…
REVIEW:
I have been waiting for ‘I Don’t Want To Kill You‘ for what feels like forever. I absolutely loved the first two ‘John Cleaver’ novels and just couldn’t wait to get my hands on a copy of the third and final book in this chilling trilogy. I cracked this baby open with great anticipation.
We meet John only a short time on from where ‘Mr Monster‘ finished and there is another demon in town. This time it’s after him. John has killed two of the demons friends and it wants revenge. John spends most of his time anticipating the demons’ moves and analysing its motives. While John obsesses over this new demon, there a more murders which he thinks are linked to it, and he also notices there are far too many teenage suicides where he lives and wonder’s why.
Unfortunately ‘I Don’t Want To Kill You‘ didn’t quite meet my expectations. It may be because they were just too high. I was hoping for more internal struggle from John with regards to his desires to kill and his sociopathic tendances. Instead it felt he was just a young kid wanting to solve a murder. There really wasn’t that much darkness or intensity, or the mention of John’s ‘rules’ that were so prevalent in ‘I Am Not A Serial Killer‘ and ‘Mr Monster‘.
I wanted to see John on the cuspe of finding out whether his serial killer compulsions were his truth or something he could resist. But John’s development halted. I also felt that this time there was slightly too much repetition. With ‘I Am Not A Serial Killer‘ the mention of all the activity which went on behind the scenes in his mother’s morgue were gruesome, vivid, and gave a certain depth to John and his dark side. It suited his personality at that time. In this book, I felt it had already been done and we really didn’t have to go there again. I understood what it meant to John to work there and handle dead bodies I didn’t need to be reminded throughout this instalment.
Because of this, I didn’t think that John’s development as a person moved forward. John’s relationships with girls also intensified, but it didn’t really seem to bother him that much, even when it begins to get intimate with holding hands, hugging and kissing. The John in ‘I Am Not A Serial Killer‘ and ‘Mr Monster‘ would have been totally freaked out by this. If John was much older I may have seen this as character development, but because these books are all in the span of about a year it just didn’t work for me.
VERDICT:
Despite my disappointment with some aspects of ‘I Don’t Want To Kill You‘ it is still a very good and engaging read in its own right, I just expected more from the last instalment of such a dark and thrilling series. I’m also not sure I’m particularly happy with the ending or think it was fitting for such a complex and dark character as John – I felt it was maybe a little bit predictable, and safe. However, I still enjoyed it and would recommend this series in a heartbeat, as overall it is utterly brilliant!
Read my review of book #1: I Am Not A Serial Killer
Read my review of book #2: Mr Monster
You can find out more about Dan and his books here:
4 Comments
It's a shame it didn't live up to your expectations.
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Interesting series, I'm not sure it would be something I would pick up if I saw it in a shop, but it seems that although you were slightly disappointed with this one you still really enjoyed the trilogy so maybe one to watch out for?
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I saw this a while ago but I just thought YA and it would veer toward to that market..
Glad some of it worked for you..
hope the authors next work live up to your expectation..
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carolsnotebook – It didn't sadly, but it was still a very good read.
Laura – As I said it's a brilliant series and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it
Erotic Horizon – I've read all the books in the 'John Cleaver' series and they are fantastic, I suppose I was just expecting something a little different, but this book is still a very good read and I would recommend the series
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