Review: Blood of My Blood (I Hunt Killers #3) by Barry Lyga

Title: Blood of My Blood

Series: I Hunt Killers #3

Previous novellas/books in this series: Down Time (#0.1) | Lucky Day (#0.2) | Career Day (#0.3) | Neutral Mask (#0.4) | Blood Boy (#0.5) | I Hunt Killers (#1) | Game (#2)

Author: Barry Lyga

Genre: YA, mystery thriller

Publication date: September 2014

Published by: Little, Brown and Company

Source: Purchased paperback

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Synopsis: Jazz Dent has never been closer to catching his father.

Jazz has been shot and left to die in New York. His girlfriend, Connie, is in the clutches of Jazz's monstrous father, Billy—the world's most notorious serial killer. And his best friend, Howie, is bleeding to death on the floor of Jazz's new home.

Somehow, these three must rise above the horrors and find a way to come together in pursuit of Billy.

But then Jazz crosses a line he's never crossed before, and soon the entire country is wondering: "Like father, like son? Who is the true monster?"

From New York City to the small town of Lobo's Nod, the chase is on, and this time, Jazz is the hunted, not the hunter--while Billy Dent lurks in the shadows.

And beyond Billy? Something much, much worse. Prepare to meet... the Crow King.

My rating: ★★★★☆

This book was a rollercoaster of emotions. I highly recommend you look up trigger warnings, if need be, because any type of abuse you can possibly imagine, poor Jazz endured. I nearly cried and threw up at the same time. Just reading over the notes I left myself in preparation for writing this review made me teary-eyed and angry on his behalf.

This book was extremely messed up, but I really enjoyed it! The last book left off in quite a cliffhanger with Jazz stuck in a storage unit and a gunshot wound in his leg, Howie bleeding out at Jazz’s place, and Connie captured by Jazz’s father, Billy.

Billy has really been causing chaos everywhere he goes and Jazz has had it. He thinks he’s the only one who can stop him because he’s the only one who thinks like him.

The only person who can stop Billy is Billy. And I'm the closest thing we've got.

Except, that’s exactly what Billy wants! To turn Jazz into a killer! The very thing Jazz has been fighting this entire series. That’s one thing I’ve always found very intriguing about this series: Jazz trying to be a good person but him struggling with being Billy’s son and thinking that it’s inevitable that he will become exactly like him. Deep down he thinks his life will end in death, be it his own death or him taking someone’s life. But I love that his best friend Howie and his girlfriend Connie are there to support him and ground him and reassure him.

"A part of you always knew that what you were learning was wrong. And you resisted what they taught you. You're stronger than any person I've ever known.”

These talks that he had with his friends almost made me cry because it’s true! Jazz doesn’t see what a strong and good person he is. All he sees himself as is Billy’s son! And it made me so sad! Which is why the climax of this book made me so nervous! I obviously wanted him to stop Billy. I mean, the police have been pretty useless up to this point, so it really came down to him to do it. But I also didn’t want him to kill his father because that would be playing right into what Billy has wanted for Jazz this whole time. It was just very complicated and it definitely made me stressed. Especially because there was a second person that Jazz needed to stop, Ugly J from the last book. Someone who remained anonymous until this book

The characters thought it was Jazz’s aunt, Sam, Billy’s sister. That maybe they were doing a whole bother-sister killer tag team or whatever. And honestly, she was a good suspect. But my main suspect was Jazz’s mom, who had suddenly made a reappearance. When Billy captured Connie, Jazz’s mom was also locked up in the same room with her. But she was just so suspicious from the start, and it turns out my suspicions were correct. Not only was Jazz’s mom a serial killer too, but she was the Crow King, the leader of this messed up serial killer group thing. It was wild, but I was unsurprised.

What did surprise was how absolutely fucked up this woman was. You thought Billy was bad? Oh, he’s got nothing on how deranged Jazz’s mother is. The moment she found out she was pregnant with Jazz, she was fantasizing about ways to kill the child. They ended up not going through with that, obviously, and instead, they made his childhood a living hell. This woman molested her OWN child and I just- I can’t even fathom. This is what I meant when I said I wanted to throw up. How can someone do that to their own child?! And not only that, but they made Jazz practice cutting on her! It was disgusting! The poor kid! I just wanted to wrap him up in a bubble because he did not deserve any of this!

"You okay?" he asked as Jazz stooped to pick up the tools.
"I've never been okay," Jazz told him, and walked away.

And this is what I mean when I say that he is a strong, good person! Because despite everything he went through, in the end, he made the right choice and didn’t kill his parents. He stopped them, but he didn’t kill them. He said that he didn’t want to kill anyone no matter how easy it would be for him, and that this was THEIR sickness, not his. Good for him! I am SO glad he didn’t end up killing anyone because I was STRESSED. I understood his anger and his wanting to stop them, but by killing them, I think he would’ve lost his humanity.

So yeah, when I say this book was messed up, it was messed up. But I enjoyed it so much! This was just a solid series overall! If you like mystery thrillers, I highly recommend this series! It was a very tense and emotional read, and I just loved Jazz. I felt so horrible for everything he went through. He deserves ALL the happiness after all that. And I actually really liked how things wrapped up and how he continues to prove what a good person he is in the epilogue. I’m gonna miss Jazz, but honestly, the boy deserves a break.

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a link to your review or comment below! 😊