I recently read a new book by the name of “I Hunt Killers” by Barry Lyga for the book club here at school. If you are a Dexter fan, this is the book for you. This book allows you to look into the mind of someone who is unable to figure out his own thought processes due to a very atrocious childhood.  The life of main character, Jasper Dent, is quite unique: he was raised by a serial killer. To make matters even more interesting, his father was not a secret killer but instead, Billy Dent, made Jasper his protégé. Now, as you can probably imagine, a childhood of watching your father murder young women, men and even a childhood pet results in many psychological setbacks for any teen.   The only light in this dark story is that the start of the novel lets you know that Billy Dent has been caught and imprisoned, so Jasper is free of his mental manipulations. Only now, Jasper must figure out who he really is: is he the killer his father wants him to be, or does he see the value in humanity?

In this novel, Jasper is forced by his own inner inhibitions to prove his innocence in a starting trail of mysterious murders that show up in his small town. Thought the story you get to delve into the inner workings of Jaspers mind and see what he battles and what he uses as his motivation throughout his investigation. I enjoyed the psychological aspect and the inner battle you witness Jasper face, though I did feel there were some personality discrepancies that seemed out of character for a person in his condition. Despite these incongruities Lyga is able to do a fairly good job of shaping Jaspers possibly sociopathic persona.

Overall, if you are looking for a quick and exciting mystery thriller, this is the book for you. Just be warned that it can be slightly graphic and morbid, so be prepared for some blunt or even explicit language. If you like mysteries I am sure you would love the other two books in this three-part series, but it failed to enrapture my full attention, so I will not be reading the other books.