Posts Tagged ‘Author Dan Wells’

http://www.jeanbooknerd.com/2017/04/nothing-left-to-lose-by-dan-wells.html

Nothing Left To Lose

Series: John Cleaver (Book 6)
Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Tor Books (June 6, 2017)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0765380714
ISBN-13: 978-0765380715

My Review

Another thrilling installment in the series. I go into each story hoping for more intrigue, complexity and angst and Dan Wells doesn’t disappoint.

John still battles his urges as he continues to hunt down the Withered. In each book I learn more about these monsters and what drives them. Terrifying they may be, but you’re given insight into their side of the story, which left me feeling conflicted about them, kind of.

The authors choice to tell this in first person POV from John’s perspective was a wise one.  He keeps evolving, growing mentally stronger but still needing some releases for his dark urges. As a budding serial killer who has rules to keep him from killing the innocent, I find him one of the most compelling characters I’ve come across.

There’s an interesting twist that makes for an edgy read. And it’s a gut wrenching finale in the last third of the book as good and bad become entwined in a fight to survive. I wish I could tell you the last scene of the book. All I could think was, it’s about time.

5 Stars

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Synopsis

New York Times bestselling author Dan Wells continues his acclaimed John Wayne Cleaver series, popular with fans of Dexter

Hi. My name is John Cleaver, and I hunt monsters. I used to do it alone, and then for a while I did it with a team of government specialists, and then the monsters found us and killed almost everyone, and now I hunt them alone again.

This is my story.

In this thrilling installment in the John Wayne Cleaver series, Dan Wells brings his beloved antihero into a final confrontation with the Withered in a conclusion that is both completely compelling and completely unexpected.

Don’t forget to catch the film adaptation of the first installment in the series, I am Not a Serial Killer, in theaters August 26th.

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Excerpt

Run from Rain. It was one of the last things Brooke had told me, one of the last leads she’d dug up from the recesses of her memory. Ten thousand years of dead girls and a supernatural killer, and all of them were terrified of “Rain,” though we’d never figured out who or what Rain was. Another Withered, we’d assumed. Maybe one of the last ones left. And now, after months of searching, I’d found another piece of the puzzle. I ran outside, looking for the dazed, dirty woman who’d said the words, but she was gone. Homeless, maybe? Unbalanced, almost certainly. Or maybe it was something more sinister—was she a victim of Rain, somehow? Someone who’d been enslaved to a paranormal monster, or who’d been attacked and managed to escape, or maybe just someone who’d seen an attack and been broken by the thought of it. Withered attacks could be horrifying, mindshattering things, upending everything you thought you knew about the world and the way it functioned. Or maybe she’d survived a different kind of Withered attack—not by Rain, but by Nobody. Nobody killed by possessing young girls and using their own bodies to commit suicide; Brooke had lived through it, but she’d gained an untold horde of Withered memories as a result. That’s how she could remember things like “Run from Rain.” Now here was another girl with the same dark memory and the same broken, disorganized mind and . . . in ten thousand years, Brooke can’t have been the only person to survive an attack from Nobody, could she? Maybe this lost girl was another. Whoever the girl was, at least one connection seemed obvious: a Withered named Rain, in a city where someone had drowned without water. It couldn’t be a coincidence. I had to stay in Lewisville and I had to learn everything I could about this killer, starting with the body of Kathy Schrenk. And the best way to do that was to wait. There was a bus stop nearby, on the heat-blasted side of the cracked asphalt road, and I sat there in the sun and waited. My backpack containing all my worldly possessions was back in the bus station where I’d showered after hitchhiking into town; storing it had cost me a dollar, which probably meant that I couldn’t eat dinner that night, but it was better than bringing the whole dusty thing with me to the mortuary. Nothing said “ignore and/ or suspect this person” like showing up in a clean, well-kept place with an old, dirty backpack bursting with clothes. That marked you as a drifter, and I needed these people to trust me. Now more than ever.

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Praise for JOHN CLEAVER SERIES

“Top-notch writing and well-structured suspense elements keep the story moving briskly.”―Publishers Weekly

“Fans of Jeff Lindsay’s Dexter series will welcome Wells’s gripping debut.” ―Publishers Weekly on I Am Not a Serial Killer

“Wells’s debut is an unabashedly gory gem. This deft mix of several genres features a completely believable teenage sociopath (with a heart of gold), dark humor, a riveting mystery, and enough description of embalming to make any teen squeamish, even if they won’t admit it. Buy multiples where it won’t be banned.” ―Kirkus Reviews (starred review) on I Am Not a Serial Killer

“This dazzling, un-put-downable debut novel proves beyond a doubt that Dan Wells has the gift. His teenage protagonist is as chilling as he is endearing. More John Wayne Cleaver, please.” ―F. Paul Wilson, New York Times bestselling author

“The beauty of the prose, mixed with the depth of characterization, gives the haunting, first person narrative a human touch. Regardless of your age or your genre preferences, you will find this story both profound and enthralling.” ―Brandon Sanderson, New York Times bestselling author

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Author Dan Wells

DAN WELLS writes a little bit of everything, but he is best known for the Partials Sequence and the John Cleaver series, the first book of which is now a major motion picture. He is a co-host of the educational podcast Writing Excuses, for which he won a Hugo and now helps run a yearly, week-long writing conference. In addition to novels, novellas, and shorts, he has also written and produced a stage play, called “A Night of Blacker Darkness,” and works as a staff writer on the TV show “Extinct.” He has loved in the US, Mexico, and Germany, and currently resides in Utah with his wife and six children and 439 boardgames.

       

 You can purchase Nothing Left To Lose at the following Retailers:
   

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Win the complete John Cleaver series.

(Six books in total)

Click HERE to enter.

Follow the tour HERE.

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Welcome to Freaking Fridays, where I share my reviews of books that scare you, thrill you, and get those endorphins pumping.

I’ve got another one to share from the John Cleaver Series by Dan Wells. 

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My Review

Spoiler alert: If you haven’t read the early stories, this review may contain spoilers.

John’s only seventeen and lost everyone important in his life. With no where to turn he joins a covert team that hunts the monsters that go bump in the night.

It’s a whole new ball game, maybe. Hunting monsters isn’t new. John’s still battling his dark side.  But the team he’s joined isn’t much better than the monsters. The twisted lengths he goes through to not kill are so very macabre.

I’m so glad the author kept John on course. Kept him scary. It’s his constant struggle not to give in and go on a killing spree that keeps the story taut and edgy.

Egads. Just when I thought this series couldn’t get any better, that Dan Wells couldn’t take it further into the out of, I’m proven wrong. This is a chilling read and makes you squirm. I loved every bit of it and smiled in ghoulish glee.

Way to go, Dan. Keep em coming. And please, keep making me squirm.

  5 Stars

Narrator Kirby Heyborne

I’m so glad Kirby is still narrating this series. I’ve gotten used to his voice and his ability to give the character’s distinctive and easy to recognize voices makes him a favorite of mine.

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Thanks so much to Tantor Audio and the author for this complimentary copy.

My review is voluntarily given.

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Synopsis

John Wayne Cleaver hunts demons: they’ve killed his neighbors, his family, and the girl he loves, but in the end he’s always won. Now he works for a secret government kill team, using his gift to hunt and kill as many monsters as he can…

…but the monsters have noticed, and the quiet game of cat and mouse is about to erupt into a full scale supernatural war.

John doesn’t want the life he’s stuck with. He doesn’t want the FBI bossing him around, he doesn’t want his only friend imprisoned in a mental ward, and he doesn’t want to face the terrifying cannibal who calls himself The Hunter. John doesn’t want to kill people. But as the song says, you can’t always get what you want. John has learned that the hard way; his clothes have the stains to prove it.

When John again faces evil, he’ll know what he has to do.
The Devil’s Only Friend is the first book in a brand-new John Wayne Cleaver trilogy by New York Times bestselling author Dan Wells.

Amazon / Tantor

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I’ve listened to and reviewed I Am Not A Serial Killer, the first in the John Cleaver series and the second story, Mr. Monster, plus I Don’t Want To KIll You, the third book.

   

 

Click on the covers for my reviews.

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

To see all of my giveaways go HERE

Welcome to Freakin Fridays.

I’ve got another one to share from the John Cleaver Series by Dan Wells. 

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My Review

Hold on to your hats people. While I don’t expect every book in a series to be better than the previous ones, I do expect to see characters grow and plots thicken. Never fear, as this one is every bit as good, if not better, than the others.

It’s been a month since John’s last otherworldly encounter and he’s feeling more in control of his urges. Enough to challenge a demon to come and get him. The demon, Nobody, accepts his challenge and the consequences are dark indeed.  The author through me a curve ball here. You’ll see what I’m talking about when you give this one a listen. Lots more than meets the eye.

So much of this story reads as genuine. Almost creepy at times how that happens. It’s told in 1st person from John’s own mind. And with him being a budding sociopath, it gets twisted.

He’s not only juggling normal teenage hormones and angst, he’s also dealing with a controlling mother and doubts about his own set of rules. It’s compounded by a girlfriend, Marci. He didn’t expect to have a romantic relationship, and she’s something he can’t categorize and ignore. I, for one, think she’s a perfect fit for him.

Dan keeps the story tight, no fluff, all business. And the business is sordid and dark. Especially the ending. I hoped for one thing, got something else, and while it was devastating, it was the right way to go. All I could think was, I want some more, please.

5  Stars

Narrator Kirby Heyborne

Kirby continues to do well narrating this series. I’ve noticed that when I’m reading a book, my mind jumps forward, anticipating what might be about to happen and sometimes spoiling the surprise. Funny how that happens. While narrating, Kirby stays on course and the inflections come at the right times, so anticipation builds as the action increases. A great choice and fit for this thrilling series.

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Thanks so much to Tantor Audio and the author for this complimentary copy.

My review is voluntarily given.

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Synopsis

John Cleaver has called a demon—literally called it on the phone—and challenged it to a fight. He has faced two of the monsters already, barely escaping with his life, and now he’s done running; he’s taking the fight to them. But as he wades through his town’s darkest secrets, searching for any sign of who the demon might be, one thing becomes all too clear: in a game of cat and mouse with a supernatural killer, the human is always the mouse.

In I Am Not a Serial Killer, we watched a budding sociopath break every rule he had to save his town from evil. In Mr. Monster, we held our breath as he fought madly with himself, struggling to stay in control. Now John Cleaver has mastered his twisted talents and embraced his role as a killer of killers. I Don’t Want to Kill You brings his story to a thundering climax of suspicion, mayhem, and death.

It’s time to punish the guilty.

And in a town full of secrets, everyone is guilty of something.

Amazon / Tantor

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I’ve listened to and reviewed I Am Not A Serial Killer, the first in the John Cleaver series and the second story, Mr. Monster.

 

 

Click on the covers for my reviews.

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

To see all of my giveaways go HERE

Welcome to my Saturday Screams. This is where I share my love of horror and things that go bump in the night.

Today I have something different. I’m reviewing an audible book. I just started getting into audibles and, or course, I chose a scary good one. LOL

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My Review

It’s kind of scary that I can somewhat relate to John Wayne Cleaver, the 15-year-old boy in this story. He has a fascination with serial killers and so do I. Where we differ is, while we both wonder what makes them tick, I just wonder why, but he worries he might become one.

 His therapist says he’s a sociopath and has plenty of the predictors pointing towards a serial killer. That’s why John has rules. He made them so he won’t become one. But there’s something inside him, sleeping now, but soon to stir. You see, there’s a serial killer operating in his town. But it’s not your normal one, or, I should say it’s not human.

As more people fall victim to the beast, the one inside John struggles to be unleashed. It may take a monster to kill a monster. And John worries that he won’t find his way back once it’s let out.

The first I heard of this story was I came across the movie. Being a horror fan, I watched it. It reminded me of Dexter, the serial killer show on Showtime. I’m sure you’ve seen it or heard of it. John could be a young Dexter, almost. He hasn’t taken to killing people, yet.

John is a fascinating young man. He’s intelligent and creepy at the same time. I worry whether he can keep his urges contained. He’s constantly fighting with his mother. She pushes him too hard, worried about what he might do and what he might become. I’d probably be the same way, thinking I could change him, make him normal. He knows he’s not normal, practices to appear that way, and tries to fit in. It’s a pressure cooker under that roof, waiting to let off steam. I just hope he uses that steam on the monster and not on someone trying to help him.

The first part of the story is mostly about John. About half way in you start to learn about the killer. Then it really gets going and the hairs on your arms will stand on end. It’s a race to the finish with plenty of action and a great ending. About that ending. I felt like it was kind of a vindication. Well done.

This is a study on character and humanity as much as it’s about serial killers and beasts. I found it thrilling and down right horrific, both must haves in horror.

I’m on to the next in this series, worried and excited about where John goes from here.

5 Stars

I received a complimentary copy from Tantor Audio.

My review is voluntarily given.

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Narration.

This is narrated by John Allen Nelson. He was not what I was expecting. The stories told from a teenage boys point of view so I would have preferred a younger voice. His inflection is okay, but I just couldn’t help but feel like he was reading more than telling the story. If he’s the narrator in the second book, I’ll still give it a try. Maybe he’ll grow with the stories and grow on me.

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Synopsis

John works in his family’s mortuary and has an obsession with serial killers. He wants to be a good person but fears he is a sociopath, and for years he has suppressed his dark side through a strict system of rules designed to mimic “normal” behavior.

Then a demon begins stalking his small town and killing people one by one, and John is forced to give in to his darker nature in order to save them. As he struggles to understand the demon and find a way to kill it, his own mind begins to unravel until he fears he may never regain control. Faced with the reality that he is, perhaps, more monstrous than the monster he is fighting, John must make a final stand against the horrors of both the demon and himself.

Click HERE to listen to a sample.
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Purchase on: Amazon / Tantor
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Author Dan Wells
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Dan Wells is an American horror fiction writer and the author of the John Cleaver series. He is a graduate of Brigham Young University, earning his bachelor’s degree in English with a writing and editing emphasis. He currently resides in Orem, Utah, with his wife and four children.
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For a list of my reviews go HERE.

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