Mr Monster – Dan Wells

This is another read towards the Mental Illness Advocacy reading challenge, I have now read six books for this challenge. Again I got the idea to read this book from the extensive suggestion list that Amanda of Opinions of a Wolf has created for her challenge. Mr Monster is actual the second book in a trilogy by the American YA/Horror novelist Dan Wells, unfortunately I didn’t realise it was a trilogy until I actually got the book home. I had both this and it’s prequel I am not a Serial Killer on my tbr list but it just so happened my library had a copy of Mr Monster and not the other, and the rest is as they say history.

John Cleaver is a sixteen year old sociopath. John doesn’t want to hurt anyone or anything but his other-side, the side he calls Mr Monster, does. John’s small home town of Clayton has recently been rocked by a serial killer but it has now been months since the killer has attacked and the town is trapped in an uneasy peace. As the Clayton Killer really gone? John is the only one who really knows, and that’s because Mr Monster killed the Clayton Killer. But now John has let Mr Monster out once he is finding it so much harder to keep him locked up again. And with the appearance of what seems like a new serial killer will John be able to contain Mr Monster much longer? Or is Mr Monster what Clayton actual needs right now?

Mr Monster is YA/Horror at its best, and I absolutely loved this book. It was a difficult read to get into at first because let’s face it who really wants to get to know a sociopath? But John Cleaver is a very well written character. There was never a time when John appeared normal…however there were times I actually truthfully felt for him and what he was fighting against, other times though I was utterly sickened by what he thought and did. This was a very interesting mix and I think Dan Wells got the balance just right. As for the story itself it was also well written, with good-sized chapters, and many twists and turns which will have you gripped from about chapter 4/5 till right up to the end.

Fortunately I don’t feel I was too hindered by having started this trilogy in the middle, Mr Monster is a great book and stands well alone, however I am intrigued to know how John got to the stage he is at. So I have requested I am not a Serial Killer at my library. Plus it turns the final instalment I Don’t Want to Kill You was released earlier this year and my library have two copies of it!

I highly recommend this book I feel it is a bit of a hidden gem, certainly don’t let the fact it is YA put you off. This book will be a great read for younger and older readers who are interested in a horror with the un-usual element of a sociopathic antagonist.