Thoughts

Ultimately, this book kept me thinking the whole way through. Even though it was a topic that I had never read about, it turned out to be very interesting. I imagined how Jazz must have been conflicted knowing that he knew how to solve the case from his fathers past history. Jazz also must have been trying to suppress the feelings that he had in his genes from his father. Jazz used his knowledge to help solve a case, while his father used his knowledge to kill people. The contrast between the two kept me wanting to read this book. I was curious to see if Jazz would ever crack and turn into what his father was.

Jazz in school before Billy was caught

In the novel, it says that Jazz was pretty popular before Billy got caught for murder. My question is though, how did Jazz act in school? Wouldn't he be taught at school that killing is wrong, at in the least bit different from the other kids? I know he was trained to act cunning and everything, but I'm pretty sure that Jazz would listen to what the school was teaching him if he went to school.

Does anyone else have thoughts on this?

Suspicion on Jeff Fulton

Jeff Fulton is the guy that seems the new killer in town because a lot of bad things have happened to him as he said. His daughter was killed by Billy and nailed to the ceiling of the church naked, his wife left him and married someone else and had two kids. It seems like he wants a revenge for what Billy Dent has done to his life. The tone that he was talking in with Jazz had a lot to say because it showed how much pain he was enduring because of Billy.

What do you guys think about Jeff Fulton? Do you guys think that he is the new killer in town? I'm curious about what your thoughts are.

Introduction

I feel that I would have liked the beginning of the book much more if the characters were introduced with more of a background. I felt it was a little bit rushed from the different thoughts that Jazz was having also. The concept of the plot is a very interesting one though. It is unlike any book I have read before. Jazz's instincts make him a much better crime solver than the other police and it keeps me interested in the book to find out how Jazz will help out the police. I am also surprised at how Jazz handles the situation he was placed in. I believe that other children would be much more challenged and disrupted if they were placed into Jazz's situation.

Chapter 1-3

I didn't like how the first two chapters went because first of all the book went directly into the case and a lot of the characters especially in Chapter 2 were introduced without much background information. In Ch. 2 I didn't like how Jazz was jumping from one thought to another while talking to the sheriff meaning in a stream of consciousness. But I liked how things went in Ch. 3 because it showed how much Jazz wants to help solve this case because he can't stop his instincts and knows that the police are doing the investigation in a wrong way. I also liked how the Chapter ended with Jazz looking at Howie's face covered with blood. Also I thought that the book was not going to be interesting after reading Chapters 1 and 2 but after reading Chapter 3 I think that the rest of the book is going to be interesting because of how things went.

Chapters 1-18

As I'm sure most readers who are at this point of the book are wondering, I am wondering who the Impressionist is.  I have a few predictions as to who it might be.  From the first chapter, I thought the killer was Deputy Erikson because he seemed to be very suspicious at the first crime scene.  However, I'm beginning to question the validity of the claim that he is the Impressionist.  When the story switched the the view of the Impressionist, it was stated that Jasper Dent must not be harmed.  Erikson seems to want Jazz harmed - or if not harmed, at least jailed, which the Impressionist also doesn't seem to want.  Another guess that I had was G. William.  Perhaps after having captured Billy Dent, he snapped and started murdering people and was leading his own deputies to the scenes to taunt them and to make sure they saw the finger that he flipped to them.  He also seems to want to keep Jazz out of jail and out of harm's way.  Plus, he doesn't want Jazz working on the case or seeing any of the files which could be because he knows - or thinks that there's a chance - that Jazz has a better chance of figuring out that it's him than the police force does.  Doug Weathers is also a guess of mine.  He is so obsessed with getting back on the television and in the news that it seems possible for him to start a crime just to fulfill this desire.  He also seems to want no harm to come to Jazz because of publicity.  These last two, I think, are the best guesses that I have so far.  I don't think that it could be Connie or Howie.  Howie, for obvious, hemophiliac-related reasons, could not be the serial killer.  Connie seems too rational and level-headed to be the killer.  Plus, she keeps trying to convince Jazz that he's not a killer while the Impressionist surely wants Jazz to realize his potential in that respect.  Which brings me to Jasper Dent.  He can not be the killer, either.  This may seem obvious to some, but it was not always obvious to me.  I considered the notion that he might be killing and not be aware of it.  It seemed plausible at first.  After all, he did know exactly what the Impressionist was going to do for their next victim.  But, after reading on and analyzing the situation more, it became clear that it was not him and that the Impressionist was doing an Impression of his father and he had figured that out early on.

So, at this point, my best bet is that either G. William or Doug Weathers is the Impressionist.  However, it might be someone who I've not yet met or I may be overlooking someone.

I think the concept is actually a little weak and unrealistic because most serial killers try to differentiate themselves and make a scene; stand out to the media and become well known. That is why they all have their little signature to put on the crime. However, the impressionist is just a copy cat, which is understandable if he worships Jazz’s father. But this worship seems more like a cult member than a serial killer and strays from the central concept for me. He is unoriginal and unlike a realistic serial killer. Also serial killers are usually geniuses and are extremely difficult to catch, so I don’t imagine a child helping out in that pursuit. I did not like the ending because even though there is going to be a sequel, I don’t think it rounded out enough edges to be complete.

I think that Jazz was underdeveloped and unrealistic as a character for the protagonist. He seems over heroic and not as disturbed or conflicted as I imagine a child in his position to be. I would most likely not pick up this book to read because it seems to overcompensate with its concept to try to be interesting. The author seems to try too hard to create a disturbing tale of a murderer.  

In the end.

Well! The end of the book was sure surprising. I had to go and reread a few of the pages just to make my mind wrap around the ending (it was near the ending, not the end of the book exactly). This revealed who and what the Impressionist actually was. It also led up to who the true puppeteer behind this whole scheme, or pulled a few strings at least. There are a few questions unanswered concerning of what Good Ole Dad has up for us next, since he was the head honcho of the book. There's a sequal, but it's like I won't be reading since i'll most likely forget. Over all I was impressed with this book, it was thrilling and a lot of brilliant fleshed out characters to boot. I was thinking the book would be leave a bad taste in my mouth, since I assumed there'd be some gore in there and really bad profanity (which it did; graphic scenes with vulgar swearing but I wasn't disgusted as much as I thought).

What are your thoughts about the end? Will you read the sequel?

Impressions of the Impressionist?

Lame title for the question up for discussion that I'll be presenting to you. Nevertheless I'd like to ask depending upon some of you may be in the novel; thoughts on our main villain? For me, he seemed rather uninteresting as the main villain (if you're still leafing through the pages and haven't finished the book yet, this will spoil you). He presents a interesting quote for us, the audience in Chapter 25. I would quote it here, but that would be the entire chapter since it is only two pages. To summarize, he thinks about puppets, that “everyone is controlled by something (LYGA, 250).” I had to take a few minutes to step back and think about this, and put some deep thought. I imagined, however him – the Impressionist, a no-face, copy cat controlled by his impulses, a puppet whose only purpose is to pursue and obsess and kill. He has no other purpose other then that. Only to dirty his hands for his idol, Billy. No one really thinks that deeply about things, most of the time anyway. That we're all but puppets in this stage filled with both comedy and tragedy, controlled by something, whether it be ones own impulses or another person.

In The Beginning.

Frankly, I was a bit picky with choosing books this year. I usually am, since I prefer not to read a book that will put me to sleep and cause confusion. Originally I was going to go with PLAINSONG by Kent Haruf. Unfortunately, the bookstore I went to did not have it, but they did have I HUNT KILLERS by Barry Lyga and I had bought that.  The first chapter was rather appealing and tasteful, and the summery itself  had a interesting concept. The concept being: having a serial killer as a father who teaches their child all the ropes in hopes to be their successor. Instead, our main character Jasper "Jazz" Dent intends to break away from that stigma and goes forth to assist the police to bring the criminal to justice.

Jazz is quite the character as well, he's very observant and mentally notes of all kinds of different points of the crime scene which is described within the first chapter too. His thoughts are quite in depth and it seems that his father's lessons have paid off. He would have been interesting serial killer, nevertheless this is about him  going up against his father's various prestigious titles as his career.

I'm curious to know though, what were your thoughts upon picking up I HUNT KILLERS? Is it appealing so far? If it was not required for a summer book discussion would you perchance and read it anyway?