Review: I Hunt Killers

Title: I Hunt Killers
Author: Barry Lyga
Listening Time: 9 hours and 32 minutes
Rating: 1.5/5
Challenges: None

Summary from Goodreads.com

What if the world's worst serial killer...was your dad?

Jasper "Jazz" Dent is a likable teenager. A charmer, one might say.

But he's also the son of the world's most infamous serial killer, and for Dear Old Dad, Take Your Son to Work Day was year-round. Jazz has witnessed crime scenes the way cops wish they could—from the criminal's point of view.

And now bodies are piling up in Lobo's Nod.

In an effort to clear his name, Jazz joins the police in a hunt for a new serial killer. But Jazz has a secret—could he be more like his father than anyone knows?

I Hunt Killers was released in early 2012 and created quite a bit of buzz in the YA blogging world.  Everyone was talking about how phenomenal the book was.  After reading a review somewhere about the audio, I grabbed it with one of my monthly credits.  I also bought the Kindle version of the books, fearing that the audio would be so good, I'd want to continue the book in print if I couldn't listen.  I've been working my way through my audible back list this month, and I Hunt Killers finally came to the top.  I started it almost immediately after finishing Cinder.

I Hunt Killers is dark and twisted, telling the story of Jazz Dent, the son of a vicious serial killer.  Jazz is trying to convince himself that just because he is the son of Billy Dent, that he is not a natural psychopath.  As Jazz struggles with his own inner demons, a new serial killer is stalking Lobo's Nod, killing in a fashion eerily similar to that of Billy Dent himself.  Soon Jazz finds himself deep within the investigation.

What to say about this book...I think I'm in the minority here when I say, I really, really hated this book and had I not spent an Audible credit on it, I probably wouldn't have finished it.  There are several things I didn't like.  One, I didn't like Jazz and couldn't find any connection with him.  Two, the book grossed me out.  And three, I hated the narrator.  With everything combined, I just couldn't enjoy it.  I don't know if I would have a different perspective if I had read the book myself, but I don't think I would.  This won't be a book that I'll be running to get the sequel.