I Am Not A Serial Killer – Dan Wells

This book is another read towards the Mental Illness Advocacy reading challenge, I have now read seven books for this challenge, only one more to go now! 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. I Am Not A Serial Killer is the first book in a series by the American YA/Horror novelist Dan Wells, unfortunately I didn’t realise it was a series and actually read the second book Mr Monster (Full Review) first. My library also has a copy of the final instalment  I Don’t Want To Kill You so keep your eyes peeled I’m sure it won’t be long till I get my hands on that as well.

John Wayne Cleaver is a fifteen year old boy, a loner, a mortician, and a diagnosed sociopath. John lives in the small town of Clayton with his single mother, they live in a flat above the family owned and run morgue, while this might freak out most teenagers John relishes working with the dead. It is this fascination with the dead that makes John feel he is ‘fated’ to become a serial killer. To try to stop himself becoming a killer John has created his own rules to live by. But these rules are to be tested to the max when the small community of Clayton is rocked by a series of savage murders where all the victims have been ripped apart…but by what a person? an animal? Or something worse? John must wrestle with his emotions, on one side he sympathises with the killer, on the other hand he knows that it is wrong. Can John stop the Clayton killer without unleashing the monster within himself?

I Am Not A Serial Killer was again YA/Horror at its best, and I enjoyed this book enough to polish it off in just one morning. These books are a little difficult to get into at first because let’s face it who really wants to get to know a sociopath? But John is a very well written character, and I was fascinated to know the journey he had gone through to get the stage I’d already read about in Mr Monster. 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. A delicate balance that Wells got just right. I don’t think I was gripped as much as I was by Mr Monster but that is probably due to the fact I knew how the book was going to end, however if you, unlike me, read these book in the correct order then you will be in for a rollercoaster ride of emotion, action, and surprises.

I highly recommend this series of books they really are a hidden gem, and don’t let the fact they are Young Adult 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.