Review: I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

This was a step outside of my usual circle of genres for me. I like forensic stuff and I’m a huge fan of the show Dexter, but this was the first thriller/murder mystery I’ve ever read (unless you count Deadly Cool, which I don’t). Like a typical crime scene setup, there were some gruesome scenes in this book – so if you’re really squeamish, I probably wouldn’t recommend it. Those scenes didn’t exactly go into depth and detail and they weren’t drawn out, but there was enough stated graphically to leave the nasty stuff to your imagination. Which, as you know, can be worse.

I felt for Jasper. It was clear how damaged he was after growing up with serial killer Billy Dent. Sure, he was messed up, but he did a fantastic job of trying to make up for his childhood and to fit in. Yet while I understand why he was worried about following the footsteps of Dear Old Dad, it got a little annoying in the first half when he continuously (like, every other page) made a statement about it. How everyone will look at him and see Billy. How he’s doomed to be exactly the same. Yet constantly denying it. Okay, we get it. You’re worried. But how ’bout focusing on things you can do to not be like him? The repetition was a bit of a downer for me in the beginning.

Although I didn’t figure out who the killer was until almost right before the identity was revealed, it wasn’t really surprising. And honestly, I should have figured it out because it was so obvious, but I was too focused on a different person – damn Dexter for getting stuck in my brain!

I’m not entirely sure this is a genre I’d pick up in the future. I like watching the shows, but reading about it just didn’t work for me for some reason. I just have an overall feeling of ‘meh’ about reading this subject, and I think that really hindered my enjoyment of this book. But, even with that being said, I think I’ll still pick up book 2 to find out where it goes, because this one left the ending WIDE OPEN. Curiosity killed the cat, you know.  

Favorite character: Howie, Jazz’s hemophiliac best friend and the comic relief. The few times I did laugh were mainly due to him!

 

Pace: 3/5
I didn’t really get into it until the second body was found.

If you enjoy reading murder mysteries, you’re going to love it.