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Mr Monster by Dan Wells

I like to write reviews right after I’ve finished a book. It means I can get what I’m feeling about a story out without letting my brain get in the way.

So what am I feeling about Dan Wells’ book Mr Monster?

Impressed.

This is a very, very good book. It is the first book in a very long time to get such a visceral reaction from that if the main character had been in front of me at that point I would have hit him.

I won’t spoil the moment for you, but I honestly had to remind myself that this was fiction and there was no reason to get angry. That hasn’t happened…well not since I was a teenager.

Mr Monster is the second in the John Cleaver Trilogy, the first being I am NOT a Serial Killer. John Wayne Cleaver is your local sociopathic teenager. Observant, withdrawn and sharp. He lives by rules that keep his Antisocial Personality Disorder from becoming Bodies In The Basement Disorder.

Don’t hurt animals.

Don’t follow people.

Don’t get angry.*

In the first book, John let his inner monster cut loose to stop something that was, debatably, even worse than him. I say debatably because one of the strengths of the fist book was the way the lines between who was the good guy and who was the bad guy blurred more and more as you got into the story.

In Mr Monster the line isn’t so much blurred as obliterated. If you get into it as much as I did, you’ll start wondering if the world might be better off if John didn’t survive the ordeals he’s going through…and despite that you’ll like him anyway.

Mr Monster also forced me to ask myself: ‘How far would I go, if I found something or someone monstrous the law couldn’t touch?’ I honestly don’t know.

I can’t recommend Mr Monster enough. If you don’t have I am NOT a Serial Killer already, read that one first, then buy this one too.

You can buy Mr Monster from www.bookdepository.co.uk and get free shipping anywhere in the world!** You can also keep up with Dan Wells at http://www.fearfulsymmetry.net

 * I’m paraphrasing here.
** I live at the bottom of the world. Free shipping means something to me.
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