I Don't Want to Kill You

February 7, 2011
In Wells's smart and sassy third supernatural suspenser featuring likable teenage sociopath John Wayne Cleaver (after Mr. Monster), the Handyman, a serial killer who removes the tongues and hands of his victims, is targeting the town fathers of Clayton, N.Dak. John, who sometimes assists his mother in the local mortuary business, believes the killer is demon possessed and consults with a local priest, who's horrified to discover that empathy-empty John is a potential murderer himself. Then a rash of teen suicides breaks out, threatening John's girlfriend, Marci, and forcing him to revise his deductions about the killer's identity. Wells lards his fanciful narrative with enough mortuary science to ground it in the cold realities of forensic pathology and give it a grisly edge. His true achievement, though, is his compelling depiction of John, who nurtures a darkness within that makes him seem much older than his actual years.

March 1, 2011

After dispatching the Torture House Killer, actually a demon disguised as an FBI Agent, 16-year-old John Wayne Cleaver, who keeps his sociopathic tendencies in check with a strict list of rules, contacted another demon known only as "Nobody" to let her know she was next on his list. John doesn't know what powers Nobody might have; the two creatures he's already killed had radically different abilities, so he suspects nearly everyone (I Am Not a Serial Killer and Mr. Monster, both 2010). He's surprised at the plethora of secrets he uncovers in his tiny town as he begins his hunt...and then the killings start. They seem to mimic the "Handyman" killings in Georgia. With the help of his new girlfriend Marci, whose father is a policeman, John begins to work up a profile for the creature that's killing "sinners" in Clayton. John's also confused that Marci is so into him; he still struggles to understand "normal" emotions. A sudden rash of suicides prompts John to suspect that Nobody might have brought some backup. Can John keep his own monsters at bay and save the people of Clayton?  Wells' third Cleaver tale is a study in profiling, and interested readers with strong constitutions will be unable to put it down (or turn off the light). John continues to evolve as a character, and the tantalizing conclusion hints at a new beginning. Frighteningly good. (Horror/thriller. YA)

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