Barry Lyga - I Hunt Killers

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Far better than it sounds

This is a very readable and exciting book, and it is also surprisingly insightful. I think it is rather ill-served by its title and cover which give the impression that it is just another gory, formulaic serial-killer novel. It isn't - it is quite original in its approach, has some thoughtful things to say and offers some real depth of characterisation.

A plot synopsis sounds very conventional - it is told from the point of view of Jazz, the son of a vicious sociopathic serial killer and schooled by his father from an early age to follow in the footsteps of Dear Old Dad who is now in jail. He has resisted this, and when a killer begins to mimic Dear Old Dad's murders, Jazz becomes determined to catch him. So far so predictable, but what makes this far, far better than it sounds is the character of Jazz, his relationships with his contemporaries and the interesting psychological insights the author produces from his set-up. In particular, Jazz's turmoil over who he really is and how other people see him, and his worries about whether his relationships are genuine or just the manipulative pretence in which his father tried to school him seem to me to give a very insightful portrait of teenage angst in general. Barry Lyga also catches the relationship between Jazz and his friend brilliantly and the relationship with his girlfriend is also very well done. These aspects surprised me with how good they were and really made the book stand out for me.

The plot is very well paced and moves along nicely while allowing time for the characters to breathe. Lyga generates a good sense of place, avoids stereotyped characters pretty well and there are moments of real humour, too. Aspects of this book were so good that for a time I thought this might be a five-star review, but I wasn't so keen on the rather conventional (if reasonably exciting) ending setting up a sequel and possibly a series. Nevertheless, there is far more to this book than I was expecting and it's a very enjoyable read. Recommended.