I Hunt Killers

Starred review from February 20, 2012
Lyga continues to shift genres, delivering a superb mystery/thriller that explores what it’s like to have a monster for a father. Seventeen-year-old Jazz’s father, Billy Dent, was a prolific and brilliant serial killer who did his best to educate his son in the ways of murder. With Billy in prison for life, Jazz longs to overcome the stigma of his family history, but when a new serial killer strikes his small town, he is drawn into the investigation. Along with his hemophiliac best friend, Howie, and his girlfriend, Connie, Jazz applies the gruesome knowledge his father passed along in an attempt to discover the killer and overcome his fear that he might become a murderer himself. Lyga (Boy Toy) delivers a taut, gory tale that can easily stand on its own as an adult thriller, with a large group of suspects and plenty of red herrings. But it’s Jazz’s internal conflict about his exposure to his father’s evil that adds extra dimension and makes the book shine. Additional books are planned, and TV rights have sold to Warner Bros. Ages 15–up. Agent: Kathleen Anderson, Anderson Literary Management.