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3.42 AVERAGE
3.42 AVERAGE
Despite all the reviews on one or two stars, You must be a certain type of person to enjoy this book.
I mean anyone can read it but i think that you can't just be any person to read and understand why she (main charter) does what she does.
On that note, I really liked the book!
Its fast paced, and in some kind of weird way the book reminds me of dexter (the show).
I would read it agin in a few years!
I mean anyone can read it but i think that you can't just be any person to read and understand why she (main charter) does what she does.
On that note, I really liked the book!
Its fast paced, and in some kind of weird way the book reminds me of dexter (the show).
I would read it agin in a few years!
Holy crap! I read this book for free as it was this week's feature on pulseit.com, and all I can say is whoa! It pulls you in from the very start and keeps you guessing the whole time. And that ending? DEFINITELY didn't see that one coming!!! Getting the sequel immediately, loved it!
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I rated this book with two stars even though I liked it. Why you might ask, well that would be because I liked it a lot the first time I saw it, when Showtime premiered Dexter in 2006 (I would compare it to the book series however the books were different than the show). I cannot believe how similar the two are.
Complete spoilers to follow to highlight the parallels between the two:
SpoilerBoth main characters have pasts that lead to their 'darkness', both instigated by their mothers. Both main characters harm only those who deserve it. Season 1's Ice Truck Killer murdered women and left their body parts, neatly severed, all over town for the cops to find; this book had a killer, The Decapitator, who kills women and leaves neatly severed body parts all over town for the FBI to find. And both had serial killers who sent the main characters messages, clues, letters, and presents to entice them to find them only to find out that the serial killer was their family member, who wants help murdering the person the main characters are most fond of (Dexter's sister and Lanes semi-boyfriend).
All of that adds up to way too much of a coincidence for me and left me reading going, "is this for real right now?" Again the story was good, but I liked it much better the first time I saw it ....
Complete spoilers to follow to highlight the parallels between the two:
SpoilerBoth main characters have pasts that lead to their 'darkness', both instigated by their mothers. Both main characters harm only those who deserve it. Season 1's Ice Truck Killer murdered women and left their body parts, neatly severed, all over town for the cops to find; this book had a killer, The Decapitator, who kills women and leaves neatly severed body parts all over town for the FBI to find. And both had serial killers who sent the main characters messages, clues, letters, and presents to entice them to find them only to find out that the serial killer was their family member, who wants help murdering the person the main characters are most fond of (Dexter's sister and Lanes semi-boyfriend).
All of that adds up to way too much of a coincidence for me and left me reading going, "is this for real right now?" Again the story was good, but I liked it much better the first time I saw it ....
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Murder
Looking for a book with a great twist? You found it. I had my suspicions about who the Decapitator might be, but I did NOT see the end that ultimately came. Nothing earth shattering here from a literary perspective, but a page turning thriller in which the protagonist questions her own creepy-ish motives until the very end. Great weekend/beach/recreational read.
Killer Instinct is one of those books that makes me wonder why I actually wasted my time finishing it. Sure it’s short at only 272 pages but even 272 pages is too much for this book. It started off promising but it all went downhill from there.
First off, Killer Instinct is the biggest rip off of Dexter. Never in my life have I read something so blatantly copying from something else. As I read Killer Instinct, scenes from season one of Dexter just kept popping into my head. And I haven’t seen season one of Dexter in a while so that’s saying something about how blatant these comparisons were. I don’t want to spoil Dexter for anyone who maybe hasn’t seen it and plans to watch it but I’ll just say that there were at least 8 things that were almost identical between Killer Instinct and season one of the show. If you’ve seen the show, I’m sure you’ll catch what I’m talking about.
Second, Lane is one of the worst characters I’ve ever read about. Sure she’s compared to a teenage version of Dexter but at least with Dexter, people can kind of relate to him and even root for him to come out ahead. With Lane, I wanted her caught and done with. She was so stupid! The whole her being the “masked savior” was ridiculous and completely implausible. She’s so skinny she’s nicknamed Slim but she can take down grown men at least twice her size. Yeah, right. Sure the author throws in multiple mentions that Lane does aikido but that still does not match up against someone with a gun. Also, she mentioned multiple times how mature she was yet she acted like an immature whiny brat most of the time.
Then there were all the relationships in the book. First there was Reggie, Lane’s supposed best friend. What they had was not a friendship it was just something the author had to include so Lane had someone to help her hack into anything she might need. Lane would call Reggie when she needed something and Reggie would drop everything to help Lane. They had no real meaningful conversations, just phone calls and texts about whatever Reggie was looking up for Lane. Then there was the relationship with Lane, Zach, and Belinda. That was a convoluted mess. Lane didn’t want anything to do with Zach until Belinda entered the picture and then she really liked him and wanted to be his friend and help him out of horrible situations. Yeah, sure. There was also Zach’s older brother, Dr.Issa, who had some shady scenes throughout the book that I thought might eventually mean something but really had nothing to do with anything. Last but not least were the relationships of everyone in Lane’s family. Lane and her mom started off with a seemingly strong relationship but it quickly deteriorated. Her mom cared way more about her case than her family. And don’t even get me started with Lane and her sister, Daisy. That’s a whole other thing that set me off. Daisy was 15 and her most characterizing trait in the book was that she was a slut. Those were Lane’s exact words. She called her sister a slut multiple times throughout the book.
Another thing that greatly annoyed me about the whole sex thing was that there was way too much mention of sexual situations that played no role in the story. Lane went into great detail about her sex life, her parents’ sex life, and her little sister’s sex life. It really did nothing for the story except make me feel rather uncomfortable and I’m not usually uncomfortable with that kind of stuff. Also, can you say hypocrite? Lane calls her little sister a slut but then she goes and gets some serious action with a boy she barely knows in between some shelves of her school library. Not calling her a slut but I’m just saying that that’s a bit like the pot calling the kettle black.
The only thing about this book that even remotely impressed me was that I didn’t predict who the killer was, at all. Yes I suspected it was somebody closely tied to Lane but I wasn’t sure how S.E. Green was going to work it. I was pretty dang shocked by the time I got to the big reveal. I did feel like it was a little rushed though.
Also, the killer is nicknamed the Decapitator and Lane is nicknamed the Masked Savior. S.E. Green couldn’t come up with anything more clever than those nicknames? They were so lame!
Oh and also, what was the point of Lane being the Masked Savior? It really had nothing to do with the story and kind of dropped out of the story about halfway through. I guess being a master investigator and the Masked Savior got to be too much for Lane. Maybe she should have just left the Decapitator investigation to the FBI like a normal person. But then again, she was way smarter than the FBI so they never would have been able to solve it without her. Like I said, rather implausible story.
Overall, I was seriously disappointed with Killer Instinct. I feel like I wasted my time reading when I could have just rewatched season one of Dexter and gotten the exact same story. I would not recommend this one to anyone.
First off, Killer Instinct is the biggest rip off of Dexter. Never in my life have I read something so blatantly copying from something else. As I read Killer Instinct, scenes from season one of Dexter just kept popping into my head. And I haven’t seen season one of Dexter in a while so that’s saying something about how blatant these comparisons were. I don’t want to spoil Dexter for anyone who maybe hasn’t seen it and plans to watch it but I’ll just say that there were at least 8 things that were almost identical between Killer Instinct and season one of the show. If you’ve seen the show, I’m sure you’ll catch what I’m talking about.
Second, Lane is one of the worst characters I’ve ever read about. Sure she’s compared to a teenage version of Dexter but at least with Dexter, people can kind of relate to him and even root for him to come out ahead. With Lane, I wanted her caught and done with. She was so stupid! The whole her being the “masked savior” was ridiculous and completely implausible. She’s so skinny she’s nicknamed Slim but she can take down grown men at least twice her size. Yeah, right. Sure the author throws in multiple mentions that Lane does aikido but that still does not match up against someone with a gun. Also, she mentioned multiple times how mature she was yet she acted like an immature whiny brat most of the time.
Then there were all the relationships in the book. First there was Reggie, Lane’s supposed best friend. What they had was not a friendship it was just something the author had to include so Lane had someone to help her hack into anything she might need. Lane would call Reggie when she needed something and Reggie would drop everything to help Lane. They had no real meaningful conversations, just phone calls and texts about whatever Reggie was looking up for Lane. Then there was the relationship with Lane, Zach, and Belinda. That was a convoluted mess. Lane didn’t want anything to do with Zach until Belinda entered the picture and then she really liked him and wanted to be his friend and help him out of horrible situations. Yeah, sure. There was also Zach’s older brother, Dr.Issa, who had some shady scenes throughout the book that I thought might eventually mean something but really had nothing to do with anything. Last but not least were the relationships of everyone in Lane’s family. Lane and her mom started off with a seemingly strong relationship but it quickly deteriorated. Her mom cared way more about her case than her family. And don’t even get me started with Lane and her sister, Daisy. That’s a whole other thing that set me off. Daisy was 15 and her most characterizing trait in the book was that she was a slut. Those were Lane’s exact words. She called her sister a slut multiple times throughout the book.
Another thing that greatly annoyed me about the whole sex thing was that there was way too much mention of sexual situations that played no role in the story. Lane went into great detail about her sex life, her parents’ sex life, and her little sister’s sex life. It really did nothing for the story except make me feel rather uncomfortable and I’m not usually uncomfortable with that kind of stuff. Also, can you say hypocrite? Lane calls her little sister a slut but then she goes and gets some serious action with a boy she barely knows in between some shelves of her school library. Not calling her a slut but I’m just saying that that’s a bit like the pot calling the kettle black.
The only thing about this book that even remotely impressed me was that I didn’t predict who the killer was, at all. Yes I suspected it was somebody closely tied to Lane but I wasn’t sure how S.E. Green was going to work it. I was pretty dang shocked by the time I got to the big reveal. I did feel like it was a little rushed though.
Also, the killer is nicknamed the Decapitator and Lane is nicknamed the Masked Savior. S.E. Green couldn’t come up with anything more clever than those nicknames? They were so lame!
Oh and also, what was the point of Lane being the Masked Savior? It really had nothing to do with the story and kind of dropped out of the story about halfway through. I guess being a master investigator and the Masked Savior got to be too much for Lane. Maybe she should have just left the Decapitator investigation to the FBI like a normal person. But then again, she was way smarter than the FBI so they never would have been able to solve it without her. Like I said, rather implausible story.
Overall, I was seriously disappointed with Killer Instinct. I feel like I wasted my time reading when I could have just rewatched season one of Dexter and gotten the exact same story. I would not recommend this one to anyone.
Unfeeling, stoic character. I just can't find an ounce of empathy. Sorry. Also, the incessant slut-shaming was tiresome.
I really thought this book was going to suck, based off of the reviews I read but OH MY GOODNESS WAS I WRONG. The killer was totally unpredictable, hell, this whole book was unpredictable. Though I will agree there was a lot of slut shaming, I feel it was necessary to bring out the main characters personality. Overall a fantastic read. Cannot wait to get the next one.
Totally unexpected! I enjoyed it a lot...more than I thought I would. I could use a little less slut shaming, but still really enjoyed the story!
A great little psychological thriller. I would disagree with the synopsis. Lane is NOT your typical teen. She's detached and analytical. She doesn't feel or experience emotions like we do - like normal people do. Something's off and she's always known it. So she hides her real self, hides her interests and her hobbies - because other people would call her "creepy".
I actually really liked how creepy Lane was. And I like that it affected other people around her - that your assessment of Lane was corroborated by the people around her who were disturbed by her as well.
Add that into a serial killer that her FBI mom is profiling and hunting and Lane can't get out of her head and you have the basis of a great page-turning mystery!
I guessed who the killer was waaaaay before the big reveal - but that only made it funner to note all the times Lane should have caught on sooner. :)
I actually really liked how creepy Lane was. And I like that it affected other people around her - that your assessment of Lane was corroborated by the people around her who were disturbed by her as well.
Add that into a serial killer that her FBI mom is profiling and hunting and Lane can't get out of her head and you have the basis of a great page-turning mystery!
I guessed who the killer was waaaaay before the big reveal - but that only made it funner to note all the times Lane should have caught on sooner. :)