Young Adult Book Reviews

Genre:  Mystery

# of Pages:  360

2016 Iowa High School Award winner

RAC:  yes

Jazz is the only son of a notorious serial killer named Billy.  Billy reportedly murdered over 200 people and Jazz is struggling with the doubts that he could end up just like him.  He does not want to become a killer, but he worries it’s already inside him waiting to come out.  When he hears of a murder in his small town he goes to the scene to help out since he “knows how serial killers work.”  The police reject his help, but eventually come back to him when it’s discovered this new murder is mimicking one of Billy’s early murders.  Who would be recreating his father’s grisly murders and why?  Can Jazz help the police before more people lose their lives?  Can Jazz prove to everyone and even himself that he is not going to follow in his father’s footsteps?

Fans of mystery books will enjoy this title because it has a good amount of plot twists, suspense, and colorful characters.  Jazz is truly battling with himself because he will always be the son of the infamous Billy Dent and he needs to figure out what that means for the rest of his life.  He does not want to be like his father, but having been raised by him he sometimes does not see life situations the same way that others do.  Luckily, he has a small but powerful support system that is helping him realize that he is capable of valuing human life.  There is a bit of gore in this title, but nothing worse than an episode of CSI or Criminal Minds.