Blood Of My Blood by Barry Lyga

Blood Of My Blood by Barry Lyga
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow. How do I even...?

How about I start with a few basics. This is the third book of a trilogy. It does not stand alone. All three books are fascinating in the worst kind of way. It is a YA book but no way would I recommend it to my young adult children or students. I'm thinking older young adult. Maybe. My girlfriends? Absolutely. Especially the ones with the hidden darker side.

The basis of this trilogy is that Jasper Dent is the son of the infamous Billy Dent, serial killer. Jasper is always grappling with the notion of being genetically predisposed to violence and disturbing stuff. Part of this is that his subconscious is beginning to creep up and he is either remembering or vividly imagining some weird stuff. A given is that Billy Dent trained Jasper on the fine art of prospecting or choosing a victim. He also gives disturbing anatomy lessons for the murders.

Disturbing? Absolutely! Although the gruesome details are told in a matter of fact manner rather than dragging it out like many adult books. That said, still for an older audience.

Book 2 left a cliffhanger with every possible hero or heroine in mortal danger. Sorry. That's a slight spoiler. Yet what do you expect when the book is about a serial killer? Book 3 picks up immediately where 2 left off. If you have not read the first books, you may want to tune out for a minute.

************playing elevator music****************

Without giving too many spoilers here, Jasper and gang realize in Book 2, while Billy Dent is jail broken, he doesn't act alone. In Book 3, Billy plays some wild mind games with his closest partner on Jasper yet Jasper is virtually alone on this one. His sidekicks are close by and still integral to the story development, but this is Jasper facing his own demons and answering the question that has him stymied, is he a killer who hasn't yet killed?

Strangely fascinating and well written.