I Hunt Killers, by Barry Lyga (fiction) - following Dad as a serial killer?

Dad taught him everything about hunting -
how to sharpen knives correctly,
how to choose the right victim,
how to kill a person without leaving any evidence behind.

Imagine the world's most notorious serial killer - as your dad.

Jazz knows how serial killers think and is determined to never be anything like his dad. But his nightmares continue, the sight of blood can trigger a flashback to being "on the job" with Dad as a kid... and a new killing spree has begun in his small town.

Barry Lyga skillfully takes readers into a killer's mind through vivid yet subtle writing which lingers in memory long after the book is closed. (If you're prone to nightmares, then I Hunt Killers is probably not for you!)

Grab the first 10 chapters and the prequel short story "Career Day" at Barry's website for free, then rush to find I Hunt Killers  at your local library or independent bookstore and pray that Jazz can find the killer before more bodies pile up...
**kmm

Book info: I Hunt Killers / Barry Lyga. Little Brown, 2012.   [author's website]   [publisher site]   [book trailer]  

My Recommendation: His dad killed people – lots of people. The world’s most infamous serial killer has been in prison for years when his teen son happens upon a dead body murdered in Billy’s style. And then another, and another. Surely the sheriff of Lobo’s Nod doesn’t suspect that Jazz is taking up the family trade…

Jazz is trying to finish high school in their hometown before the social workers find out that he’s taking care of his unbalanced grandmother, instead of Gramma taking care of him. Just one best friend, but who needs more than funny, crazy Howie, a hemophiliac who has to let Jazz have all the adventures. Not many folks are comfortable around Butcher Billy’s kid, but Sheriff G.William has been his mentor for a while.

Now, G.William won’t let Jazz see the files on the victims, refuses to realize that the cases are connected, doesn’t want to know that they are following Billy’s pattern from its very beginning – and that Jazz can predict what type of person will be the next victim.

All those years of Dad making Jazz help him sharpen his knives, clean up afterwards, go with him on ‘jobs’ have allowed his son to see the crime scenes and the victims through a killer’s eyes. Jazz has all the details about every person that Billy killed (refusing to visit the websites dedicated to his dad or his killing spree) – but does he have his dad’s killer instincts, too?

As the body count rises – each victim having one less finger remaining than the last – Jazz’s nightmares about the horrific lessons that his dad taught him increase. Why can’t he figure out who the killer is when he can tell who the next victim will be? When will G.William take his theory seriously and protect the next possible victims? Will finally Jazz have to visit his dad in maximum security prison to find out if somehow Billy unleashed another monster on the world?  

Forecast for Lobo’s Nod: nightmares ahead, trust no one, count all your fingers…A chilling thriller that’s so real that it’s really, really scary – definitely not for the faint-of-heart – I Hunt Killers is first in a new series by Barry Lyga. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.