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Billy grinned. "Oh, New York," he whispered. "We're gonna have so much fun."
I Hunt Killers introduced the world to Jazz, the son of history's most infamous serial killer, Billy Dent.
In an effort to prove murder didn't run in the family, Jazz teamed with the police in the small town of Lobo's Nod to solve a deadly case. And now, when a determined New York City detective comes knocking on Jazz's door asking for help, he can't say no. The Hat-Dog Killer has the Big Apple—and its police force—running scared. So Jazz and his girlfriend, Connie, hop on a plane to the big city and get swept up in a killer's murderous game.
Both the stakes and the body count are higher in this suspenseful and unstoppable sequel from acclaimed author Barry Lyga.
Barry Lyga is the author of several acclaimed young adult novels, including The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl. He now knows way too much about how to dispose of a human body. Barry lives and writes in New York City. His website is www.barrylyga.com.
Anonymous
Posted April 17, 2013
When i got this book the day it came out, i could not put it down. Billy and Jazz are back in a heart-pounding exhilarating novel that will keep you reading from page 1.
The countless twists and turns keep this book interesting and you thinking. This novel is perfectly written and i would reccomend this to those action murder mystery novels. You wont regret it.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted May 8, 2013
Such a great book! Lots of twists and surprises throughout the story. I really hope that there's another squeal! Did i spell that right? Anyways, don't sitnaround reading customer reviews when you could be reading the book!! Buy it now!!!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted April 20, 2013
I think the book would have been much better had he kept his political comments out.
Like his grandmother saying the Democrats are plotting with the communist to take their guns away.
Blantantly saying that Republicans are as crazy as dementia ridden old racist ladies.
Had he left out that I would have rated five stars.
Still a good book. I recomend it highly since you just fall in love with all the characters...Even Billy Dent.
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Disquietus
Posted June 16, 2013
Best advice I can give you for reading this book? 1-Don't try to eat anything and 2-DO NOT START READING IT BEFORE BED. The book is huge, but the material definitely deserves the length, and I figured that I would read half and then crash. Naturally by the time I reached the halfway point I was too invested to stop, and then I finished and had to write this immediately in the hopes that my brain would process it enough for me to sleep.
I'll admit the book got off to a slow start for me. There was some seriously gruesome killing going on, a cop acting very suspiciously and my precious baby Jasper caught in the middle of it. I found it difficult to get invested, and there were some moments when the writing just turned me off completely, because of the utter improbability of it all. In particular the driving force of the plot-that the NYPD and FBI would actually be so desperate that they would pull in a 17 year old boy as a consultant on a case...and then at times be visibly afraid of this kid? I had an incredibly hard time buying it. I also had an issue with the multiple POVs and the complete lack of character development. I could see why it was necessary to advance the many different plot-lines, but switching between Jasper and Connie and Howie and the killers was incredibly distracting at times and sacrificing any kind of character evolution for action? Not cool.
After reading I Hunt Killers I expected this book to be full of interesting character studies. The reason I loved that novel so much had less to do with the serial killer vs boy-detective thriller plotline then the exploration of Jasper's messed up head, and the constant nature vs. nurture internal struggle that he was going through. That novel was one of the most brilliant studies of human psychology that I'd ever read, and I was expecting something similar here, and was disappointed to find it more of an action packed cat and mouse thriller.
Other than that the writing is enjoyable. Lyga definitely has a plan and the complexity of it really showed towards the end. I especially liked what the "game" ended up being, although I was definitely angry at myself for not putting it together.
Lyga's writing is also incredibly evocative, funny, and very human at times. Jasper's internal struggle between right and wrong, humanity and serial-killerness (terrible word choice, I know) is palpable. He's one of the most complex characters I've come across in years, and I really enjoy being in his head. I just wish there had been some kind of development in his character in the 500+ pages of this novel, but I finished the book feeling as if he was in the exact same place as he was at the end of the first.
As for the other characters, I don't have much to say. I enjoy Howie, and I don't particularly like Connie. I'm invested in her relationship with Jasper only because he is, and I am terrified to see what he would do if something happened to her. I just find her to be immature and like every other teenager in the world she thinks she is brilliant and invincible and that nobody could possibly trick her. She makes a lot of bad choices because of this. I had a lot of problems with her actions in this book, if you couldn't tell. As I was reading this I also found that I don't particularly like the way that Lyga writes women. They are either victims, insane, or needy. Maybe I'm just reading too much into it. It's just the way I feel.
Overall though I enjoyed it. It was creepy and intriguing and there were multiple OMG moments that made it impossible for me to put down. While there wasn't as much to invest me emotionally, there was definitely enough action to engage my interest. And after the major cliffhangers of this ending I am desperate to get my hands on the next book.
Anonymous
Posted June 6, 2013
Is there gonna be third? Like a happy ending or something? Because there were two really good books but a third would be cool.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.I was in love with the first novel in Barry Lyga’s serial killer series I Hunt Killers. It had everything and as a reader who likes bad guys that are absolutely bad to the bone I fell hard for the killers introduced in the first novel and the ending that left me wondering one thing: What will happen next? I mean come on Billy Dent escaped from prison, people are getting murdered left and right and Jazz is doubting himself once again. Something bad is about to happen and it’ll be something that goes from bad to worse. Game is the novel that gives us the bad, I’m positive that the next novel in the series will give us the worse and I have to admit, Game has set the bar pretty high already.
Game begins basically right where I Hunt Killers ended. Billy Dent is somewhere in the world planning to kill to his heart’s content and he wants to see if his son will continue on with the family business. Jazz is still recovering from his experience with the Impressionist when he meets a cop from New York City that reveals to Jazz that a new serial killer is out on the loose. The Hat-Dog killer has been leaving corpses scattered around New York City and nobody can understand what his profile is or why he kills the way he kills. Jazz and his girlfriend Connie end up on a plane to go and help NYPD with their investigation.
It doesn’t take Jazz long to figure out that the Hat-Dog killer must have something involved with Billy somewhere. Nothing adds up when it comes to the Hat-Dog killer’s murders. He mutilates the bodies of his victims and does things to them that are plain disturbing, but Jazz is intent on figuring out the Hat-Dog killer’s profile and stopping him before he can kill anybody else. Then Jazz and Connie begin to receive strange messages about a game and while Jazz continues investigating in New York, Connie is dragged into the world of serial killers. Receiving mysterious text messages, Connie winds up trapped in a game meant for just her and a killer. Jazz and Connie both know that the games these killers are playing are not meant for everybody, but the consequences of not playing are fatal.
Remember everything that you read in I Hunt Killers? Remember the way your eyes would widen when reading about a certain murder scene or the way your heart would race when you read chapters in the killer’s point of view? Yeah, multiply that by twelve because Game absolutely brings it! The murders are more gruesome, more intense and more cringe-worthy. Just like something out an episode of CSI that meets the Saw movies. The killers in Game mean business. There is no hesitation, they know that they’re doing is bad (mostly) and they know that in the end taking a life is just something that they have to do. It is part of the game after all.
We finally get to meet Billy Dent. We did get to see the prison scene with him in I Hunt Killers but that barely told us anything about his character except that he’s the world’s worst dad. Now there are chapters that take place in his head! Finally we get to see just what it is that Billy Dent thinks when he’s alone and we see just how deep his obsession with making Jasper just like him lies. There are still chapters in the point of view of another killer, instead of the Impressionist it is the Hat-Dog killer. The Hat-Dog killer was a character that boggled my mind and left me with a furrowed brow and going “Huh?” Despite how creepy (and gross) the murders were, the Hat-Dog killer is still one that had me afraid and who doesn’t want to be afraid when reading a novel about killers?
I Hunt Killers had a limited amount of POVs (point of views). They really were just Jazz and the Impressionist. In Game we get to see things through the eyes of all the killers, our main character and the two people closest to Jazz: Connie and Howie. I loved getting to see the I Hunt Killers world through the eyes of characters that don’t have Jazz’s history or mind. Plus, I really liked Connie in the last book and I think that female readers will absolutely love how strong and empowering she is as a character. She even gets dragged into Jazz’s messed up world of killers and ends up stuck in a game, intent on finding the identity of the killer she’s dealing with. We learn a lot about Jazz’s girlfriend to say the least. As for Howie, his mind is an absolute laugh riot. I found his thoughts to be hilarious and appropriate for a teenage guy his age.
And that ending! Gah!!! I need more, so help me I don’t think I can wait any longer to know what happens next!!!! Who lives? Who dies? Does Jazz save the day or succumb to everything Billy ever taught him? Will the truth be released? Tell me!! Anyhow, if you liked the mystery that was in I Hunt Killers and the mind-games that went down in the last novel then you’ll probably fall hard for Game. I had absolutely no problems with the novel and devoured it in just one day.
I’d recommend this series to fans of Greg Olsen’s Empty Coffin series, readers who are looking for an intensely good mystery/thriller novel and readers who are looking for a dark read that will have them second-guessing just about everything they know about the people around them.
Anonymous
Posted May 18, 2013
I enjoyed Game by Barry Lyga. It has a great cadence, and lovable characters. I was a little thrown by the ending - but expect that it means another book is in the works. I highly recommend it. (Read I Hunt Killers first as it has the same characters.)
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Posted April 18, 2013
Popcorn is yummy but not so much with jelly
0 out of 7 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 24, 2013
Blows up POP
0 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 17, 2013
Hi!!
0 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 24, 2013
Bbl
0 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 16, 2013
It
0 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 23, 2013
No text was provided for this review.
Overview
Billy grinned. "Oh, New York," he whispered. "We're gonna have so much fun."
I Hunt Killers introduced the world to Jazz, the son of history's most infamous serial killer, Billy Dent.
In an effort to prove murder didn't run in the family, Jazz teamed with the police in the small town of Lobo's Nod to solve a deadly case. And now, when a determined New York City detective ...