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The Devil's Only Friend

(John Cleaver #4)

Dan Wells (Goodreads Author)

4.14 · Rating details · 3,383 ratings · 427 reviews

John Wayne Cleaver hunts demons: they've killed his neighbors, his family, and the girl he loves, but in the end he's always won. Now he works for a secret government kill team, using his gift to hunt and kill as many monsters as he can...

...but the monsters have noticed, and the quiet game of cat and mouse is about to erupt into a full scale supernatural war.

John doesn't ...more

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Paperback, 303 pages

Published June 16th 2015 by Tor Books (first published June 15th 2015)

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Oct 01, 2017 Miranda Reads rated it really liked it

Shelves: ya-series

Life isn’t a thing, it’s a condition; we switch it on and we switch it off.

I abso-freaking-love this little psychopath.

John Wayne Cleaver (accidentally named after two serial killers and "blessed" with a weapon as a last name) is desperately trying not to become a murderer. He's always known he has the potential - he fantasizes about killing things, he has a hard time seeing people as humans, etc...BUT he doesn't want to become a serial killer.

Only, no matter how good he is at avoiding all ...more

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May 04, 2015 Jessica rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: youngadult, fantasy

I love Dan Wells' brain. I want to keep it in my freezer.

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Dec 13, 2014 ke-sha marked it as to-read

THERE'S GOING TO BE MORE!!!!

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Jul 09, 2014 Rachel the Book Harlot rated it really liked it

Shelves: ya, supernatural, horror-thriller-mystery

WARNING: Spoilers For First 3 Books

"I'm good now. I promise.

...sometimes at night I go to the butcher shop and I buy the biggest roast they have and I bring it home and I cover the room in plastic and I hack the meat to pieces with a kitchen knife, slashing and ripping and chopping and grunting until there's nothing left but scraps. Then I roll up the plastic, meat and blood and all, and I throw it away and everything is clean and calm now.

Because I'm good now.

I promise."

description

Welcome ...more

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Jan 13, 2015 Bradley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: urban-fantasy, 2016-shelf, mystery

For all you peeps missing a Serial Killer gone Good, or at least good-ish, or even just mildly tiptoeing the very broad definition of monsterhood, I'd recommend this series.

John's 17 years old, has lost almost everything, but he's done the right thing and joined the "good guys" to hunt down demons. John still doesn't give a flying rat's ass about whether anyone lives or dies and he still likes to take home a rack of meat to stab viciously in his off hours, but at least he has the intellectual ...more

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Jan 12, 2019 Ashley Daviau rated it liked it

I’m right in the middle with this book. I didn’t love it but I didn’t hate it either. Now that could be due to the fact that I haven’t read the first three books in the series but I didn’t know it was a series when I bought it and I said fuck it and read it anyways. I probably would have enjoyed it a bit more if I had read the other books but I still think it does relatively well as a stand-alone. I was able to follow the story easily and it was an incredibly interesting concept but it fell flat ...more

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Jun 16, 2015 Frank Errington rated it it was amazing

Review copy

Admittedly, I have never read the original trilogy of books in the John Cleaver series. One of these days I will need to rectify that. I'm also happy to say, it's not necessary to have read any of the other books to enjoy The Devil's Only Friend.

Reminiscent of Harry Dresden from the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher, John Cleaver is a bit of an anti-hero, quick-witted with a sharp tongue, and an urge to kill. An urge that he controls in an unusual way. It's these tendencies that ...more

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Jun 21, 2016 Chris rated it really liked it

Shelves: supernatural

Classified as YA (or maybe Thriller with a teenager in the spotlight). Either way I found it to be enjoyable even as a 31 yo man. It has elements which Intrigued me - a sociopathic main character/protagonist who hunts and slays supernatural beings known as the "withered"? Who wouldn't be interested in reading this? If you enjoy the TV shows Dexter and Supernatural, you will likely enjoy this book/series. John Wayne Cleaver is one bad mother shut yo mouth!

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Oct 06, 2014 Graham Bradley rated it it was amazing

Dan Wells has written the perfect fourth volume to this trilogy. He knows his characters, knows his world, knows just how to ratchet things up to level eleven at the right times. I will never understand how he does it, but damn...I have no idea where it goes now.

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Aug 10, 2019 Melissa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: military-cop-fbi-etc, murder, teenagers, audio, library-mwr, borrowed, continuous-series, mental-illness, recommend, 2019

This ties in to book 3.5 which I wasn't expecting. They are both telling the same story but from different POVs and 3.5 ends without the full ending of book 4. I would suggest reading both books together, alternating so you can get both games on what is going on.

I really love this series and am enjoying book 5 now. The narration is really good. Although when the narrator shouts he really does and it is loud and startling. Book 4 is a great story and it didn't end the way I thought it would. ...more

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May 30, 2019 Miriam marked it as dnf

Shelves: audio, horror, thriller, favorite-narrator, series, young-adult, go-to-author

I think I'm gonna give up on this series. I really loved books 1-3. I'm not really impressed with the direction this book took. I didn't get that far. Maybe 10%-15%. Either way I am not rating this because I am slumping big time and attribute part of my lack of enjoyment to that.

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Jul 28, 2016 Emm - On a Hiatus of Uncertain Nature rated it it was amazing

Shelves: paranormal-supernatural, horror, reviewed, thriller, mystery, adult-and-new-adult, favorites

Rating -
Hearts and blood, a cycle of love and loss...

At first, I didn't think I would like this one as much because of the somewhat drastic shift in personality, and possibly because I didn't quite have my heart in it at the time (no pun intended...), but then the story took off in a mess of oddity and carnage and just... wow. Change in this case is not bad, after all.

To be more clear, Devil's Only Friend takes on a more introspective and grim fantasy feel, rather than the brooding darkness of ...more

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Apr 03, 2015 Rose rated it really liked it

Shelves: ya-quarterly-challenge-18-2015

Review coming after I can meditate over it a bit. I actually finished this book quite a while ago, but I never cleared it out of my Currently Reading list. (Argh. :/) I liked it as much as the first three John Cleaver books, and appreciated the diverse cast of characters. Wells does horror well, and notably knows how to create strong character voices.

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Jul 28, 2014 Poojitha Sitaram rated it really liked it

Shelves: first-reads

I was lucky enough to win an early draft of the manuscript of this book.

John Cleaver is back and now, to his annoyance, is working as part of a team. Dan Wells' biggest strength as a writer, in my opinion, has always been the brilliant way in which he captures and relates the mindset of his POV characters. That was one of the main things that really hooked me on to this series in the first place, and he doesn't disappoint with this book. Elijah Sexton, the POV character from Wells' short story, ...more

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Jun 22, 2015 Terry Weyna rated it it was amazing

This review contains spoilers for the first JOHN WAYNE CLEAVER trilogy.

John Wayne Cleaver is a seventeen-year-old boy who wants very, very much to kill people. Lots of them, one right after the other, in terrible, bloody ways. Paradoxically, because he longs to do that, he has been taking extraordinary lengths to avoid becoming a serial killer. His struggles were related in a trilogy consisting of I Am Not A Serial Killer, Mr. Monster, and I Don’t Want to Kill You. That trilogy showed how John’ This review contains spoilers for the first JOHN WAYNE CLEAVER trilogy.

John Wayne Cleaver is a seventeen-year-old boy who wants very, very much to kill people. Lots of them, one right after the other, in terrible, bloody ways. Paradoxically, because he longs to do that, he has been taking extraordinary lengths to avoid becoming a serial killer. His struggles were related in a trilogy consisting of I Am Not A Serial Killer, Mr. Monster, and I Don’t Want to Kill You. That trilogy showed how John’s efforts to avoid acting on his murderous desires ran smack into his discovery of demons, and the very genuine need to kill those demons to save the people he loved. Alas, John was not able to save the people he loved most. As this trilogy opens with The Devil’s Only Friend, John’s bitterness at his failures is on open display, even as he works with a special FBI unit dedicated to rooting out and destroying demons.

Brooke Watson, a girl John’s age who has been mentally broken by her contact with the demon called Nobody, accompanies the team, though she is not precisely a part of it. Her company tortures John, for in essence Brooke is possessed by a demon John killed named Nobody; Brooke retains that demon’s memories, and her mind was so warped by the possession that she still believes she is Nobody. Yet John faithfully spends time with Brook that goes far beyond what is necessary to do his work. The mind of Nobody insists that the Withered (as she calls the demons) are evil, and is eager to assist John and his team to get rid of them, so she’s a tactical advantage for the FBI. They keep Brooke in a secure hospital facility wherever they set up operations.

As the story opens the team is in Fort Bruce, a small city in the Midwest, where they are collecting data on two demons living there: Mary Gardner, a demon who works as a nurse in order to drain the health of others in order to keep herself healthy; and Cody French, who never sleeps, and must download his awareness into another human in order to get some rest — which drives the human mad. Alarmingly, just after the team completes one operation, Brooke reveals that yet another of the Withered is in town. Those who have read Next of Kin will recognize this character, but the team comes to the immediate conclusion that its members are being hunted by the demons. And although they reached that conclusion for the wrong reasons, they happen to be right.

The team unravels the puzzles of the demons, their powers, and how to kill them in this novel, giving it some of the characteristics of a mystery. And the team battles the demons with everything they’ve got, so it’s also an action novel. Both aspects of the novel work well, and they work well together. The pacing is excellent, as the team’s actions go from a seemingly simple operation to a more difficult one to one that seems all but impossible, leading to a climax where everything, including everything that happened in the first trilogy, comes into play. The only criticism I have is that the law enforcement personnel involved have absolutely no notion of the law, and especially of how due cause for a search is established. Perhaps Wells ought to consult with a lawyer or a police officer for his next novel.

What most intrigued me about this novel, and what lends it its bleak darkness, is John’s inner life. John narrates the novel, so he tells us how the mysteries are solved and watches the action (he’s usually not allowed to participate, for several reasons), always with a quickness of thought and a bleakness of aspect. John’s time with demons has not cured him of his desire to hurt and kill animals and other humans; in fact, he has plans for how to kill everyone on his team. He wrestles with his own internal demons, battles that are harder fought than any of those against the outer, physically real demons. Wells delves deep within the brain of a sociopath struggling not to commit sociopathic acts because he knows they are wrong, even as he longs deep within himself to see the blood, to feel the knife entering flesh. “I’m trying very hard not to become a serial murderer,” he tells another member of the team, and we are witnesses to that internal battle. (One of the scariest moments in the novel is when John actually does kill someone: “It was exactly like I’d dreamed it,” John tells us, and then goes on to explain in detail. It’s stomach-turning.)

The ending is both triumphal and bleak, and it’s hard to imagine where Wells will go from here. He has written a book that stands on its own, not dependent on the trilogy that went before and not truly needing the books that are going to come after. I can hardly wait to see what comes next.

Originally published at http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi.... 4.5 stars rounded up to 5. ...more

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May 30, 2015 Morris rated it it was amazing

Shelves: all-time-favorites, 2015-favorites, recommend, 2015-reviews

John Wayne Cleaver is back in “The Devil’s Only Friend”, the first in somewhat of a sub-trilogy within the already established John Cleaver series by Dan Wells.

I’ll start off by saying that the entire John Cleaver series, though popular, is extremely underrated. I also think it’s unfairly compared to Dexter. Granted, Dexter is a wonderful series and he is a great character, but John Cleaver stands on his own as a psychopathic anti-hero. He doesn’t need anyone’s help to establish exactly who and John Wayne Cleaver is back in “The Devil’s Only Friend”, the first in somewhat of a sub-trilogy within the already established John Cleaver series by Dan Wells.

I’ll start off by saying that the entire John Cleaver series, though popular, is extremely underrated. I also think it’s unfairly compared to Dexter. Granted, Dexter is a wonderful series and he is a great character, but John Cleaver stands on his own as a psychopathic anti-hero. He doesn’t need anyone’s help to establish exactly who and what he is. And yes, I realize I am writing this like he is an actual person, but that is a true testament to how developed he is as a character. Mr. Wells has made him feel like a living, breathing person who may or may not want to kill you, but will most likely not. He’ll just make an intricate plan to do so in case he ever changes his mind.

“The Devil’s Only Friend” is the best of the series yet, and while I would encourage everyone to read the first three, if you feel like jumping in here the backstory is explained in enough detail to keep you from being confused, while also avoiding a dry rundown that will leave previous fans bored and waiting for the plot to get going. Which is great, because the plot is nothing short of amazing. Every single clue adds up to the ultimate conclusion, but I had about ten different theories on how it would go and still managed to be taken by surprise. This is a mystery written by a master. I wish I could go into more of the plot but almost anything I say besides it is blow-your-mind-good will lead to some sort of spoiler.

I feel the need to add this: For some reason unknown to me, many bookstores and libraries insist on shelving this entire series under “Young Adult”. Now, I’m not saying this cannot be read and appreciated by the older young adult set, but I’m also fairly certain that you will traumatize quite a few of them if you hand them a John Cleaver book thinking it’s “Dexter for Kids”. This is NOT a young adult book. This is a book for serious mystery and thriller fans who do not mind a lot of gore, horror, and psychotic thoughts.

In short: Great main character, excellent plot, not for the squeamish, everyone else should read all of the John Cleaver series. Of course, this is a review for “The Devil’s Only Friend”, so be sure to read that one, as well.

Five enthusiastic (albeit bloody) stars.

This review is based upon a complimentary copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
...more

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Jul 29, 2015 Alexander rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy

I have already reviewed this book when I read it in German, see here. I only want to use this review to highlight some things I forgot or missed when I read the German version. Here they come:

- First of all, the ending feels even more awesome than the first time now that I recognized all the set-up. It had me cheering, it was so well executed that it'll stay with me for a while.
- The conversation between Brooke and John that broke my heart the first time 'round is even more heartbreaking in ...more

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Aug 30, 2015 Tasula rated it really liked it

John Wayne Cleaver, still trying hard not to be a psychopathic serial killer, carefully following his "rules", is on a FBI team tracking and killing "demons". This series (starting with I Am Not A Serial Killer) began as a story about a psychopathic teen who had the urge to kill but managed to suppress it and live almost a normal life, but the story added a supernatural element- John finds out a neighbor is not human. I would have liked the story even without the supernatural element- Dan Wells ...more

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Jul 10, 2015 Wm rated it really liked it

Shelves: horror, hclib-to-read, science-fiction-and-fantasy

On the one hand, we don't really need more John Cleaver books. On the other, Wells has become a better writer so that all the things he's learned to do since he finished the last series show up in this book. This is a tight, psychological thriller mashed up with secret world urban fantasy (of sorts) and a large dose of horror. I'm not sure, though, how I feel about Cleaver -- I'm not sure his is a psychology I needed re-opened even if it was clear from the last trilogy that he is needed to face ...more

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Jul 30, 2018 Jessica White rated it really liked it

My favorite little sociopath is back in action, and he has backup!

The Devil's Only Friend picks up with John and Brooke in a new town, hunting a new monster, but John is employed by the FBI as a type of prodigy. Who knew his rules could land him an actual paying job where he got to hunt and kill monsters legally! It's a great job, but he still has his quirks. He's taking care of his impulses by beating hunks of meat with a club in his own house. He's setting controlled fires in grills. He's ...more

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Feb 24, 2017 Andi rated it liked it

will post a review soon... I've missed you John.

EDIT:

When I first started this book I thought I missed something, like, it just dove right into John's new job with the FBI and I had no idea that that's how it was... John was now working for them. It felt weird, it felt foreign to me because I like John as a bit of a loner, not answering to higher-ups but doing his own thing.

I liked this book and then I didn't. I liked it for the character development and what was going on with Brooke. I didn't ...more

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Jun 10, 2015 Lynn Williams rated it really liked it

4.5 stars
https://lynnsbooks.wordpress.com/2015...
The Devil’s Only Friend is the first in a new Trilogy starring John Wayne Cleaver. There have apparently been three earlier books but The Devil’s Only Friend can be read as a standalone and indeed it’s not difficult to pick up on what took place previously. Having said that I really enjoyed this and to a cetain extent wish I had picked up the previous books, even though I admit that I probably won’t do so now, but just purely from a character 4.5 stars
https://lynnsbooks.wordpress.com/2015...
The Devil’s Only Friend is the first in a new Trilogy starring John Wayne Cleaver. There have apparently been three earlier books but The Devil’s Only Friend can be read as a standalone and indeed it’s not difficult to pick up on what took place previously. Having said that I really enjoyed this and to a cetain extent wish I had picked up the previous books, even though I admit that I probably won’t do so now, but just purely from a character development perspective.

In The Devil’s Only Friend John is now working with the FBI. His prior experiences dealing with, and by that I mean killing, demons (or the withered as they’re called here) make him a necessary part of the team. He’s not completely trusted by his colleagues of course, and let’s face it that’s hardly a surprise given his personality. John definitely suffers from an antisocial personality disorder – I would say that he is a sociopath (or maybe even a psychopath)?? and maybe his backstory would have been a bit more definitive in that respect. For now I’m going with sociopath. He fantasises, in a fairly calculated manner, about killing people and animals and he seems to have a set of rules by which he keeps his tendencies under control – including counting sequences. Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself.

The world we’re dealing with here is a modern, everyday setting, the difference being that demons live amongst the humans. They, for the most part, look human and integrate into society. They’re very strong and dangerous though and for the purpose of this story they’re called the withered – because they lack something, something that they need in order to survive and something that they usually have to take, forcibly, from others. John’s role here is to find out what that special ‘something’ is in each particular case so that the FBI can, in as carefully controlled and safe a setting as possible, kill the withered they’re currently tracking. Now, the FBI, may finally be aware of the withered but that doesn’t mean that there doesn’t exist a LOT of doubt and skepticism and the team John works with is relatively understaffed and under resourced as a result. A situation which isn’t going to help when the enemy becomes aware of their existence and decides to bring the war to them instead of remaining as sitting ducks.

I thought this was a really good read. When I first picked it up I wasn’t sure if it would all be horror and whilst there is horror involved this is a bit deeper than that. We of course have the withered – but these creatures are not simply evil – they’re driven themselves by whatever it is they lack. Then we have John, and it’s difficult to really know yet whether I really like him or not as some of his internal thoughts are frankly a bit scary, who suffers from his own personality disorder and would be considered to be damaged or maybe even missing something fundamental to human nature himself.

There are a number of characters involved, none of them are really particularly well expanded upon – and I don’t mean that in a negative way but just more that they play a lesser role that John – and I will also just mention that the author is fairly ruthless with his cast so you might want to bear that in mind.

The one constant in John’s life, carried forward from his past experiences is Brooke – a previous friend/girl next door who has rather unfortunately become the hidden weapon in John and the FBI’s arsenal against the withered. I won’t go too much into that other than to say she is an interesting character to read and I would enjoy more involvement from her.

The Devil’s Only Friends was a great start to this new series. Part murder mystery, part horror, part psychological thriller with an unusual main protagonist. I’m definitely interested in seeing how John develops. Like I say, I’m not sure what to feel about him just yet although, in spite of his inner turmoil, he’s clearly not all bad and at least wants to be ‘better’.

I will definitely read on with this series.

I received a copy of this from the publishers via Netgalley for which my thanks. The above is my own ...more

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Feb 03, 2015 Eric Allen rated it really liked it

John Cleaver has finally come back for the book I've been waiting years to read. I kind of wish that I had skipped the "Next of Kin" Novella that Dan Wells put out last year now, though, because the first half of this book was basically just a retelling of that novella from John's PoV rather than Elijah's. It was good, but I felt like I'd already read it, because I kind of had. The second half of the book strays into new territory though for a pretty action and tension packed climax. I really ...more

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Apr 06, 2019 Devann rated it liked it

Shelves: g-horror, cr-morally-gray, c-dl, a-young-adult, g-mystery-thriller, 2-5-star, z-19-04-liars-and-thieves

actual rating: 2.5

This was a definite low point in the series for me, but mostly because I am in no way here for the whole ~John Cleaver, FBI Agent~ plot line. I mean obviously I'm already suspending a lot of disbelief here with the whole ancient demons thing, but now you want me to believe that the FBI just decides to drag two 17 year old kids along with them on their monster hunting vendetta and also that their families are fine with that? I mean John's family maybe, but Brooke's?

Anyway, the ...more

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Jun 18, 2015 Michael Nash rated it liked it

Even though I Don't Want to Kill You ended on sort of a cliffhanger, with the reader left wondering what John on a demon-hunting team sponsored by the federal government, it also seemed like a fitting ending. Although it ends with John having a traumatic experience, that experience is also defining and cathartic, and joining the demon-hunting team gave enough of a shape to his future to be going on with.
In other words, this next book was kind of superfluous, and hinged on whether or not what ...more

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Nov 03, 2014 Chersti Nieveen rated it it was amazing

What a great way for the series to continue. It delighted every bone in my body with this well-developed book, and as much as I adored the three books before it in the I AM NOT A SERIAL KILLER series, this one blew them all out of the water, raising the stakes and characters themselves to a whole new level of fantastic.

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May 10, 2015 Sarah rated it it was amazing

Shelves: contemporary, dark, fantasy, tor, arc-or-review-copy, read-in-2015

http://www.bookwormblues.net/2015/06/...

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Jan 17, 2015 Tracy rated it really liked it

Poor John, still not a serial killer

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Oct 11, 2017 M.A. Nichols rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy, young-adult, horror

I feel like I'm being a little generous with my 4 stars, but I've loved this series so much that I can't bear to give it anything less than 4.

I think what I struggle with most is that my favorite part of the series has been the main character's inner struggle against his natural tendencies. Each previous book built off that, giving a new dimension to that conflict. However, this book just seems to regurgitate the same issues we've already spent three books analyzing. There's a little bit of a I feel like I'm being a little generous with my 4 stars, but I've loved this series so much that I can't bear to give it anything less than 4.

I think what I struggle with most is that my favorite part of the series has been the main character's inner struggle against his natural tendencies. Each previous book built off that, giving a new dimension to that conflict. However, this book just seems to regurgitate the same issues we've already spent three books analyzing. There's a little bit of a different approach to it, but for the most part, it felt like the same angsty inner-monologues we've been getting for three books. When I finished it, it reminded me a bit of a sitcom, where you spend a half hour with the character learning and growing only to have all that growth disappear in the next episode and the character reverts to their old self.

There are some great discussions about what makes someone good or bad, and what makes it okay for good people to kill, etc. That part was interesting, and I enjoyed it, but it kind of felt like it was tacked on in the last quarter of the book.

That aside, the story itself was decent, but it feels like the series is stuck in a one-upmanship with itself. The first book is one demon, the second book sees John kidnapped by the demon, the third book he's dealing with a demon AND an actual serial killer. Now, he's got demons popping up all over the place, and they're not just demons, but the biggest, baddest demons out there. But the climax couldn't keep up the pace because it felt like most of the issues they'd dealt with throughout the book were fixed relatively easily for the main character. Like a hail-mary pass at the very end.
(view spoiler)

And the worldbuilding is getting a little muddled. There's a few established rules that have been broken, and a few things that just didn't make sense to me. Not enough to destroy the book for me, but it kicked me out quite a few times.

I feel bad because I'm trashing this book right and left. I did enjoy it. Let's face it, there was enough action to keep the story interesting, but it was such a let down from the other books. The first three books were some of my favorite books I read in 2015, and this was only a little better than okay. The original three stories were these great character studies with a dash of horror, suspense, and action. This one just feels like any other urban fantasy detective story with a heavy dose of Dexter. Entertaining but not memorable. I think I would have enjoyed this book much more if it weren't for the fact that I loved the first three books so much. On its own, it's decent but compared to the others, it's the weakest.

I'm definitely rounding up from a 3.5. I hope the next books are better... ...more

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Jun 21, 2015 Jasper rated it it was amazing

Shelves: supernatural, tor, read-in-2015, crime, urban-fantasy, thriller

originally posted at: http://thebookplank.blogspot.com/2015...

Dan Wells is an author I had previously heard from mostly because of his book series The Partial Sequence. I hadn't heard about this series John Cleaver and when I saw this book in the Tor catalogue I thought it was a first in series or stand alone. But actually it is the fourth book so far in the series, which I found out in my mid reading session. However as you can make up from the above notice, you can pick up the John Cleaver originally posted at: http://thebookplank.blogspot.com/2015...

Dan Wells is an author I had previously heard from mostly because of his book series The Partial Sequence. I hadn't heard about this series John Cleaver and when I saw this book in the Tor catalogue I thought it was a first in series or stand alone. But actually it is the fourth book so far in the series, which I found out in my mid reading session. However as you can make up from the above notice, you can pick up the John Cleaver series very well with this fourth edition. It's like it was written with this in the back of Dan Wells' mind. I also have to make a confession: I didn't liked Dexter at all but I loved The Devil's Only Friend a lot!

The story of The Devil's Only Friend focuses on John Cleaver, who shares his name with that of the series. John isn't your ordinary teenager, he hunts demons for a living. What I learned early on is that he is sort of a veteran in the business, in the three earlier books his path to what he has become was explained. So, John and his team of special selected people hunt supernatural creatures called Withered. This is where the story picks up where John is about to hunt and dispose of some Withered, just to mention his team consists of FBI agents. He isn't really freelancing it! The information that John receives on where the Withered are, is given through Brooke, a very close friend of John who was inhabitated by a demon called Nobody, Brooke went through a lot and is now in a special institution. Anyway one of the first Withered they face is a nurse called Mary Gardner, her profession places her in close contact with vulnerable people, now you might think just what she might do to her victim, erase that thought please. You won't be able to guess just why she is at that hospital and I won't spoil it for you. At the time of Mary Gardner, John and his crew are also invistigating another Withered Cody French, who just as with Mary, has a unique ability. With these two in the end out of the way, John stumbles upon a much larger plot, the events leading up to this twists were action packed but after this twist, Dan Wells really managed to ramp up the speed. As now John and the FBI have to find the most dangerous Withered to date, and he is misleading them, placing them on the wrong trail and keep on murdering innocent people. This Wither calls himself The Hunter and now it seems that these Wither hunters, a.k.a. John and co. are the hunted.. The tables are turned and John's life and that of everyone he holds dear are in danger.

What Dan Wells managed to put down in this book, in only 300pages is remarkable. Even given the fact that it felt that I got a lot of the background talk from what happened in the first three books as well. Dan Well's certainly knows how to catch the reader with the first sentence and doesn't let you go. The writing style is very easy to get into and highly addictive, pacing is spot on. The story is just over too soon.

But where The Devil's Only Friend get's it true strength from is the protagonist John Cleaver. I already said that I loved the story of The Devil's Only Friend, comparisons have been made with the tv show Dexter, well I watched it and I didn't like it. There might be similar things but John Cleaver is much more interesting than Dexter. He is much more complex, he has thoughts of killing people, but there is always only the thoughts, he doesn't give in putting it into action.He has sociopathic tendencies, he has his own rules to which his friends has to live by, basically he is weird and sort of a ticking time bomb. And this all make him very unpredictable. When I first read about John in the beginning of the book, I directly felt a lot of emotions, a struggling character, which made it easy for me to connect with. He doesn't like what he has to go through and is therefor very protective, for himself, not getting out of his comfort zone (altering his rules) and protective of his friends. Now there are some very nice scenes in the book, where he ventures just that bit out of his comfort zone with remarkable results, but you can feel the struggle with him. From all the books that I have read so far I can safely say that John Cleaver is definitely one of the most complex characters that I have had the pleasure to read about. Dan Wells did a remarkable job with designing and executing John's character, putting the narrative in John's hands in a first person perspective only makes the story that much stronger.

And it gets even better, because John isn't only a having murder thoughts sociopath, his attitude is somewhat also very funny, some of the dialogues that he had with his FBI friends really cracked me up, sometimes John was made fun of but other time he could place quite the joke on them. It's this dialogue dynamics that really finished the story for me. Very nicely done!

The setting of the book is also very interesting. John is a teenager, working together with the FBI to hunt the Withered, these demons don't live on grassy flower filled patches or play in the sunshine. Though they don't also dwell in the eerie dark places, they live the life of humans and here Dan Wells plays into a big psychological aspect. The Withered that we read about have roles as the innocent neighbor with a dog or the hospital nurse, this make for a creepy atmosphere in the book, Dan Wells doesn't reveal anything of how the Wither react against John's moves and this turns it into a highly predictable story, you learn and live on the go. There could be trouble behind every door, even if it is your neighbor with a dog.

The Devil's Only Friend is a perfect book. It's hard to place in a particular genre, thriller/crime, horror and urban fantasy (I wouldn't place it in young adult though). From the start of the story I was hooked. Dan Wells has a gift it capturing the reader and not letting you go until the story has been told. Storywise, The Devil's Only Friend is just awesome, I loved the story and in a saturated fiction genre this is precisely the book that I need to get out of some more mainstream stories. The protagonist of the series, John Cleaver, is by far one of the most complex characters that I have read about, he definitely lifts this story into another dimension. Awesome reading material, I urge you to read it, you won't be dissapointed. ...more

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About Dan Wells

Dan Wells

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Dan Wells is a thriller and science fiction writer. Born in Utah, he spent his early years reading and writing. He is he author of the Partials series (Partials, Isolation, Fragments, and Ruins), the John Cleaver series (I Am Not a Serial Killer, Mr. Monster, and I Don't Want To Kill You), and a few others (The Hollow City, A Night of Blacker Darkness, etc). He was a Campbell nomine for best new ...more