Review: The Jasper Dent series by Barry Lyga

 

 

 

 

 

5/5 Stars to the series as a whole!

 

I was going to review just Blood of My Blood since I'd just finished it, but I really can't.  And there's absolutely nothing I can say with all certainty that would do any sort of justice to this series.  I'm just going to worship this series as a whole in this post.

 

I posted the cover pictures in the order that I read them.  The four novellas Lucky Day, Career Day, Neutral Mask, and Blood Boy are all prequels, but I feel it's best to read them after books 1 (I hunt killers) and 2 (Game), because if you read them prior, you aren't going to have a clue what you are reading, and who you are reading about.  Read them before Blood of my Blood though, because there are some references to things that happened in the prequels in this book, that you won't 100% grasp unless you have read the prequels, if that makes any sort of sense.

 

 

Basically this series is about Jasper Dent, growing up in small town US, sleepy tiny town with a sheriff that looks like a typical southern small town sheriff would look.  It's one of those towns that you would drive by and look around and feel a yawn coming on, because of the sameness, and the boringness of it.  Only that's just the surface.  In this town of Nod, it housed one of the most notorious prolific serial killers, Billy Dent, who just so happened to be Jasper Dents father.  Jasper grew up around crime scene cleanups, and lessons from his father.  He's borderline possibly sociopathic himself, with urges probably a normal human being wouldn't feel, and his fathers lessons in his head.  Father was sent off to prison by a stroke of luck of this small town sheriff, and Billy is left in Nod to be raised by his gramma, who also suffers from dementia.  His faithful male BFF Howie keeping him grounded and reminding him that people matter. 

Crazy stuff happens, his father comes back into his life, his mother who disappeared years ago is an unanswered question in Jaspers life, and there's all sorts of HOLY @#$)!!  moments, and crazy things that happens, lots of gore and blood and humor in the form of Howie.

The series ends off with a huge bang, a momentous bunch of HOLY @#$)!! and OMG!!!! and WTF DID I JUST READ!?!?!?!!? 

Twists and turns, with characters that make you love them, and possible future serial killer Jasper Dent, who could be a bad guy, but you're rooting for him to end up being good, yet at the same time in the back of your mind, in this teenty tiny place, you're whispering to him to just tip over..just do it!

I read all of them in like, super fast speed because they were hard to put down, and knowing that Blood of my Blood was last in the series, I ended up reading it slower, savoring it, but it still did no good because I got sucked in and couldn't put it down, best book ever.

Anyways, so I loved this series, recommend it to anyone that likes good thriller books with twists and turns and forks in the roads, and an occasional omg!

“You won't even know you've crossed the line until it's way back in your rearview mirror.”  
I Hunt Killers