I Am Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells

I am always honored when someone asks me to read a book that has particular significance for them. This was one such, and again I am impressed by the choice. Yes, it is YA but that doesn't mean that it is somehow less than adult fiction - wherever that line falls, and what ever that distinction means. In many ways, I think YA is more difficult to write than conventional fiction. For one thing, adults are writing to address an audience of which they are not members - always a good trick. In order to succeed, they must tap into not just the interests of "another generation" but be able to grasp their view of the world - and their fears.

This book certainly reaches into those dark corners of uncertainty and apprehension - the fear of being different - and the certain knowledge that one is different. John has devised methods keeping his head down and not appearing as "the weird kid," but he has also recognized in himself the potential to be a killer. The steps he takes to control himself are explicit and he is in control until a geniune monster appears in their community and begins killing. He recognizes the monster partly because of who he is and partly because of what he is - and he finds that he must release his own internal monster if he is going to confront the other.

I found some facets of the narrative particularly fascinating - the monster that John must deal with is indeed a monster, a non-human monster. I kept waiting for John to "wake up" or recognize that he was creating the monster images himself, but monster it is and monster it remains. By virtue of many years of SF, I would interpret the monster as some sort of alien life-form which - you know the rest - but Wells does not present any explanation for it besides John's identification of it as a demon.

And a curious note - Wells has the human form of the demon quote Blake's "Tyger, Tyger" to John at one point, and it repeats the opening line to him as it dies. I'm guessing that perhaps Wells himself is something of a mystic, hence the interest in the writing of one of the most mystical of poets - and his website is www.fearfulsymmetry.net. So maybe the demon is actually a literal demon of the writer's intention.