Killer Instinct

April 1, 2014

Gr 12 Up-Lane is an apparently normal teen with an abnormal obsession-hunting down criminals that have evaded justice and making them accountable for their crimes. When a brutal serial killer strikes close to home, the 17-year-old knows she is the one to catch "The Decapitator." But what begins as a hobby quickly turns into a sinister game of cat-and-mouse, and Lane is drawn into a deadly web of family secrets that threatens everything she holds true. The teen is unappealingly antisocial, and her first-person narrative sounds forced in its attempt to be relatable. The story suffers from a plot that moves from one unbelievable event to the next in a series of disconnected vignettes, while erroneous details and awkward encounters between characters litter the pages. Sexual situations, including descriptions of rape and kinky sex, are more appropriate for an adult thriller. The end result is a disjointed story that stretches readers' suspension of disbelief too far. With so many great edge-of-your-seat thrillers to choose from, such as Barry Lyga's I Hunt Killers (Little, Brown, 2012), it is easy to leave Killer Instinct off the list.-Sarah Lorraine, Nazareth Academy, LaGrange Park, IL

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