John Cleaver Books

by Dan Wells

I Am Not A Serial Killer
I convinced my husband that I AM NOT A SERIAL KILLER would be a great anniversary present when it came out. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect all I knew was that I enjoyed listening to Dan Wells on the podcast Writing Excuses. I don't necessarily think that this book is appropriate for a young adult audience, though for me the most graphic scene was when they described how a body is prepared for burial.

The story follows a young many by the name John Wayne Cleaver. His mother and aunt are the town's morticians. He helps them prepare the bodies when they are brought in and has a fascination with bodies and death. He knows that he exhibits all of the signs of a serial killer and does his best not to become a serial killer himself. He has rules that help keep him almost normal, except for the fact that he is lacking in empathetic emotions. When a real serial killer shows up in his town he has to decide whether to break his own rules or let more people die.

Though John doesn't have the same emotions that most people feel, I was always surprised at the emotions I felt. Not only did I like John, I wanted to support him, which is kind of creepy. This book kept me guessing and what was going to happen up until the end and though I don't normally read horror, I thoroughly enjoyed reading I AM NOT A SERIAL KILLER.

(I actually have a pin that says "I am not a serial killer" on it and no one seemed to even notice it for the first six months I owned it, and now it seems like every other day someone mentions it. I always smile and say "Don't you feel reassured?")

Mr. Monster
MR. MONSTER is the second book in the trilogy by Dan Wells. This one is the most gruesome of the three. As the title suggests in this book John Cleaver, the young protagonist, is not only fighting with a demon but his own internal monster as well. There comes a point in the book where there is a shift in his character and when I read it, I just wanted to cry. I really like John, which says a lot for Dan Wells if I can relate to a potential serial killer with violent desires.
With the initial serial killer dead John is feeling pretty good about his situation in life. The only problem is that by letting his barriers down to kill the monster, he is letting out his own monster. He doesn't have the same control over his desires that he did before. If that isn't enough, another killer comes to town and John is thrown into the middle of everything. He is forced to choose between his own humanity and the lives of those around him.

As I mentioned earlier, this book is definitely the one that creeped me out the most. Though most of the violence isn't shown, my imagination works wonders and just the vague descriptions were enough for me to get the idea. The problem with sequels is the author rehashing the same story line, but that is not the case with MR. MONSTER. This story was well written and I couldn't put it down.

I Don’t Want To Kill You
I was really nervous about reading I DON'T WANT TO KILL YOU. I really enjoyed reading the first two and I knew this was going to be the last one. (Although I probably wouldn't complain if we got one more, though I am happy with the trilogy.) I was worried that it was going to end in such a manner that the main character John, didn't have any hope for the future. Despite knowing the dark side of this character, I still wanted him to have his own happy ending.

This story starts off close to where the last one left. John is trying to determine if the new demon, Nobody, has accepted his challenge. Strange murders start happening and there are also a few suicides mixed in. His family life is still rough but there is a little more of an understanding between them all. That is when everything goes horribly right, and then understandably wrong. I didn't even know if John was going to succeed in this book and since I have heard Dan Wells speak on several occasions and I wouldn't put it past him to end it in a way I didn't like.

This one is my favorite, by leaps and bounds. Not only do we still see the dark side, although not nearly as much as in MR MONSTER, we see another side of John that is a nice blend of his two halves. Dan Wells does a perfect job of keeping me guessing what is going to happen up until the very end. I had no idea which twist and turn the book was going to take. And while I bawled, yes, bawled through the last portion, it was perfect and I couldn't argue with anything that happened.