Dan Wells's "I Am Not A Serial Killer" Movie...A Review

I knew the movie was out there since filming began. I followed Dan Wells's posts as he updated the fans of both him and his novel, I Am Not a Serial Killer. So, when it was first released and later when it hit Netflix, I made it a point to watch it.

And I did watch it--just a few years later.

There's so many things I liked about the film. I liked the style. It had a gritty, real "meat-and-potatoes" feel. It's set in winter in a small town in Minnesota and I felt like I was a visitor in a place that made me uncomfortable. The snow added a layer of isolation for the characters.

If you're not familiar with the book, it's more the story of how a teenager deals with his inner demons and then, the real demon he faces in the story (sorry, spoiler alert...). I should re-read the book again because I kept thinking back and wondering if a particular scene in the film was in the book. I've forgotten a lot of details from the book, but I do remember how Wells masterfully created a character in John Cleaver that both terrifies us and earns our sympathy at the same time. When John learns the mystery of why (and, more importantly, how...) the citizens of his small town are dying, he's probably the best one in the entire city to deal with the situation.

I don't know the budget they had for this film. It looked like the filmmakers were frugal in how they spent their money, but for me, this added to its charm. I wanted to see John overcome the battles both inside and outside his own mind. The film showed me that. We see a strange kid who knows himself and what he is. And, of course, watching Christopher Lloyd as the neighbor was a genius example of casting.

I Am Not a Serial Killer is a great little film that worked for me. Then again, I wanted it to succeed. I was glad to hear the film was being made, glad the story would read a whole new audience. And, perhaps the best thing I can say about the film--the best news I can give to Dan Wells--watching the film made me want to read the book again.

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

Dan Wells's "Mr. Monster"...A Book Review

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Dan Wells's Book 2 in the John Cleaver series is called Mr. Monster. I finished it last week. It took me one day to listen to the whole thing. I know I'm late to the party--it's a six-year old book. That doesn't matter. It's a great read.

Several years ago I began going to writing conferences and symposiums. I had bought Dan's first John Cleaver book, I Am Not a Serial Killer, which I found refreshing. Not that the topic of serial killings if necessarily refreshing, but he brought a new take on the subject and did a fantastic job doing so. When I began going to conferences, Dan would sometimes attend. And if you know Dan, you know he's a great marketer. He was the one with a Mr. Monster tag on his shirt. I remember those tags (and the Mr. Monster bookmark I brought home with me...) as I read his book. 

Since the release of Mr. Monster, Dan's career has reached bounds many of us envy. Dan, at least to the observer, has remained the same calm, laid-back individual with the Indiana Johns hat.

Mr. Monster picks up where I Am Not a Serial Killer left off. John, a teenager who knows he not only has all the markings of a serial killer, but who sticks to ridged rules so he does not become one, has just vanquished the supernatural foe. Soon he becomes captive of another monster bend on John's destruction. 

There's some of the fascinating behind-the-scenes of an operating funeral home that was so interesting in the first book, but not as much. This one focuses more on the monster's method of torture and the victims he's caught.

It's a fast read; it's a great read. It's not too gory, but I'd keep any pre-teens from it. For everyone else, pick it up and give it a read. I think you'll enjoy it.

* Photo used without permission from: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7167271-mr-monster?from_new_nav=true&ac=1&from_search=true

Dan Wells's "I Am Not A Serial Killer"...A Book Review

If you don't know about the Wells brothers, Dan and Robison, you should get to know them. They're writers, each having achieved an impressive level of success. I know a lot of brothers try to outdo each other playing one-on-one basketball, or with their grades at school. I don't know a lot of dueling brother authors. Then again, I don't know if they "duel" over their writing. However, the dedication in Dan Wells's I am Not a Serial Killer suggest they do.

Speaking of that book, I finished it this week.

What a great book!

I've known of Dan Wells for years. He's one of the Writing Excuses Podcast members, a podcast I follow. He has written several highly regarded series. I am Not a Serial Killer was his first published work.

The book's protagonist is a teenager who loves everything about serial killers, the same way a die-hard baseball fan loves to collect baseball cards. It's his thing. Even his name, John Wayne Cleaver almost destines him to have a fascination on the subject. And having his mother and aunt own and operate a mortuary where he sometimes get to work also helps.

A book with such a title must include several deaths performed by...well, a serial killer. Because of his natural curiosity and access to information on the deaths, John tracks down the killer, who kills and leaves evidence like no other killer before. Soon a game of cat-and-mouse begins between John and the killer until the inevitable end when hero and demon face each other for their final battle.

If you believe the book to be one of just "blood and guts," it's not. It's more. There's an internal fight inside of John that's intriguing. All of us who've survived our teen years know how difficult it can be. With John, we understand his inner battle because the first-person narration let's us feel it with him. I also liked the level of detail Wells included describing the mortuary and how a body is processed for burial. It reminded me of when my father passed away and the mortuary allowed my siblings and me to tour the embalming facility (with no bodies visible, of course...). I was fortunate enough to speak with Mr. Wells last weekend and I praised him on how well he described the process. He said he's gotten many compliments on that particular part of the book.

The pacing is great. The conflicts feel real and I recommend this book. I remember asking Dan to sign my copy of the book, a book I bought at a yard sale that Dan signed to someone else. You can see not only can Dan write a great horror story, but he's got a great sense of humor as well.

Dan Wells' "Ruins,"...A Book Review

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Today I finished Dan Wells' Ruins. Finishing this book also finishes Wells' Partials Sequence, a collection of three books.

This trilogy takes place almost sixty-or-so years in the future. The earth's survived (barely...) two devastating wars, one where humans created living organisms to fight for them, and the other, a war between these manufactured soldiers and the remaining human race.

Great set up for a series!

Because the soldiers, or partials, are sentient beings, they cannot be programmed to like robots, thus avoiding the Asimov Laws where the creations of man will not allow man to come to harm.

Forget about that! These partials are serious killers!

Each book raises the seriousness level, as you would expect. In the third book the well-developed characters face total annihilation, complete with "hand of God" weapons. Wells provides the characters (and by extension, the reader...) to contemplate philosophical dilemmas without being too preachy or heavy-handed. 

Caution! There is a love triangle, which helped to motivate the three characters throughout the series. I'm not necessarily opposed to love triangles in stories, but I spoke with a fan of dystopian literature and she said she hates them. I guess to each his--or her--own.

What I enjoyed the most of the series was Well's creation of what is called "The Link" between all partials. George Lucas created "The Force." Frank Herbert created a way for characters to use spoken words as a weapon. And Dan Wells created "The Link." Basically, it's a way for partials to communicate between each other, but it also contains a historical record, plus it's kind of like a Vulcan Mind Melt, but without doing that Vulcan palm-thing on another person's face. Really like the possibilities "The Link" gives to the story. Entire series could be written just on that theme alone.

I liked all the books. There were some slow times, as with most epics, but Wells took me to a believable world with believable characters. Well done, Dan!

* Photo used without permission from: https://www.goodreads.com/book/photo/17607716-ruins

Two Local Authors...Two Dystopian Worlds

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This month I read two books by two local authors, local authors who, because of their incredible talent, appear to be doing well. They both know how to tell a good, engaging story. They both have created believable worlds, and the stories I read are not limited to one book. Luckily for me (and everyone else...), there's more to read from both.

And both authors wrote about dystopian realities. Dystopian genres fascinate me! I've started a few stories where the future of humanity has bought the farm and survivors struggle to survive. There are similarities between the two stories. Climates have changed, governments have broken down, and the remaining humans have devised methods to get through their days alive.

Dan Wells's book, Fragments is the second in a trilogy and James Dashner's The Maze Runner is the first of his series so there are differences between the two. Wells set up his world in his first book Partials so his world is continuing. Dashner sets us in the middle of a world as foreign as possible where we know as much of what's going on as the main character. Having your memory swiped can do that to a person.

I enjoyed both books. Wells's first book in his series is more involved than Dashner's, but to be fair, Partials takes place on the eastern seaboard of the United States and involves several different communities, where The Maze Runner is contained almost exclusively in a huge, mysterious maze. Later this year you'll be able to see The Maze Runner on the big screen. I LOVE to see any author succeed, but it's even sweeter when they're local.

We have a lot of local authors and in the past few years I've gotten to know many of them personally. These are not "downer" people. In fact, most are downright cheery. I guess, for some, happiness (and success...) can be found at the expense of fictional characters.

* Photo used without permission from: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6186357-the-maze-runner?ac=1

ø Photo used without permission from: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13170596-fragments?from_search=true

Partials--A Book Review Of Sorts...

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 I don’t write a lot of book reviews. Thanks to our local library making audiobooks available, I’ve read a lot of books lately and so before I can think too much about the book I’ve just finished, I’m on to the next. Since they’re from the library, I'm reading mostly classics (I’m reading The Scarlet Letter for the first time now…). However, I came across a book last week by a local author, Dan Wells (his website can be found: HERE). It’s his latest work, Partials

I’ve heard Dan speak several times. He came to fame with his John Cleaver books and I have yet to read those. I also listen to a podcast on which Dan is a participant, Writing Excuses (the website for the podcast can be found: HERE). They’ve (or he’s…) discussed Partials several times on the podcast. I was between books so I thought I’d read my first Dan Wells Novel.

If you’ve heard about Partials and wondered what the book is about, the elevator pitch for the books is: Partials is a marriage between the Hunger Games literary series and the Battlestar Galactica television series. Wells’s dystopian world envelops a community of people trying to survive both a cyborg war and an unseen virus that has decimated the human race. A young brave maternity ward nurse and her friends embark on a dangerous, yet vital trip to New York City, a quarantined island totally inhabited by cyborg soldiers called partials.

Wells creates a believable world where the decisions of the humans and partials alike are reasonable based on their circumstances. There’s action, drama, romance, political intrigue, and plot turns as the story unfolds. Like Dan’s brother Robison Wells’s work Variant, the narrative not only requires additional novels to complete the complicated story, but we, the readers, would like these additional novels as soon as they are written.

Dan Wells’s Partials. A pretty good read…

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* Photo used without permission from: http://www.thedanwells.com/titles/partials.html

§ Photo used without permission from: http://www.thedanwells.com/bio.html