Review: Mr Monster by Dan Wells

John Wayne Cleaver has always known he has a dark side but he’s fought hard to oppress it and live a normal life – separating John from Mr Monster to survive. But after confronting and destroying the vicious killer that was terrorizing his town, his inner monster is getting stronger and harder to contain.

And now more bodies are being discovered...

With the police failing to catch Clayton County’s second serial killer John is going to have to use his secret knowledge of the first demon-killer to trap the second...but will he be able to avoid suspicion falling on him, and, in the face of extreme horrors, will he be able to restrain Mr Monster?

Boom! Splash!

Those are the sounds of Dan Wells blowing just about every other YA horror novel out of the water with this, his sequel to the fantastic I Am Not A Serial Killer. In fact, the likes of Jeffery Deaver, James Patterson and Jack Kerley are no doubt already glancing nervously over their serial-killer-novel-writing shoulders for fear that Dan Wells is about to steal all of their glory.

Before purchasing I Am Not A Serial Killer for the school library I asked a few twitter friends whether it was suitable to be shelved in such an establishment. The resounding answer was a very definite "Yes!", but with the additional comment of "probably not suitable for younger readers". I decided that the only way to decide was to read it for myself, and I am very glad I did. What a thoroughly disturbing, yet totally enjoyable mind trip! It is the sort of book that will creep into the back of your mind during those moments between sleep and being awake, although not in a "is there a monster in the closet" kind of way, more a "is the quiet kid at school actually just a bit weird, or is he secretly fighting an inner battle against a primeval urge to kill" kind of way. So no... definitely not for younger readers, but horror loving teenagers will lap it up (although I am a little surprised that I haven't heard of a Daily Mail witch-burning campaign against Dan Wells).

The question on my lips, and those of every other person who enjoyed this first book so much, was would Mr Monster be able to match the outstanding quality of its predecessor? The answer? No it is most definitely not the equal of I Am Not A Serial Killer, this book is so good it leaves the first in the series languishing on the subs bench. It is a far darker, more brutal journey into John Wayne Cleaver's tormented mind as he deals with the frustrations of a dysfucntional family and his concerns about his growing relationship with Brooke - a girl he drives to school on a daily basis whilst at night he dreams of laying her out on a mortuary table in preparation for....... (I'll leave that to your imagination). On top of all this he is also being hounded by an FBI agent who has been hanging around town ever since the Clayton Killer last struck. Now that he has finally killed he is also fighting an even greater inner battle against the urge to relieve someone else of their final breath.

This book is probably the closest a YA book will ever get before being labelled adult fiction; as a result of the subject nature it has to be pretty nasty in places. The new killer in town doesn't just kill his victims, as John deduces during an embalming he tortures them for some time too. The author very cleverly teases you with morsels of descriptive writing, leaving your own imagination to fill in the rest of the gory details. Like I said - one hell of a mind trip! And what's more, Dan Wells brings the book to a deeply satisfying conclusion whilst simultaneously setting us up for the third book in the series with an expertise lacking in many long-established authors.

Mr Monster is available to buy right now. Thank you to the very generous people at Headline for sending me a copy to read - my lawyer will be in touch shortly regarding my nightmares! ;-)

*** Good Dog, Bad Dog Contest Result

The draw has just taken place and the lucky winner of the Good Dog, Bad Dog contest is:

Amber Kirk

Well done Amber and thank you to everyone who entered. I will now endeavour to contact the winner through email. Please reply with details of postal address within 48 hours or I will draw another name out of the hat. Many thanks to the kind people at Random House for providing the prize.

 (Note: all names were drawn randomly using a nifty little  freeware programme called The Hat) 

** Guest post - The Crow by James O'Barr

In the relatively short time that I have been writing this blog I have discovered a number of brilliant book blogs out there, many of which produce reviews of a quality that I really aspire to. One such blog is Unbound, a visit to which will provide you with a veritable feast of reviews, interviews and articles focusing on the darker side of fiction - fantasy, horror, graphic novels, manga... you name it. Unbound also has a sister site called Young & Un:Bound, featuring reviews by kids for kids. I consider myself very fortunate that Adele from Unbound kindly agreed to write a piece about one of her favourite Graphic Novels for my themed month.

The Crow by James O'Barr

I've been allowed to come and play as long as I tell you all about my love for graphic novels.

That's easy, I love graphic novels guys!! They make up far too small a part of my collection but over the years I have found some real treasures hidden among those pages.

It won't come as a surprise of course to anyone who has spoken to me ever, that one of the first graphic novels I ever read was The Crow, by James O'Barr. I've always had a slight hidden goth streak and when I was introduced to The Crow I was immediately doomed to a lifetime of collecting good and bad movies, comics, short story collections and action figures.

The appeal of The Crow to me was multiple. I had never come across anything like it before of course, which sparked an interest. I found myself reading it through quickly at first to get the story, then going back and re reading so I could enjoy the artwork and the additional bits and pieces filtered between what presumably were the original comics.

The story most of you probably know, young, sweet, happy couple in love get brutally murdered and the crow brings boy back from the dead to avenge them both. He sets off on a killing spree. Apart from the crow mythology in the story I don't suppose the basic idea of coming back from the dead for vengeance was especially new. The delivery was beautiful though; O'Barr crafted his tale of violence and revenge and washed it all in sorrow and loss, making it an emotional and moving read. The character of Eric Draven was tortured but not blind to the good in people and maintained an interest in the salvation of others rather than becoming lost in his primary purpose. There is however plenty of violence for those of you who like it.

I struggle these days to keep the novel and the first movie separate in my head having enjoyed them both so often, but while the plot changes to the movie made it more fun to watch the plot of the novel was in many ways more touching.

Imagery of course is an important part of the story itself, but the art in The Crow was well worth the cover price for its own sake. The dark, ink heavy drawings vividly bringing both mood and character to life for the reader, the strange interludes (I am sorry the skull cowboy never made the movie edit although he was originally due to be in it). The additional art exploring the looks of Draven and his tragedy are beautiful and I still spend time looking through them all when I re-read. The artwork seemed less about simply showing you the story and more about communicating the feeling, plangent and sorrowful, much more than vengeful.

The Crow Graphic Novel is also littered with poems and song lyrics, scattered through; as mentioned previously I assume this is part of it having been separate comics to begin with. They are well chosen and add a lot to the overall experience. After years of loving Raymond Chandler Evening as a poem, I am now a huge fan of the song and the artist Robyn Hitchcock. There are all sorts of additional bits in there but they all help to build the mood of the story, nothing is wasteful.

There is nothing surprising or new about loving The Crow, plenty of people do and I know at least one person who would accuse me of being predictable and trite for citing it, but the fact remains it was influential in my reading habits, it changed my assumptions about the medium completely and it still affects me today as it did 15 years ago when I borrowed it from a friend. I am still amused by "skluurk" as a sound effect, still moved by Eric's sorrow, still glad for him when it's all over. Most of all I am still open to experiencing the brilliance of things like Joe Kelly's I Kill Giants because The Crow stayed with me in a way that (fond as I am of them) the X-men comics simply didn't.

~~~~~

Adele sent me this yesterday but I didn't get the chance to read it until I got home from a school parents' evening. Once I had read it I immediately felt the need to re-read The Crow for myself - if you have never read it then I envy you as I know what a treat you have in store the first time you pick it up. Thank you Adele for a great guest post.