Book 2 and Book 3 of Dan Wells' John Cleaver series were exactly what I was looking for. In Mr. Monster we find that John has been having some trouble locking up what he has released. His monster is out and needs to be fed!
In Mr. Monster John has not only bounced back from the ending of the last book but he is also dealing with an inner battle. After tasting killing, he now wants more... or at least some part of him does. While he is dealing with this he is also budding up a relationship with Brooke, trying to get involved with an FBI case and dealing with his growing horror.
When it comes to Brooke, his mother has created an opportunity for John to give her a ride to and from school. "I'd made a long list of exceptions to cover the area between "ignoring her completely" and "abducting her at knife point." This makes for humor filled situations, especially when we are dealing with a sociopath for most of the book. Even though they do grow closer something eventually breaks the spell. Is it self preservation? Maybe death? Well, you will just have to read and see.
There is definitely something interesting between the new murders and the agent that John is trying to talk to about his ideas on the new murders. Unfortunately for John he is not allowed near certain aspects because various people do not want to encourage him, especially his mom. She is the only one that knows what's going on inside John.
Thankfully John gets to see another day, and we also get to see the set up for book three.
Okay so I Don't Want to Kill You starts with John trying to figure out who the third murderer is. Brooke is a non-major role in this book seeing as how things ended in the second. However, John is not without love interest. Such as a stalker, John is ever present in the latest murders that are occurring in his town. Being such, John gets close to the Sheriff's daughter Marci. She is such a great help to his obsession, never being to critical and only stopping him when he has gone too far.
The major murders are dealing with teenage girls but we don't realize this until too late, John doesn't realize this until it is too late. I really liked this installment because John is beginning to accept himself and realize that there might be away for other to accept him. Unfortunately for John and the readers there are many things that change. I think readers will be surprised about what happens towards the end but also a sense of relief and calm that has not been established yet, but will come eventually. And if you are not convinced to read this series, I will leave you with this gem:
“[...] Mom’s not keeping me out because it’s a dead friend, she’s keeping me out because it’s a dead sixteen-year-old girl with no clothes on’
‘And that’s officially the creepiest thing you’ve ever said,’ said Lauren. She stopped typing, and then grimaced and shivered, like she’d just eaten something disgusting. ‘Seriously – yuck.’
I smiled. ‘I’ve got a live girlfriend – what do I need a dead one for?’
[…]
Lauren folded her arms. ‘How do I know you’re not just trying to get her out of the house for your own nefarious purposes?’
I smiled. ‘What kind of trouble am I going to get into? The dead girl doesn’t get here until tomorrow.”
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