Mr. Monster by Dan Wells

 

Goodreads synopsis: In I Am Not a Serial Killer, John Wayne Cleaver saved his town from a murderer even more appalling than the serial killers he obsessively studies.
But it turns out even demons have friends, and the disappearance of one has brought another to Clayton County. Soon there are new victims for John to work on at the mortuary and a new mystery to solve. But John has tasted death, and the dark nature he used as a weapon--the terrifying persona he calls Mr. Monster--might now be using him.

No one in Clayton is safe unless John can vanquish two nightmarish adversaries: the unknown demon he must hunt and the inner demon he can never escape.

In this sequel to his brilliant debut, Dan Wells ups the ante with a thriller that is just as gripping and even more intense. He apologizes in advance for the nightmares.

My rating: 3 stars.

Content warnings: R. Blood and gore, some animal abuse, and references to domestic abuse.

(spoilers below)

Thoughts: I was annoyed with the first book a little, for pulling a monster seemingly out of nowhere, and I was annoyed with this book, for not really seeming to know what it was doing with its monster. I'll probably read the third book just to finish the series out, but I don't expect to be very amazed by it.

Going into this book, I knew better than to not expect monsters, but once I was finished it seemed to me it would have been better not to have the killer be a monster at all. The monster's reasons, motivations and powers, all felt very bland and served to make it, as a monster, less impressive than a human killer would have been, operating in the same way. Even the supernatural abilities that should have given the monster an extreme edge over John, didn't seem to be more than a minor inconvenience.

Even the writing style that made me really enjoy the first book, despite its poor set up and marketing, felt more bland and "normal" than before. John didn't feel as unique as he had before, and I can't really figure out why that is.

Then again, the author had the main character driving himself to the police station, at fifteen years old, unaccompanied, with only a learner's permit, so that should have given me an indication of just how much thought was actually put into this book.

For what it ended up being, it was an interesting enough book. But it certainly did not live up to the expectations its predecessor built up for it.