I Am Not A Serial Killer (John Cleaver, 1) by Dan Wells (Epub)

Description

John Wayne Cleaver is dangerous, and he knows it.He’s spent his life doing his best not to live up to his potential.He’s obsessed with serial killers, but really doesn’t want to become one. So for his own sake, and the safety of those around him, he lives by rigid rules he’s written for himself, practicing normal life as if it were a private religion that could save him from damnation.Dead bodies are normal to John. He likes them, actually. They don’t demand or expect the empathy he’s unable to offer. Perhaps that’s what gives him the objectivity to recognize that there’s something different about the body the police have just found behind the Wash-n-Dry Laundromat—and to appreciate what that difference means.Now, for the first time, John has to confront a danger outside himself, a threat he can’t control, a menace to everything and everyone he would love, if only he could.Dan Wells’s debut novel, I Am Not a Serial Killer, is the first volume of a trilogy that will keep you awake and then haunt your dreams.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “This dazzling, un-put-downable debut novel proves beyond a doubt that Dan Wells has the gift. His teenage protagonist is as chilling as he is endearing. More John Wayne Cleaver, please.” ―F. Paul Wilson, New York Times bestselling author“The beauty of the prose, mixed with the depth of characterization, gives the haunting, first person narrative a human touch. Regardless of your age or your genre preferences, you will find this story both profound and enthralling.” ―Brandon Sanderson, New York Times bestselling author About the Author DAN WELLS writes a little bit of everything, but he is best known for the Partials Sequence and the John Cleaver series, the first book of which is now a major motion picture. He is a co-host of the educational podcast Writing Excuses, for which he won a Hugo and now helps run a yearly, week-long writing conference. In addition to novels, novellas, and shorts, he has also written and produced a stage play, called “A Night of Blacker Darkness,” and works as a staff writer on the TV show “Extinct.” He has lived in the US, Mexico, and Germany, and currently resides in Utah with his wife and six children and 439 board games.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I watched the movie first, thankfully, so I was prepared for what was all coming in the book.I loved it so much more than the movie. John is the kind of character every author wishes he/she could create. I certainly do. He’s an anti-hero that you can’t help but fall in love with, and then you feel guilty about loving someone so screwed up, but that makes you love him more, because he’s screwes up. A lovely sick cycle.If you like incredibly well written YA paranormal, this is for you – don’t let the YA deter you, John is every bit as adult as you or I. Maybe more so? He’s a self-proclaimed, semi-diagnosed sociopath. He lacks empathy. He’s got rules to keep him from doing anything bad, but he really really wants to do bad. He’s a training mortician, and he dreams about embalming the girls in his classes. Yet there’s something about him that’s easy to associate with. Or maybe I’m just a psycho, who knows. He knows he can’t hurt people, but when someone else starts hurting the people in his town, he figures maybe he can fight fire with fire. Emphasis on fire.I will be honest – the series did not maintain the excellence that was this first novel. You can’t maintain a character like John without losing something.But with that being said, I inhaled all five over the course of four days, and I’m anxiously awaiting book six, and none of the books were rated below a 4 star from me, so they’re still better than most of the stuff I read.If you like dark and screwes up and strange and entrancing, I cannot recommend this book enoug

⭐At first, the protagonist in Dan Wells’ I Am Not a Serial Killer feels like a young-adult version of Dexter (Jeff Lindsay’s surprisingly likable vigilante psychopath). John Wayne Cleaver is a teenager with murderous impulses. But he doesn’t want to act on them, so he walls off his inner monster with an ironclad set of rules: if you’re thinking about hurting someone, compliment them instead; if you’re starting to obsess over someone, avoid them for at least a week; etc. Basically, don’t be crazy. All of this is similar to Dexter’s “code,” guidelines he follows to channel his demons in ways that don’t endanger innocents.But then a real demon shows up and starts butchering people. And it’s this supernatural component that begins to set I Am Not a Serial Killer apart. We’ve seen the “It takes a killer to catch a killer” angle before; setting John on the trail of an actual monster was an interesting wrinkle.Beyond the otherworldly aspect, though, what I really liked was how John’s inner conflict drove the story. He convinces himself he’s the only one who can stop the demon, but to do so, he has to unleash his own. Embracing his personal darkness both helps and hurts his cause: John’s confident he can kill the demon, but he’s drawn to—and distracted by—the carnage his quarry leaves in its wake. The demon also turns out to be a reluctant villain, motivated by emotions that make it feel more human to John than he does to himself.My only real issue was that the supernatural element ultimately felt a little underplayed (and late; it doesn’t get introduced until several chapters in). John is shocked when he first sees the demon reveal its true form, but he doesn’t seem surprised that it exists. Even if this is because he lives with his own beast, I could have done with more of John researching tales of demons, looking to mythology for ways to defeat them, etc.Oh, and it goes without saying that the story is super twisted. But if you liked Dexter or want to see a great example of how to connect—and complicate—a character’s inner and external goals, give I Am Not a Serial Killer a shot.

⭐That was….different. I think the premise (one of them, anyway) was interesting: a teenage sociopath for a protagonist. However, the other plotlines seemed to kind of detract from that original idea, and it just devolved into one long unbelievable action sequence.I may not be the target audience for this series.The writing itself is simple and straightforward. It’s not lyrical by any stretch, but it’s not objectionable, either.I think the author tried to make John, our sociopathic main character, more likable by making him want desperately to be good, but I just didn’t buy it. A sociopath, by definition, has no empathy, does not believe in social contracts, does not care whether other people live or die, and doesn’t desire to be “good” but only to do whatever necessary to further their own agendas. Maybe I’m too well-informed to be able to suspend my disbelief on that score, but I just didn’t buy that John would go to such great lengths to be his own Jiminy Cricket.At any rate, I don’t think I will continue with this series. It’s just not for me. 2.5 stars for not being horrid.

⭐I Am Not A Serial Killer surprised me by how disturbing and creepy it was. I went in knowing it would be both, but I was taken aback just how much it made my skin crawl. There’s gruesome murders and on page descriptions of embalming bodies. There’s also the main character, John, who might be a sociopath and has obsession with serial killers. John might seem like an unlikable character with his lack of empathy, but it was surprising how he wasn’t. I liked John! He tried his best to be good and do what’s considered normal, and he had connection to a few around him.Wells’s writing style was very factual and straight to the point, which might not work for every book. However, it just made this one even creepier and more gruesome, and it fit perfectly for John as narrator. The cold facts and the lack of emotion in the writing style made John truly come alive on the page. I do have to confess that it also made me take breaks while reading, because it was creepy and made my skin crawl multiple times. The mystery, murders, and chasing a serial killer got my pulse racing and it was terrifying to wait and see what happens next. Absolutely a thrill.If you like chilling thrillers and horror, I Am Not A Serial Killer is the right choice for you. I do recommend it, and I’m not one to usually read horror stories.

⭐I absolutely loved this book. I initially hesitated about buying it as I was a bit wary it would talk a lot about real-life serial killers which really does not appeal to me at all (I am of course perfectly OK reading about fictional serial killers!). But the book is much more about what goes on in John’s head and real-life serial killers are just mentioned in passing, mostly to illustrate John’s preoccupation with them, so I was OK with that. (There was one serial killer I hadn’t heard of – don’t Google them; it’s grim.) I’m puzzled by other reviewers who suggest it is a book for young adults based on the supernatural elements of the story. I had no idea that such things as supernatural elements automatically conferred a reading age on a book. Someone should probably tell Stephen King!! Anyway, I am 40+ and I loved it, supernatural elements and all.John is such an intriguing character and you’re simultaneously horrified and fascinated by how his mind works and how he deals with the problems of his inclinations. He is also very (darkly) funny. The story is really absorbing and it was all over far too quickly – I immediately bought the next one the series. A really great book. Buy it.

⭐I picked this book up and loved it straight away, I read a third of it in one sitting but unfortunately had to stop for this thing called sleep that is apparently important. It follows John who has anti social personality disorder, (or you know, is a psychopath) he’s only 15 so he hasn’t actually been diagnosed yet but he has it. He is also obsessed with serial killers so when someone starts killing people in his small town he is more than a little bit interested. I thought this was a contemporary but it does have supernatural horror elements to it. But whatever, because it was brilliant. John struggles the whole time with trying to not be a bad person but the more he gets involved with what is happening the more difficult it becomes. It’s not a heavy difficult read either, I think I read it in three days and that was while I was very busy so you should all go pick it up.

⭐Wow! What to say here…? The author spoke so much about his “John Cleaver series” on the Writing Excuses podcast that I just had to give it a shot. It shocked me how easy it was to read. This is, strangely, a book with restrained prose. This actually ties in with the main character’s sociopathic voice. The sparse but effective descriptions fit the stereotypical, small town setting, while side characters feel like real, but unexplored, people (again John is a sociopath with a good degree of teenage angst). I look forward to sequels, where I’m sure these different characters will all be explored. There are not many (if any) mis-steps here for me.If I had to gripe I could say that I wanted more from Max and that I guessed many of the reveals a little earlier than I should have (but I have heard a lot about John Cleaver) and I found myself uncomfortable with one or two of John’s actions/comments — then again that might be because… I am not a serial killer!The story did not go how I expected. I laughed, I cried; I felt genuine emotion. Ultimately, this book gets 4* because I’ve been struggling to finish what I start and this was an easy and fun (?) read. I have to question my sanity for sympathizing with John Cleaver but that’s what we pay therapists for. Enjoy it!

⭐*spoiler*I love how it was written from the perspective of a 15 year old. It was written really well, and had vibes of dexter and catcher in the rye. The emotion was brilliant and the depth of the protagonist was great. I loved the knowledge the author displayed on serial killers and that John had traits, and his view of things was never faultered keeping in line his traits as a serial killer whilst narrating.However, 3 stars is all I’d give it. The writing style deserves 5 stars and most of the story deserves 4 stars. But I just didnt like the parts that were unrealistic. I didnt like the fact of a demon killing and dont prefer books on the paranormal side. That is just preference on my part and I would definitely reccomend it as a book to read regardless of my taste or your own taste as the book itself is written wonderfully.

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