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Am I A Monster? (Monsters #2)

J. Boote

Start date: July 7, 2025

Finish date: July 13, 2025

Discussion: Buddy Reads

Why we're reading this: Buddy read scheduled for July 7-13 (2025).
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Jul 11, 2025 Pisces51 rated it really liked it

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Am I A Monster? (The Monsters series. Book 2) [2023] By J. Boote
My Review 4.0 Stars

I read this second installment of Indie author J. Boote’s “Monster” series this week. It was a “Buddy Read” for me and a really good reading buddy of mine who loves every letter in both words of the designation “extreme horror”.

The premise of the storyline looked pretty simple at first blush. A teenager named Sarah received the incredible news that a manuscript for a horror novel she had written and submitted to Am I A Monster? (The Monsters series. Book 2) [2023] By J. Boote
My Review 4.0 Stars

I read this second installment of Indie author J. Boote’s “Monster” series this week. It was a “Buddy Read” for me and a really good reading buddy of mine who loves every letter in both words of the designation “extreme horror”.

The premise of the storyline looked pretty simple at first blush. A teenager named Sarah received the incredible news that a manuscript for a horror novel she had written and submitted to an editor for review had been accepted for publication. Sarah is a good girl with two loving parents, her father a police officer in the small English village. All of the girls at school worshipped the handsome 16-year-old blond guy who was in their classes. Sarah had harbored a crush on Andrew for years, but had never approached him. She is delighted when he asks her out for a date. They meet for pizza and Sarah unwisely goes back to his flat with him. There is a negative outcome and Sarah is terribly upset by the incident. She is surprised when he meets with her the following day and apologizes for his roguish behavior after ingesting too many shots of Jack Daniels. Sarah is not dubious about his rage from the night before dissolving into mild mannered Clark Kent. Similarly, Sarah was not rated high on possessing safe judgment calls before and was not about to suddenly wise up. The young girl walks into a sadistic psycho’s lair. Following Andrew to his apartment was the worst decision of her life.

I was predisposed to dislike this book because I had read the first book and was aware that the author deployed third person POV for the main characters of the novel. I am quite prejudiced on this topic. Using the First Person POV for Sarah, the main character and protagonist of the novel, would have given the reader an intimate look into what thoughts and feelings she was experiencing. The technique obviously leads to strong character development. Most importantly though the use of First Person POV evokes powerful emotions in the reader and creates a deep bond between the reader and what is happening in real time to the main character. It does not feel personal and simply does not make the reader “feel” the victim’s pain, become involved emotionally in the victim’s plight.

Readers know going in that the 16-year-old girl named Sarah is going to be abducted and held captive by a sadistic sexual predator. Given the horrific torture that was inflicted upon the victim I pretty quickly realized that this was a stroke of luck. The details of the acts of hellish applications of pain and disfigurement were genuinely disturbing thus it was more tolerable to intellectually “log” the long list of egregious torture than to be empathizing with the victim figuratively holding back sympathy for her and off the charts disgust and hatred for the perpetrators.

Issues related to the need for the reader to suspend disbelief bothered me. For an example I felt that it was rather far-fetched that a 16-year-old high school student could write a horror novel that was readily accepted for publication. Later in the narrative, the author includes some back story that may reverse my opinion that her selling a horror novel in particular at age 16 was implausible.

The actions of the father who works as a police detective bothered me quite a bit. For an example, he was aware that his wife had been convinced that there had been an altercation of sorts the first night that Sarah met the new boy from school. This did not appear to have any bearing on the father Eric looking at the last person to see her and viewing him with prejudice given the wife’s convictions. Moreover, I could hardly believe that Eric conducted his search of Andrew’s secret flat in the manner he did. I will not elaborate here due to potential spoiler. Obviously, I was at odds with decisions made by the head of the investigation pertinent to police actions and inactions. This issue led directly to an action by Eric that was problematic for me as a reader for a number of reasons. Readers of the book will understand what I am referring to albeit may or may not agree with my assessment of Eric’s actions and overall judgment skills.

Given the aforementioned reservations I was actually surprised that going into the final quarter of the book I started to add the positive aspects or points I liked about the novel. This was due to the “about face” of the plot line, the “superpowers” of a “Big Mac”, and a miracle of improvement in Sarah’s ability to think and recall. Sarah’s appearance is worse than a female prisoner of Auschwitz Prison Camp at the end of the war. That said, I liked where the narrative went so, I was more than happy to stop my harping on credibility gaps. I loved the ending, albeit it was rough reaching that point. The author inserted a satisfying plot twist at the end, which explained a bit about why Sarah was capable of writing a damn scary book. It was a salve applied to a nasty burn, though. But that was only when I rewound the surprise ending and played it a second time. I bumped the rating to 4 Stars. Readers love this guy. My friend was impressed enough to slap down a 5-Star Rating and declare the book’s perfection as a work of extreme horror.

Justin Boote writes extreme horror novels under the pen name of J. Boote. His main topic to write about is demonic possession, and then there are ghosts as well. Boote is regurgitating actual true crime abominations, and then writing a fictional account of the case, perhaps a compilation of cases. He essentially tells us this in his author’s notes and I was impressed by the extent of his research. An interesting angle for this aspiring and lavishly praised writer of some truly sick tales that happen to be true. He is good at what he does.

TRUTH IS STRANGER THAN FICTION UNLESS YOU ARE READING J. BOOTE! ...more

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May 19, 2023 renee w rated it really liked it

4.5

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Aug 08, 2023 Sarah Stevens rated it it was amazing

outstanding!

By far better than the first book! I’ve read both books in two days! I cannot wait for the third!!!

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May 15, 2025 Anja Henriksen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: physical-e-books

Fantastic! But a very tough read. Knowing upfront Mr. Boote is basing this series on events sadly happening to people all the time all over the world, it's also an important read.

Authors always have to balancing what happens in real life and what will be perceived as completely unrealistic when writing it as a story. Sadly real life is more far fetched than fantasy, in other words authors struggles with writing real life stuff like this without being called out for being unbelievable, etc.
Mr.B ...more

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Apr 20, 2024 The_5ft_reader rated it it was amazing

Well.i didn't think after the first book, things could go darker, but here it is ..... I loved the references to some of the authors other books, I loved the twisted end, and I loved the way the psychological effect of everything Sarah goes through. it still has her questioning herself! Another excellent book in the monsters series but another extremely graphic one! ...more

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Oct 01, 2023 Rhian rated it it was amazing

Brutal. Unrelenting brutality that grips you by the neck and doesn't let go. ...more

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May 17, 2023 David John rated it it was amazing

This book was great. It seemed even more extreme than the previous book “They are all monsters”. There was a great deal of torture in this book so it may not be for everyone but without giving too much away, I loved the way it ends.

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