Game - Barry Lyga

Ali Mark
Feb 1, 2016
3 min read

Published in June 2014.

Pages: 517.

Number of books by author: 27 Novels. (Sequel to "I Hunt Killers series.)

Genre: YA Fiction.

When we last saw Jazz Dent, he had solved a serial-killer murder-mystery when his father's kills were being impersonated. And now the NYPD and FBI needs his help solving the Hat-Dog Killer's murders, accounting for over a dozen kills in the big NYC. When Jazz is specifically called out, will he find himself in more danger? And more importantly, will he solve the Hat-Dog murders?

*Foul language used. May not be SFW.

You may like this book if you like the following sub-genres:

Family
Murder
Serial Killers
Police/FBI/Detective work
Suspense/Thriller

Goodreads users gave this book a 4.22 I think it was more deserving of a 5.00.

Let me be clear... do not read the first book in this series if you're not prepared to chase a serial killer (or a few, anyways). I was hooked into I Hunt Killers in 2015 - almost immediately. And maybe that's because I love crime shows, or maybe I just really needed to feel like a BAU member with Jazz - I'm not sure which it was then, but I know now that it's all of the above and more because of Barry Lyga. This is now the third book I've read by Lyga (IHK series 1 & 2 and Boy Toy), and all of them have been good. But this was great. Every ounce of this book was something you could visualize (even if you didn't want to - and I think that's what made this one so great).

When you read a sequel, you want to remember what happened in the last book - so it's nice when the author drops hints and reminders... but it's even better when they don't flood the entire book with "that one time Jazz did this," because you're reading a new story - a new point in time, even if it's still the same characters. It was nice that if someone didn't read I Hunt Killers, they could still understand what was happening without fault because not much time elapsed between the two books and so it felt seamless. And based on the set up for the third and final book (Blood of My Blood), it

appears we won't be missing much time between them either. It's so important to me that a book can stand alone - even if I liked the first in the series; even if I know this is a sequel. And while this book ended horribly, you might not mind the ending if you were heartless and lacking curiosity. The last line is basically the biggest invitation to your favorite celebrity's wedding... and then an invite to the after-after party - the last line makes you crave the next pages (and depending on the edition, there's a little sneak peak, but I closed it because I don't think I can handle putting these characters to rest this week... I need some time to prepare).

In the beginning, there seemed to be a "lot" of narration changes, which I just wasn't fond of. I really wanted to know what was happening from Jazz's perspective, and then it's necessary at times to have some perspective from Connie and Howie, too (but that was done tastefully). I didn't necessarily love the beginning of the book. It just had a bad set-up I guess, and I thought I was getting myself into a bad trilogy (since I've already purchased Blood of My Blood). But it wasn't long before you're wrapped back into the fucked-up life of Jazz Dent. And that's who this is really about.

(Totally a random thought, but two victims back-to-back were named DiNozzo and Gibbs... I wasn't sure if this was an NCIS reference... but even if it wasn't, it felt like home a little bit.)

Lastly, I really really really want this on TV. And soon. Shonda Rhimes could do this series so much justice. And I need it now. Preferably not on Wednesday nights, but man, do I want to see this on the screen. I wouldn't even mind seeing it play out in movie-form, but then you're looking at the potential for shitty sequel-trilogy drama that always seems to arise. But I can just see it now, Keir Gilchrest starring as Jazz Dent, Ajiona Alexus as Connie, Michael Cera as Howie, and Michael Madsen as Billy Dent. I can see it now... perfect and wonderful.