Another series I suggest whenever it is Librarianly possible is Dan Wells’s John Wayne Cleaver books. They are young adult (definitely not for anyone under fifteen) and really well written and very very scary. Okay…if I knew the person really well (and if I knew for a fact that their parents wouldn’t hit me with books for suggesting these to their kid) I would maybe suggest this to a fourteen year old…but only in a very special case. The first is the only one I am going to talk about because it features one of the greatest twists I have ever (EVER!) read in a novel (or seen in a movie or lived through in real life or played through in a video game) and to ruin that for a first time reader would be criminal. That twist, of course, effects the following two novels to a huge extent. All three books are unputdownable. The first is “I am Not a Serial Killer.” Despite “Silence of the Lambs” appearing on my top 10 big boy books list, I am not a serial killer fan. I like thrillers and mysteries that sometimes feature serial killers, but I don’t actively seek out books with killers as characters. The main character, John Wayne Cleaver, knows he’s different from the other kids at school. He lives at his mother’s mortuary (and helps her embalm sometimes—creepy!) and he only has one friend at school…but that is not why. John knows he is a sociopath and he knows sociopaths can become serial killers, so John comes up with a set of rules he has to follow each day to NOT become a serial killer. When a series of murders in town have all the earmarks of serial killer murders, John wants to help catch the killer; who would be more qualified? He is definitely more in tune with the profile of serial killers than the few cops in his tiny town…so he investigates on his own. What he finds shocks even him. That’s all you get. You have to read these awesome books to find out more. For some reason they came out in the UK first (Dan Wells is from Utah, but lives in Germany…guess that’s why). I loved the first so much that I ordered the second one from England because I couldn’t wait for the US edition. Barry Lyga has a similar series to this; these are way better (sorry Barry) because of the twist and because Dan's came first. The characters are realistic. John’s family dramas add another layer to the stories. His secret life and the rigid set of rules he must live by are like the secret life and rigid rules some LBGT teens in small towns feel they must live by. Even non-sociopaths can identify with John. The twisty plots, the details about working in a mortuary…go read them, if you dare! |
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About MeTim is a writer, book reviewer and Librarian. He has a Master's of Library Science and was on the Newbery Committee twice. Technology scares and often annoys him, but he is always game for a silly costume! Archives
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