Book Review: I Hunt Killers
Media Type: Print Book
Title: I Hunt Killers
*Series: Jasper Dent #1
Author: Barry Lyga
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Pages: Hardcover; 361
Release Date: April 3, 2012
Source: Library
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Content Screening: Violence, Adult Language
HDB Rating: 5 Keys to My Heart
Recommended to: Readers who like darker stories, especially those with an interest in serial murderers.
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What if the world’s worst serial killer…was your dad?
Jasper (Jazz) Dent is a likable teenager. A charmer, one might say.
But he’s also the son of the world’s most infamous serial killer, and for Dear Old Dad, Take Your 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 bodies are piling up in Lobo’s Nod.
In an effort to clear his name, Jazz joins the police in a hunt for a new serial killer. But Jazz has a secret—could he be more like his father than anyone knows?
Holy YA Batman. This book completely shattered all expectations I had before picking it up. I’ve always been a bit intrigued by serial killers, morbid as that may seem. It’s something about the cold and calculating personas that they have one moment, while having the ability to blend into normal society the next. Jazz’s dad was a perfect example of this. Meticulous and horrific, and yet wholly intriguing. Being in the head of a boy raised by a serial killer was intense. And yet, I loved it.
Let’s talk about that boy. Jazz. I truly think it is his character that brings this story to life. Raised by a monster, desensitized to the pain of others, Jazz has a point of view that is quite interesting. His life has been filled with a battle between what he knows he should feel, and what he actually does feel. Always battling the darkness inside himself. Is he truly a copy of his father like everyone else believes? Or is there something within Jazz that keeps him from turning into that stigma? This question drives Jazz in I Hunt Killers. Motivates him to solve the murders, and keep the part of himself that still sees the light.
