I Hunt Killers Review
Release Date: April 3rd, 2012 from Little Brown Books
Summary from cover:
"Jazz is a likable teenager. A charmer, some might say.
But he's also the son of the world's most infamous serial killer, and for Dear Old Dad, "Take You 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, even though Dad has been in jail for years, bodies are piling up in the sleepy town of Lobo's Nod. Again.
In an effort to prove murder doesn't run in the family, Jazz joins the police in the hunt for this new serial killer. But Jazz has a secret-could he be more like his father than anyone knows?"
Now let me tell you, I love a good mystery. Throw in a murder investigation....and you have one happy Emily. This book drew me in from the very beginning and had me on the edge of my seat until the very end. The constant longing to find out the murder's identity and the story about Jasper Dent's early childhood kept me hooked. I couldn't put the book down.
The best part of it all? The two conflicts within the book itself. Not only was Jazz searching for a killer that was mimicking his father's 100+ murders, but Jazz depicted the true psychological debate between Nature vs. Nurture. Was he bound to be a killer by genetics? Or did he have a chance to be just another "normal" teenager like he has always hoped to be?
I found the book to be believable in not only the plot, but the characters as well. Each character was his or her own person with their own personality traits, and I really enjoyed that. The diversity of the characters really helped to move this book beyond the search for a murder and towards the reflection as Jazz as a person rather than a monster.
Even though there was a romance in the book, it was not the main premise of the plot itself. The overall outlook on the book could have plummeted, like many other books have, with an over-emphasized relationship that turns from a minor aspect of the book to the entire rest of the story itself.
Barry Lyga did a wonderful job balancing both the plot and it's different conflicts with the relationships between Jazz and his friends. I recommend this book for someone who is looking for a well-written mystery that keeps the reader nose-deep in the pages to see how the whole search for a copy-cat murder unfolds and Jazz's psychological journey to self-discovery.
