**DNF at 60% ~ review is based on portion read only**

Game by Barry Lyga is the follow up book to the thrilling I Hunt Killers which follows Jazz the son of history's most infamous serial killer. After helping his local police department solve a case that involved a copycat string of murders, the NYC police department seeks his help. Unable to say no, Jazz and his girlfriend become embroiled in a new serial killer's crime spree, but some things aren't adding up.

Jazz is an interesting character. His brain doesn't work like most people's. That happens when you are raised by a psychopath. However, Jazz can think like a killer making him a perfect candidate to help solve this case. But this time, his own thoughts are crowding in with that of the killers. He's afraid of becoming what his father always hoped he'd be....his protege. With these thoughts running rampant, he pushes those closest to him away.

I really wanted to love this book as I really enjoyed the first one, but alas it fell short for me. There is a lot of head hopping, jumping from Jazz to Connie's perspective, but also the perspectives of the killer and who we can assume is Jazz's father, recently escaped from prison. There are a lot of plot threads to follow, but nothing held my attention. The urgency wasn't there like in the first novel, even though murder is still happening. I think this may have been a case of "it's me, not you" as I just struggled to connect with the story. I did try both listening to an audiobook and reading on my own. Neither could catch my attention. I did skim to the end to see if the pace would pick up, but sadly no. This just wasn't for me. If you enjoy crime/mystery novels, you may enjoy it more than me.

When people ask me for proof that "old" adults can enjoy young adult fiction, this is the kind of book I point them to. The thrills in this rivaled any adult crime suspense novel on the market and was a lot of fun.

Things are getting intense with how this one ends!

Now Jazz's father is on the loose because of something Jazz did and there is another serial killer besides Billy and the cops want his help.

Billy has a game in mind and he wants to not only use Jazz but his girlfriend Connie as well and Jazz's friend gets involved in things too. This was pretty wild and can't wait to get to the third book to see how things end!

Game: I Hunt Killers (Book 2) by Barry Lyga

532 Pages
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Release Date:

Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Serial Killer

Jasper “Jazz” Dent, seventeen years old, is the son of famous serial killer, Billy Dent. In the first book, Billy escapes from jail and flees. Since Jasper was raised by Billy, he thinks like a criminal. He was able to help the local sheriff solve a case. Now he is off to New York to help them with a serial killer. The killer picks random victims and carves either a dog or a hat into them. There is no pattern and now the killings are escalated.

The book has a fast pace, the characters are developed, and it is written in the third person point of view. Jazz is like a child prodigy profiler. His fear is that he will become a killer like his father. This book was like reading an episode of Criminal Minds. I enjoyed this book so much, I went back and read the first and third books in the series. If you like suspense detective stories, you will enjoy this book.

When I first read We Hunt Killers, the ending left me begging for more. Quite literally. A few months after reading the first book in this series I met Barry Lyga at The Teen Book Festival in Rochester. At that time Game had not yet been announced. I begged him for a sequel and he just winked at me as he scribbled in my book. When I went home and read what he wrote I yelled! He had confirmed the sequel! And Game did not disappoint! It is more of a typical thriller and we learn more about the characters we grew to root for in We Hunt Killers. I couldn't put it down!

This book was both fantastically written and horribly disturbing. The mystery was compelling, as was the psychology. Though sometimes completely grossed out, I was also thoroughly captured, and didn't want to put it down until the mystery was solved.

The Violence, The Gore, The Eeew:

Yeah...this book goes there. It has some pretty intensely detailed scenes of death-by-serial-killer. I'd say it's one of the, if not THE most violent book I've read. Some of that is coming second hand (seeing the bodies after the killings), and some is first hand, from the mind of the killer. If you are squeamish, this will definitely bother you. For me, the details didn't really bother me. I don't get too grossed out by that stuff. I'm usually impacted more by the mind of a killer than the actual violence, if that make any sense. I actually found this book to be pretty realistic. So, it's one of those times when, if heavy crime-violence bothers you, don't read it. If you like crime-solving things like this, you will not be disappointed

I read the first book, I Hunt Killers, many moons ago and liked it fairly well but Wow this part has that one beat hands down! Totally more dark and mysteriously thrilling! The number of pages made me shy away from it for a while but I finally am glad I conquered it because I flew thru it! It was really "That Good"!

I can see the appeal of this title, especially with the whole thriller/detective thing going on, but for some reason I couldn't really get into it as much as other readers have. It's not bad, it's written pretty well, but I guess I wasn't in the mood or headspace for this one. Didn't make a connection with the characters which is probably why I didn't care for them much. But I can see why people like it though. It's definitely for those who enjoy detective mystery thrillers or even true crime.

Sorry again this book/series is just to juvenile for me. Don't know what I was expecting but not what I read.

I had not requested this title - it was auto-loaded to my shelf by the publisher and I have chosen not to read/review at this time.

Netgalley has required me to leave a rating in order to give feedback so I chose the 5 star.

Thank you

Sorry I was not able to read you book but it went to archive before I could get to it. Sorry once again.