Monday Book Recs: I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

I don't have any excuse for how long it took me to read this book. I tend to think of myself as shy of horror. I never have liked scary movies. I find them painful, and then feel forced to watch to the end so I can at least get resolution. Serial killer books worry me that they will be about the horror, mine and the victim's. And there is a part of me that wonders about our current cultural obsession with crime shows that have to be all about murder, never any other crime. The photos of death, the details of death, the moment by moment last thoughts of the deceased. And I am also bothered with the assumption that all murder victims have terrible secrets that have gotten them killed.

That said, I was really sucked into this book despite some moments of not wanting to know THAT much about serial killers. The constant voice in the head of the serial killer father was spooky and horrific, but in a psychological way, not gory. And it felt real to me, something that I could connect to. I also fight the voice in my head that is probably my father's, that tells me what I am doing isn't good enough, isn't right, even when I am aware as an adult that I disagree strongly with my father on many moral issues. I think that having Jazz obsessed with murders, worried that he is too obsessed, that he has too much in common with his dad, was also an effective way to explaining his character. He needs to prove he isn't his father. But he is formed by his childhood with him, so he has to do something with all that crap in his head.

I also really liked the female characters in the book. The grandmother was annoyingly real. I absolutely believed that she would have a serial killer for a son, and not just to blame her, but that there would be give and take there. She may be crazy and unlikeable, but one thing she ain't is weak. I loved the girlfriend Connie. She isn't the one obsessed with death, but she knows Jazz well enough that her argument with him about his obsession is spot-on. I loved his reaction and the subsequent confrontation with his father. I also liked that we got to know some of the victims so they weren't simply names and dead, female bodies. Of course, the figure of the mother is still to be unraveled in book 2.

The pacing in this book is spot-on. Even if you guess who the killer is (I did), it doesn't matter. You still have to wait to see what unfolds. I think the best murder mysteries can allow you to guess the ending without it ruining everything, because of the inevitability and the character revelation that has to happen for a satisfying conclusion. Even if you know who has to be caught, you don't know how and you still desperately want to see it happen the right way. That's what works here.

And can I say that Howie is one of my favorite characters of all time? A book that has proper pacing can make me read to the ending without taking a breath, but it doesn't necessarily get a recommendation or a reread from me. Howie is one of the parts of this story that just makes it another level of perfect. He is such an unlikely hero, but his quirks are realistic in their way. And the tattoos—what a great gimmick! Love, love, love!