Dan Wells's "I Don't Want To Kill You"...A Book Review

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What happens when a demon-killing teenager gets a girlfriend?

Dan Wells writes a book about it.

I Don't Want To Kill You is Book Three in the John Cleaver series, and with most subsequent books in a series, Wells turns up the heat on the action, on the danger, and on the development of the characters. John Wayne Cleaver lives where two demons have brutally killed many in his small town. In the previous two books, I Am Not A Serial Killer, and Mr. Monster, Cleaver finds a way to outsmart and ultimately kill those very demons.

In I Don't Want To Kill You, Cleaver must confront his most challenging adversary yet--girls. In Book Two Cleaver begins dating the gorgeous girl next door, but a relationship could not develop because of a horrendous incident that could forever destroy what might have been. But in Book Three, Cleaver finds another girl who eventually becomes his girlfriend. We are there when the two attend Cleaver's first dance, his first kiss.

It's tender while people close to him are dying.

There's a twist and an unexpected ending. Speaking of which, parts of the ending I didn't want to read because of what I thought would happen.

What I've enjoyed about this series (so far...) is that each book, though dedicated to a brilliant yet disturbed young man who kills demons, is different. It's not like a series such as The Hunger Games where each story is much the same. I've begun Book Four and it's differences of the other three outnumber the similarities. It's quite an achievement to be able to produce books with similar themes but that deliver different reading experiences. It's a testament to Wells's skill as an author.

* Photo used without permission from: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8872180-i-don-t-want-to-kill-you?from_search=true&search_version=service