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kristenkrae's review against another edition
1.0
Review of Project Cain by Geoffrey Girard
Sadly another ⭐️/5 star book for me. This one should’ve stayed on my shelf for another ten years.
This book had so much potential. It was a really really good idea, however, it was really really poorly executed.
The positives: it’s about cloned serial killers. Pretty cool?
The negatives: 1. zero character development. Which is ironic since the author would dedicate pages dumping information about characters such as what they liked and disliked. But none of this is actually relevant to the book at all.
2. The story itself. Was supposedly about clone serial killers, which yes, it was. However, it was mostly just the two main characters hotel jumping *looking* for the clones. Involved a lot of sleeping, staring at walls, and watching tv.
3. The dialogue. There is none.
4. The “Jeffrey Dahmer” clone, assumes a lot. Which I tried to keep in mind, okay, this is a 17 year old kid. But oh boy. I “assumed” he hated me. I “assumed” he was upset. I “assumed” I could ask a question. I “assumed” we were friends now.
5. The amount of times the Dahmer clone “ran away”. And by running away I mean he would clearly state he was running away, and then wander around for all of 2 hours and then change his mind and go back to Castillo (the other main character).
Recommended for: young teens who might have an interest in learning the very basic information about serial killers. I feel like that is who the book is targeted for, but meh. Not really a story, and more of an information dump.
Sadly another ⭐️/5 star book for me. This one should’ve stayed on my shelf for another ten years.
This book had so much potential. It was a really really good idea, however, it was really really poorly executed.
The positives: it’s about cloned serial killers. Pretty cool?
The negatives: 1. zero character development. Which is ironic since the author would dedicate pages dumping information about characters such as what they liked and disliked. But none of this is actually relevant to the book at all.
2. The story itself. Was supposedly about clone serial killers, which yes, it was. However, it was mostly just the two main characters hotel jumping *looking* for the clones. Involved a lot of sleeping, staring at walls, and watching tv.
3. The dialogue. There is none.
4. The “Jeffrey Dahmer” clone, assumes a lot. Which I tried to keep in mind, okay, this is a 17 year old kid. But oh boy. I “assumed” he hated me. I “assumed” he was upset. I “assumed” I could ask a question. I “assumed” we were friends now.
5. The amount of times the Dahmer clone “ran away”. And by running away I mean he would clearly state he was running away, and then wander around for all of 2 hours and then change his mind and go back to Castillo (the other main character).
Recommended for: young teens who might have an interest in learning the very basic information about serial killers. I feel like that is who the book is targeted for, but meh. Not really a story, and more of an information dump.
mundie_grace's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
christajls's review against another edition
This review originally posted at More Than Just Magic
I’m one of those weird people who is fascinated by serial killers. I used to read all the true crime novels our tiny book store had, I love Criminal Minds and so on. So when I heard about Project Cain I was excited. Serial killer clones? A chance to really examine the debate of nature vs nurture? It sounded like an intense, action packed read and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it.
Unfortunately it didn’t work out quite as well as I hoped. The style of this book is very straightforward. Which is great for the parts where the reader is learning about the different serial killers and their histories. Sometimes there’s a lot of horrible information to get out and Girard doesn’t tip toe around it. He spells in right out for the reader, which I appreciated.
That straightforward writing style, however, also contributed to a very action light book. Maybe it’s my fault for expecting a lot of action, but you would think a story about clones of the world’s most notorious serial killers on the run would be more action heavy. Instead, however, Project Cain takes place primarily in a hotel room. Jeff Jacobson (our protagonist) is a clone of Jeffrey Dahmer and is terrified by the revelation that he shares the exact same DNA as a serial killer, so he runs. He attaches himself to a FBI detective – Castllio – and together they begin searching for the other escaped clones.
And this is pretty much where the excitement ends. As soon as Jeff teams up with Castllio he spends all his time in one of two places – a car or a hotel room. There’s a lot of talking, a lot of reflecting about why his adopted father would have initiated such a project and a lot of staring at a cell phone trying to guess where some guys he knows nothing about would have run to. I understand the investigation parts are necessary but I thought they could have been broken up by some more action or drama. Something to really get your pulse pounding.
I was also disappointed by the missed opportunity for discussion. Project Cain was in a perfect position to examine the discussion of nature versus nurture. The very thing the government was curious about when they started their top-secret experiments in the book. But despite Jeff’s constant fear that he may turn into his namesake, it’s pretty clear from very early on that he’s not going to. This book leans heavily on the nurture side. So heavily that there is never a moment, in my opinion, where I thought it might swing the other way. That’s fine if that’s what the author believes but I think there was a possibility here to a) build suspense and b) facilitate discussion but that just didn’t happen.
Overall Project Cain wasn’t a bad book, it just wasn’t the book I wanted it to be. The book I thought it could be. There’s an adult companion novel told from the detective’s point of view (Cain’s Blood), which might be more thrilling as the detective leaves the hotel room more often and in Project Cain we don’t know where he goes. I’ll have to check it out and see if it’s more my style.
Recommendation: If you’re looking for a book for the teenage boy in your life, Project Cain might work but I think there are better options out there.
I’m one of those weird people who is fascinated by serial killers. I used to read all the true crime novels our tiny book store had, I love Criminal Minds and so on. So when I heard about Project Cain I was excited. Serial killer clones? A chance to really examine the debate of nature vs nurture? It sounded like an intense, action packed read and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it.
Unfortunately it didn’t work out quite as well as I hoped. The style of this book is very straightforward. Which is great for the parts where the reader is learning about the different serial killers and their histories. Sometimes there’s a lot of horrible information to get out and Girard doesn’t tip toe around it. He spells in right out for the reader, which I appreciated.
That straightforward writing style, however, also contributed to a very action light book. Maybe it’s my fault for expecting a lot of action, but you would think a story about clones of the world’s most notorious serial killers on the run would be more action heavy. Instead, however, Project Cain takes place primarily in a hotel room. Jeff Jacobson (our protagonist) is a clone of Jeffrey Dahmer and is terrified by the revelation that he shares the exact same DNA as a serial killer, so he runs. He attaches himself to a FBI detective – Castllio – and together they begin searching for the other escaped clones.
And this is pretty much where the excitement ends. As soon as Jeff teams up with Castllio he spends all his time in one of two places – a car or a hotel room. There’s a lot of talking, a lot of reflecting about why his adopted father would have initiated such a project and a lot of staring at a cell phone trying to guess where some guys he knows nothing about would have run to. I understand the investigation parts are necessary but I thought they could have been broken up by some more action or drama. Something to really get your pulse pounding.
I was also disappointed by the missed opportunity for discussion. Project Cain was in a perfect position to examine the discussion of nature versus nurture. The very thing the government was curious about when they started their top-secret experiments in the book. But despite Jeff’s constant fear that he may turn into his namesake, it’s pretty clear from very early on that he’s not going to. This book leans heavily on the nurture side. So heavily that there is never a moment, in my opinion, where I thought it might swing the other way. That’s fine if that’s what the author believes but I think there was a possibility here to a) build suspense and b) facilitate discussion but that just didn’t happen.
Overall Project Cain wasn’t a bad book, it just wasn’t the book I wanted it to be. The book I thought it could be. There’s an adult companion novel told from the detective’s point of view (Cain’s Blood), which might be more thrilling as the detective leaves the hotel room more often and in Project Cain we don’t know where he goes. I’ll have to check it out and see if it’s more my style.
Recommendation: If you’re looking for a book for the teenage boy in your life, Project Cain might work but I think there are better options out there.
vanessamariebooks's review against another edition
2.0
I was so excited when I read the premise of Project Cain. It sounded like it would be a cool and interesting read, sadly I was quite disappointed. The book isn't at all what I expected. I thought we'd have this cool main character who was essentially good but struggled with a darker side of himself since he's DNA is the same as Jeffrey Dahmer. I expected a lot more action and mystery and suspense. What I got felt like a huge history lesson. There was a lot of information about different famous serial killers, how they killed their victims, how they got their nicknames, and while some of it was interesting, I felt NONE of it was relevant to the story. There was also a lot of information about clones as well so it was a history lesson and a science lesson. How any of it is important to the plot of the story is beyond me. I also did not like that there was no actual dialogue in the book. The whole time it was he said this, he said that. This book did way too much telling and not nearly enough showing. The ending had quite a bit of action, which makes the book a tiny bit better but overall it was just way too much information and not enough of the actual story. This book had great potential and it's sad that it just wasn't executed well, 2 stars.
titanic's review against another edition
I couldn’t finish this book, something about it bored me. I got to page 153 I think, but honestly couldn’t go any further.
allithebookgiraffe_'s review against another edition
1.0
At first i didn't know how to feel about this one. I do enjoy that there was a lot of useless information in the book. It was really interesting and the idea of the book was really great but, as far as everything else goes it wasn't all that good.
Project Cain is about a boy named Jeff. He is a clone of a serial killer named Jeffery Dahmer. He is one of many. These people in a secret part of the government would extract the DNA of all the serial killers they could and clone them. Our Jeff is in a very idealistic home. He doesn't have a mother but, other than that he has a pretty great life. They would take another Jeff and put him in a home where the parents abused him and they would try to find out if serial killers are driven into murder by their awful pasts or if they are born killers.
Now, the plot is about Jeff and Castillo and they travel around trying to find a bunch of other clones of other serial killers who are grouped together going on a killing spree.
The story is told completely in Jeff's head so there isn't any dialogue in the book at all. He would go off on tangents about the useless information which i enjoyed but, i doubt everyone would. And also, it isn't anything i couldn't find out on a Wikipedia page.It felt like i was almost reading a history book on serial killers. I also felt like the internal monologue was more making fun of teenagers versus how we actually talk. Saying "like" and "totally" a bunch of times or when he was on the phone you only got his half of the conversation and there wasn't any way to know what the other person was saying.
Project Cain is about a boy named Jeff. He is a clone of a serial killer named Jeffery Dahmer. He is one of many. These people in a secret part of the government would extract the DNA of all the serial killers they could and clone them. Our Jeff is in a very idealistic home. He doesn't have a mother but, other than that he has a pretty great life. They would take another Jeff and put him in a home where the parents abused him and they would try to find out if serial killers are driven into murder by their awful pasts or if they are born killers.
Now, the plot is about Jeff and Castillo and they travel around trying to find a bunch of other clones of other serial killers who are grouped together going on a killing spree.
The story is told completely in Jeff's head so there isn't any dialogue in the book at all. He would go off on tangents about the useless information which i enjoyed but, i doubt everyone would. And also, it isn't anything i couldn't find out on a Wikipedia page.It felt like i was almost reading a history book on serial killers. I also felt like the internal monologue was more making fun of teenagers versus how we actually talk. Saying "like" and "totally" a bunch of times or when he was on the phone you only got his half of the conversation and there wasn't any way to know what the other person was saying.
hellomei's review against another edition
slow-paced
gives me chuunibyou vibes as a whole book lol but i remember finding it engrossing!
lachese's review against another edition
3.0
An ARC was provided in exchange for an honest review. This did not influence my thoughts in any way.
Project Cain is the Young Adult analogue of Cain's Blood. Or maybe Cain's Blood is the adult version of Project Cain. Either way, the two books are identical in almost every aspect, including characters, plot, and facts presented. However, if I didn't know better, I would have thought that two completely different authors wrote these two books. This is a testament to Mr. Girard's ability as a writer. He successfully managed to write the same book, two completely different ways for two different types of audiences.
Where Cain's Blood was written for adults in a typical thriller format (3rd person, several different point of views), Project Cain was written from the sole 1st person perspective of Jeffrey Jacobson, a kid plagued by the misfortune of carrying the DNA of serial killer all-star Jeffrey Dahmer. The way Project Cain was written felt very much like Jeffrey was writing a journal and reminiscing about times past. Late in the novel we find out that this is exactly the case.
Formatting is a bit unusual in this book. At first, I found the use of capitalization to EMPHASIZE any crucial words a bit jarring until I eventually adjusted. The lack of quotation marks is not necessarily confusing, but serves to make conversations feel more abstract, as if the reader is experiencing character interaction through a transcript and not watching it directly. This book was specifically written and formatted for young adult male readers (see the full blog post written by the author), which is especially evident when comparing this book to Project Cain, which is written in a much more traditional style. As a reader who happens to not be a teenaged male, the written style of this book just wasn't my cup of tea. However, I encourage any young adult readers to give this book a try. Don't worry, parents, there's not an overabundance of blood and gore (surprising for a novel about serial killers). All that was saved for this book's counterpart.
I'm not going to analyze the plot in this review, since it was exactly the same as Cain's Blood. For that see my review here.
Overall, I recommend picking one of the two books to read. Although each book provides slightly different viewpoints, the plot is exactly the same, and knowing what will happen stole some of the excitement out of the reading. By the middle of Project Cain, I was ready for it to be over. There wasn't enough new information presented to make the second book worth reading. For adult readers, I recommend Cain's Blood (provided you are mentally stable and have a strong stomach). For young adult readers, I'd recommend Project Cain. I'm not sure Cain's Blood would be a good choice for impressionable minds.
Project Cain is the Young Adult analogue of Cain's Blood. Or maybe Cain's Blood is the adult version of Project Cain. Either way, the two books are identical in almost every aspect, including characters, plot, and facts presented. However, if I didn't know better, I would have thought that two completely different authors wrote these two books. This is a testament to Mr. Girard's ability as a writer. He successfully managed to write the same book, two completely different ways for two different types of audiences.
Where Cain's Blood was written for adults in a typical thriller format (3rd person, several different point of views), Project Cain was written from the sole 1st person perspective of Jeffrey Jacobson, a kid plagued by the misfortune of carrying the DNA of serial killer all-star Jeffrey Dahmer. The way Project Cain was written felt very much like Jeffrey was writing a journal and reminiscing about times past. Late in the novel we find out that this is exactly the case.
Formatting is a bit unusual in this book. At first, I found the use of capitalization to EMPHASIZE any crucial words a bit jarring until I eventually adjusted. The lack of quotation marks is not necessarily confusing, but serves to make conversations feel more abstract, as if the reader is experiencing character interaction through a transcript and not watching it directly. This book was specifically written and formatted for young adult male readers (see the full blog post written by the author), which is especially evident when comparing this book to Project Cain, which is written in a much more traditional style. As a reader who happens to not be a teenaged male, the written style of this book just wasn't my cup of tea. However, I encourage any young adult readers to give this book a try. Don't worry, parents, there's not an overabundance of blood and gore (surprising for a novel about serial killers). All that was saved for this book's counterpart.
I'm not going to analyze the plot in this review, since it was exactly the same as Cain's Blood. For that see my review here.
Overall, I recommend picking one of the two books to read. Although each book provides slightly different viewpoints, the plot is exactly the same, and knowing what will happen stole some of the excitement out of the reading. By the middle of Project Cain, I was ready for it to be over. There wasn't enough new information presented to make the second book worth reading. For adult readers, I recommend Cain's Blood (provided you are mentally stable and have a strong stomach). For young adult readers, I'd recommend Project Cain. I'm not sure Cain's Blood would be a good choice for impressionable minds.
rebelrider's review against another edition
3.0
Not one I'd recommend. The style's a bit odd, and it's got some rather nasty stuff in it, which is to be expected when it's about serial killers. I liked how the author mixed real-world conspiracies with the one he made up. The book did keep my attention.