I am so guilty of having this book on my TBR for a long time and suddenly realizing the movie is coming out TOMORROW so eep, I better read (or listen!) to it.

Does anyone else not fully read book descriptions before picking them up? I am a big advocate for having the least amount of expectations (and spoilers) going into any book/movie/tv show to the point where I don't typically watch trailers or anything, including reading book descriptions.

With that said, not reading the description lead me to a big surprise in the middle of the story. That turned out to be less of an issue than I thought it would be, though I shouldn't have been surprised considering Dan Wells is a scifi writer and this book is published by Tor. Big DOH on my part.

Anyways, John Wayne is posed as a teen with murder-ish thoughts. He's diagnosed anti-personality disorder but he's self aware enough that he knows how to limit himself. He's got a good therapist and supportive family, something not often seen in books. This was a pleasant surprise to me, as it's not often that mental illness is being managed appropriately (but YA does this much more often than adult fiction and it seems lately that we are seeing more and more of this).

Of course, it's harder to keep yourself in check when the murders are happening all around you. Those of us who enjoy (weird choice of words, I know) true-story crime can understand the fascination. John himself picks the BTK killer for an assignment, much to his teacher's and mother's dismay. This is not only a story of him uncovering a killer but the story of how he changes. There are three more books in this series so I can only imagine how he changes into young adulthood.

It's hard to imagine this was Dan Wells' first novel, as it's well written and easy to follow. I listened to the audiobook, which I would not recommend (first one ever) because the narrator is clearly an older man with little intonation. The performance doesn't match the characterization at all.