Lyga, B. (2012). I hunt killers. New York: Little, Brown.
In this first book of a trilogy, Jasper (Jazz) Dent is trying to live the life of a normal teenage boy. However, he happens to be the son of an infamous serial killer Billy Dent, who killed 120 people over the last decade. Although his dad has been locked up for 4 years now, Jazz cannot seem to forget everything his dad has taught him...everything about how to be a murderer. A body turns up in the small town and this raises questions from everyone including Jazz. Jazz, while trying his best not to become his own father, can't help but use this knowledge to find the new serial-killer called "The Impressionist". A lot of internal conflict goes on while he becomes a hunter of killers.
This dark modern realistic fiction story is best described as a murder mystery and psychological thriller combo. It meet the characteristics of both genres through terror, suspense, socio and psychopaths as well as having the "challenge of unraveling a puzzle" (Chance, p.68) We experience the mind of a young adult who was raised by a murderer and even though he doesn't want to be a murderer, he can not help but think exactly like one. If you are a reader who is fascinated with the psychological component and vigilante themes of these mysteries, then similar (although not necessarily young adult) books that would be recommended for following up reading are the Dexter series by Jeff Lindsay.
Chance, R. 2014. Young adult literature in action: a librarian's guide/ second edition. Libraries Unlimited. Santa Barbara, California
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