May 21, 2013

"Mr. Monster" by Dan Wells


Title: Mr. Monster

Author: Dan Wells

Series: John Cleaver, #2


My rating: 5 of 5


(Book read from May 3rd-11th, 2013)


Warning:  
If you haven't read the 1st book I Am Not A Serial Killer, there are spoilers about it in the summary below, as well as in the review below!


 Summary:



In I Am Not a Serial Killer, John Wayne Cleaver saved his town from a murderer even more appalling than the serial killers he obsessively studies.

But it turns out even demons have friends, and the disappearance of one has brought another to Clayton County. Soon there are new victims for John to work on at the mortuary and a new mystery to solve. But John has tasted death, and the dark nature he used as a weapon - the terrifying persona he calls “Mr. Monster” - might now be using him.

No one in Clayton is safe unless John can vanquish two nightmarish adversaries: the unknown demon he must hunt and the inner demon he can never escape.

In this sequel to his brilliant debut, Dan Wells ups the ante with a thriller that is just as gripping and even more intense. He apologizes in advance for the nightmares.




My Thoughts on the Book:



After the heart-pounding events & the conclusion of I Am Not A Serial Killer, John Cleaver's carefully structured life of rules had started to unravel. The killer in him had been released, he calls himself Mr. Monster, and John barely manages not to give in. He struggles with himself through out the book, he has even darker thoughts than ever before, and sticking to all of his rules isn't possible anymore. He has to break some of them, so he can keep Mr. Monster in check, and he doesn't end up going over the edge. 

On top of all of that, there's a new serial killer in town, who kills women & seems that he wants to communicate with him. As I said, John barely manages to keep himself in check, he doesn't have Dr. Neblin anymore to talk to, his mom pretends that the events at the end of I Am Not A Serial Killer never happened, so he turns to Agent Forman, who came in town trying to find the Clayton Killer, and now is researching the new killings.

John decides to track down this new serial killer before he tracks him down, and to kill him, because he has a suspicion that this might be another supernatural killer.

And so, you'll get yourself wrapped up in the story & John's world, as well as his struggles, and then suddenly something shocking will happen. I seriously didn't expect that to happen, and for the book to take such a turn, but I absolutely loved every second of it. It was suspenseful, heartbreaking, terrifying, gory, hopeful (in a way you hope John will get through this without turning himself into a killer), and definitely mind-blowing. As I said, all of that was unexpected, but every fan of serial killer thrillers will love it.

Once again I absolutely loved John Cleaver as a character, and I kept rooting for him through everything he went through. And the writing itself was amazing, Dan Wells has done it again.

What I think I have to point out is that Mr. Monster shouldn't be read as stand alone. I mean, sure, the events in I Am Not A Serial Killer are explained, but you have to have read I Am Not A Serial Killer so you can understand John Cleaver as a character.

Mr. Monster is one amazing sequel that I can't recommend enough. If you love thrillers, you have to read this one, so I highly recommend this book, as well as the John Cleaver trilogy!
 

Challenges:


1 comment:

  1. Dan Wells and this series sound incredibly familiar. This seems like a tempting series to check out.

    ReplyDelete