Over Your Dead Body

John Cleaver #5

by Dan Wells

John and Brooke are on their own, hitchhiking from town to town as they hunt the last of the Withered through the midwest— but the Withered are hunting them back, and the FBI is close behind. With each new town, each new truck stop, each new highway, they get closer to a vicious killer who defies every principle of profiling and prediction John knows how to use, and meanwhile Brooke’s fractured psyche teeters on the edge of oblivion, overwhelmed by the hundreds of thousands of dead personalities sharing her mind. She flips in and out of lucidity, manifesting new names and thoughts and memories every day, until at last the one personality pops up that John never expected and has no idea how to deal with. The last of Nobody’s victims, trapped forever in the body of his last remaining friend.

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Fiction, Thriller, Young Adult, Mystery, Urban Fantasy

303 pages, Paperback

First published May 3, 2016

About the author

Dan Wells is a thriller and science fiction writer. Born in Utah, he spent his early years reading and writing. He is he author of the Partials series (Partials, Isolation, Fragments, and Ruins), the John Cleaver series (I Am Not a Serial Killer, Mr. Monster, and I Don't Want To Kill You), and a few others (The Hollow City, A Night of Blacker Darkness, etc). He was a Campbell nomine for best new writer, and has won a Hugo award for his work on the podcast Writing Excuses; the podcast is also a multiple winner of the Parsec Award.

Reviews

[Miranda Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I promised a friend I'd walk through hell to get her back," I said. "Don't make me bring you with me."

I motherfudging love this series

Meet John Wayne Cleaver - my absolute favorite psychopath - he's got all the hallmarks of a serial killer: He loves torturing, he's fascinated with dead bodies and fantasizes about killing his friends and family.

BUT WAIT - Don't turn away.

Ever since he was aware of his tendencies, he's made the conscious effort to resist any and all serial killer behaviors. He has a complicated set of rules and regulations designed to keep him from falling into the habits and patterns of a psychopath.

Only, it's becoming more and more difficult to resist. Especially because his job depends on those skills.

There's these horrifyingly fascinating creatures (the Withered). Their name comes from how they were reborn. In order to gain supernatural powers, they had to give something up. (i.e. "Nobody" gave up her body for immortality but now she's forced to snatch and steal bodies at random).

John plans to eliminate every. last. one.

He has his best friend Brooke along for company, but she's nearly as unhinged as him (after a close encounter with Nobody causing her brain to be a bit scrambled). It's up to the two of them to get rid of the Withered, but what are the odds that they can defeat thousand-year-old monsters?

As you may have guessed, I adore this series. The author really does such an amazing job bringing about that emotional connection between the reader and the main characters (which is no easy feat considering John doesn't have emotions).

"I used to never feel bad about anything, but now... Well, that's not true. I used to feel bad all the time. I guess the difference is that now, sometimes, I felt good, and the contrast made the bad times that much worse."

YouTube | Blog | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Snapchat @miranda_reads

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply gorgeous. A tale of friendship between a suicidal demon and the remnants of dead girls and a psychopathic boy set on destroying the rest of the demons.

It's a roadtrip novel, a cry for help, full of despair and love, goodness and evil.

This ought to be enough to describe it, but it isn't. The previous novels were a wonderful prelude to this, now streamlined and pure in its hellish clarity. Just wow. This is something like 2 or 3 times better than the previous novel, or perhaps its starkness just spoke something to me. :)

Fair warning, there's plenty of huge trigger warnings in this novel. Don't let the YA label scare you. Let humanity do that for you. :)

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, Dan, you magnificent monster! You've done it again!

[Meli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lo sentí un libro de transición, en el que hay más reflexión que acción. Sin embargo, me encantó. John empieza a dejar de esconderse debajo de su máscara de sociopata y comienza a plantearse otras caras de su humanidad. Y todo esto prepara el terreno para lo que se dislumbra como un final de saga hiperdramático. Seguro que el último libro no es solo una bomba sanguinaria, sino también emocional. ¡Qué mieditooooo!

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel bad for giving this such a low review but... I wanted to love this, and I did love a good portion of it, but after The Devil's Only Friend, which had me conflicted, this one seemed to be the one that would decide whether or not I liked where the series is going. Plotwise, it seems I don't.

I love John and Booke and all the characters introduced. I love the supernatural aspect of their world. I love the conversations, and the banter, and the dark humor and the puzzle of figuring out what motivates the Withered. But it felt like John and Brooke were so far removed from the society that society didn't exist. Dan Wells mentioned the Boston Marathon, so this book took place at least in 2013. If the FBI was searching for them, and they were, considering they were linked with 20-something murders, they'd have been found. In addition, if the Withered were seriously hunting them, if Rack's friends knew about Fort Bruce (which was impossible to miss), then where were they? We didn't get any new information about the Withered (why they became what they did, how they became it, etc.), and the majority of the book was incredibly depressing, especially since John didn't actually need to be running from the FBI. I'm sure he could've worked out some kind of compromise with them, but instead he drags Brooke and himself around the country, counting the cents they have, barely eating, hitch-hiking, homeless and alone. I know John's life has never been particularly happy, but I was hoping he'd find at least one other person he connected to. I thought that would be Corey for a while, as it seemed Wells was hinting at something there since John and Corey were so similar, but nope...

And then when he sees what he's like without Brooke with him (holding a family at gunpoint) he decides to leave her behind. Like what? What about Marci? In the synopsis it says he has no idea how to deal with her, and by the end of the book what, his answer is to just leave her? Drop her off and forget about the problem and kill more Withered? I don't know where Dan Wells is going with all this. I don't know what, or even if, he's building up to something. I hate being so critical, especially amongst so many glowing reviews and especially when I'm criticizing one of my favorite authors, but that was not what I expected. Hopefully the next book has some answers, because I'm dying from all my questions.

[Rissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Because dead ex girlfriends arnt bad enough, their subconscious and memory's have to be put in your most recent ex girlfriend and can submerge at any time so you have to continually ask who you are talking to. As if this book isnt weird (good weird i love this series) enough without that awkwardness.

I loved Brooke/everyone thats inside her and Johns friendship and how their relationship grew throughout their journey.

[Reading With Ghosty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book five was probably the most different out of the series so far. John and Brooke are running from the FBI and Brooke's episodes are becoming worse/more frequent. I enjoyed this installment in the series but it seemed like both MCs were in their own world and detached from reality. It works for the series but is also a little annoying. I like that we got to see a lot more of Brooke and her personalities but hated that John just dumped her off at home at the end. Curious to see how John behaves on his own in the next book.

Would recommend.

[Suna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este libro fue muy diferente a los anteriores, y vemos a un John más maduro. La primera parte del libro me pareció un poco tedioso pero cada vez se fue poniendo mejor. El final me dolió un poco pero me dejó con muchas ganas de leer el siguiente. Aunque ya sé que va a ser el final de John Wayne Cleaver :(

[Fernanda Romo · Rating 5 out of 5]

*4.5-5*
Esta serie la amo, y podría decir que no hay libros que me llenen tanto como estos. En este libro vemos más a los personajes y nos alejamos un tanto de la acción y de los problemas que se deben enfrentar. Podemos apreciar el desarrollo y avance de los dos protagonistas.
John se siente diferente en este libro, tiene 18 y por ende se siente a un John más maduro y más consciente de sus actos.
Me encantó, lo único que no me convenció del todo fue el final. Y es por eso que le he quitado 5 puntos.
NO PODRÉ ESPERAR UN AÑO MÁS SEÑOR WELLS.

[Claudie ☾ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one was a little slower in the beginning, but turned out to be every bit as satisfying as the previous books. It also packed an additional emotional punch; I’d expected Marci’s personality to show up eventually, but still, it was heartbreaking when she did. She was freaking brilliant, and I miss her. Poor John. With John’s anchor pretty much gone now, the last book’s title is making a lot of sense…

[Shelby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now, 3 stars isn't necessarily a bad thing. Did I like this book? Yes! Did I love it? Nope, and that is honestly heartbreaking to me considering how much I love this series and characters. This installment just fell so flat. John and Brooke head out after the disaster of the last book on a cross-country hitch-hike hunting down Withered on their own! Sounds fun right? It should have been, but I was honestly bored for the majority of the book. I really don't feel like this should have been a full length novel, a lot of this could have been shaved down into a novella. I had to force myself to get through over half the book before I really started to care for the story. My deep love for this series, hope for the next book, and the last 50 or so pages saved this from being 2 stars: the reveal of the withered was satisfying and the fate of Brooke is heartbreaking. I really hope Dan Wells can bring back the magic with the next book.

[Eric Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is probably my second favorite book in the series behind Mr. Monster, because of the absolutely horrifying moral dilemma that John faces in it. You don't think it's all that bad? Sit down and REALLY think about it for a few minutes. His only friend left in the entire world, someone he'd die to protect, all of a sudden starts manifesting the personality and memories of the only person that he has ever loved in his entire life and failed to protect. Where do you even begin to start working through the morality on that one? Plus the demon reading his mind and killing the people he fantasizes about killing in the same way he fantasizes killing them is a pretty freaky idea too. I liked the narrowing of the cast back down to John and Brook. The Devil's Only Friend felt a little too cluttered with so many characters in it, and we never really got to know any of them before they were gone, so there wasn't much emotional impact over it. So it was good to go back to John and Brook alone and fighting demons. Plus, I love that John's first thought after Brook gets captured is to grab a gun, tie up the family of the girl he suspected as being the demon, and torture information out of them. That line, "This is a cleaver. You don't know it, but it's actually very funny." made me laugh pretty hard.

Thank god this book was good, because I don't think I could have taken two terrible books from one of my favorite authors in the same year. *cough*Bluescreen*cough*avoiditliketheplague*cough*

P.S. After having read the book, I still don't know why there's a picture of a brain on the cover... Brook's mental state doesn't really seem justification enough, nor the fact that John has to use his brain to solve a mystery. Maybe I missed something. It's probably really obvious and right in front of my face and I'm just being dumb today. And what was with the kid who Facebooked "It has begun," if he didn't have anything to do with the murders why would he post that? Whatever. Just two minor nitpicks.

[Naty Escucha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitivamente uno de los mejores de la saga. Este libro no se enfoca mucho en la acción como tal vez lo haya hecho el libro anterior, sino en las batallas internas de nuestros personajes y en especial tenemos un gran acercamiento a lo que le pasa a Brooke (no lo digo por si no leyeron anteriores libro, je). Si bien no hay tanta acción, estuve todo el tiempo enganchada a la lectura, es probablemente el libro de la saga que más rápido leí a pesar de haberlo hecho en muchas sentadas (chicxs, empecé la facultad, entiendan). Gracias V&R por la copia anticipada de este libro y ya estoy esperando al 6to libro de esta saga que se ha convertido en una de mis favoritas de la vida.

Próximamente reseña en el canal ;)

[Eri Guevara · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5
No hay mejor evolución de un personaje, que yo haya leído, que la John Cleaver. El final algo precipitado y sigo sin quebrarme como en el 3er libro pero sigo creyendo que es una de las mejores sagas que haya tenido la suerte de leer.
NECESITO EL ÚLTIMO LIBRO YA!!!

[ʟ ɪ ʙ ɴ ɪ · Rating 5 out of 5]

No pondré nada por si andas por aquí también, pero LO AMO💙

Te perdono el libro anterior, Dan.

[Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let me start this review by saying that I read this book in German, because it's not out in English yet. However, I'm not German, I'm Dutch, and I speak German as a third language - which means that it's entirely possible that I've missed some important things while reading. When I've read the English version(when it's come out), I'll make sure to fix that. So, anyway, you might want to take this review with a pinch of salt.

That said, I've had the fortune of attending two writing retreats where Dan was as well. At the first one, in 2014, he told me the John Cleaver-books were ways for him to see what kind of terrible things he could do to John.
He then told me (and I'm paraphrasing): 'especially the fifth book (the fourth one hadn't come out yet in either language), every time I tell people what my plans are for that book, their response is 'you monster! How can you do that to John?''

Dan, you monster.

This is everything you're expecting from a John Cleaver-book. John is John again, there are monsters and it's scary. At the last book, John leaves with Brooke, and Brooke plays a vital role in this one. Something that the book does really well is that it expands on the relationship between the two and it does so beautifully. It gives John a human side without actually humanizing him too much. In other words, it gives John feelings.
And it will give you lots of feelings as well, especially near the end. I've rarely read an ending that tore my heart out as much as this one. (I think the only other two books that succeeded in that are Mockingjay & The Amber Spyglass, and those were the final installment in their trilogies. Which makes me scared for book six)
What I love about this book is how different it is from the fourth, despite it being in the same trilogy. The fourth was filled with demons everywhere (I think there were four or five total?), and this book contains not nearly as much. But it certainly doesn't make the book less effective, mainly because it focuses so much on the relationship between Brooke and John. Brooke does something... well... I'll leave it unsaid just what she does, but that was the start of a long rollercoaster of emotions.
Read this book in German if you can, and if you can't, read it in English as soon as it comes out, because it's worth it.
Just be prepared for the feelings.

[Lorelupin Acevedo (El Caldero Literario) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dreamers, ustedes saben que soy fan de toda esta historia, sí lo sé con este libro me tardé un año para poder leerlo y de lo que me estaba perdiendo, porque es un libro muy genial y vale mucho la pena.

Este es de los libros qué son como transitorios, esos libros qué son como un puente para llegar a la parte final, no te dicen mucho y no pasa mucho en la trama pero son necesarios para que tú entiendas porque el final de la historia, pero a pesar de que este libro pueda parecer que es muy simple, te atrapa y no lo puedes soltar.

La trama nos habla sobre John y Brooke, que van en un road trip, buscando marchitos, porque ya sabemos que no sólo es uno, entonces ellos dos se dan a la tarea de buscarlos y eliminarlos y van pasando por varios pueblos entre que matan a esos marchitos y evadiendo al FBI, que los busca porque tiene muchas dudas respecto a la situación.

Les dejo eso muy a grandes rasgos ya que éste es la quinta parte y no puedo revelarles muchas cosas, pero si les puedo decir qué libro vale mucho la pena y no sólo el libro la saga completa vale mucho la pena.

A pesar de ser un libro tranquilo tiene mucho misterio, tiene acción, tiene historia ya que sabemos más de los personajes y tiene una gran enseñanza para ellos, porque este libro es decisivo para que John tomé una decisión qué le puede cambiar la vida a él y a la historia completa.

Sigo pensando que Dan Wells es un genio, porque con tan poco argumento lugares y personajes nos trae una historia muy completa y hace que ame a los personajes, mis personajes favoritos son Brooke y Nadie, porque me di cuenta que son el complemento perfecto para John y qué hacen quellón a pesar de su sociopatía pueda empatizar con alguien, no negaré que lo haces una manera muy extraña pero de que lo logra lo logra.

Un libro que no se pueden perder tanto si ya ya leyeron parte de la saga como si están por iniciar la saga, Dan Wells sigue siendo uno de mis autores favoritos de Thriller y suspenso y quiero leer sus otras sagas que son ciencia ficción.

Lean este libro no se van arrepentir y estoy muy emocionada y ya deseando leerme esa sexta y última parte.

Entrada completa en: http://calderoliterario7.blogspot.mx

[Andi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book a bit more than the previous one, but I'm still unsure if I like the direction the story is heading with the main characters. The first trilogy had a very creepy, eerie vibe... this seems to have lost that but it came back in the end with the reveal of the killer.

Still, I am hoping for more backstory on the Withered. I don't know if I'll get it, but hopefully in this last book coming up it'll all come full circle.

I'm betting on it and I'm betting on you, John. Don't let me down.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ahh, this was so different! I really enjoy this series. You think you know what to expect...you are wrong. This series took a very different turn from where it started. I do indeed recommend this. To say too much would spoil the story. Start from the beginning and read until the last book.

[Rachel the Book Harlot]

Eeep! We have a cover! Looks great.

[Graham Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dan Wells does for the fifth time what I have not yet managed to do once.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than
you can understand.
- William Butler Yeats, "The Stolen Child"

I think Over Your Dead Body is superb! It's my personal favorite of the entire series - very nicely executed. I guess it makes sense that this would be the lowest overall rating of the series on Goodreads - I will always be one to laud the underappreciated. Perhaps I found this installment the most relatable what with the alphabet game and counting the pennies - reminded me much of my childhood.

Favorite Passages:

"Quality Feed and Fertilizer," said Brooke. "Q and R. And over there's an S,T, U . . .V. Video Rental. They still rent videos in this town? Did we hitchhike into the past?"
_______

". . . we talk to him sometimes and he says hi but he's gone - nothing in his head but songs and stories and ain't-it-great-to-be-alives. He smiles and nods and I'm not sure he recognizes us anymore. Which I guess is just a long, depressing way of saying that if your sister's in there, you've got a long, empty road ahead getting her back out, and that road don't even lead out, so you best not take it in the first place."
_______

"I remember hearing a Pink song once."
"How can a song be pink?"
"Pink was a singer," I said. "Well, still is, I guess. Sometimes I feel like we've left the world, but we're still in it, just . . . on the fringes."
_______

. . . an old drive-in movie theater. There was a high wooden wall around it, but the wooden screen was even higher; it loomed above the rest of the area like a pale giant. There was no movie playing on it, and white paper hung from it in wrinkled tears.
_______

I imagined myself stabbing him in the neck, right under the chin, behind the jaw and up through the skull into his brain. I twisted the knife to the side, and felt the crack of the bones.
_______

"Death's not a religion."
"It is for you."
_______

"It's risky and that hurts. But sometimes the thing that hurts most is the right thing to do."
_______

"There's way more blood than you think there's going to be," he said. "I was drenched in it. So please, don't assume for one second that I'm too squeamish to pull this trigger right now."
_______

"Last year I lost the key to the library so I couldn't lock up, and after freaking out all afternoon I decided to just close the door and pretend I was locking it and hope. Nothing happened. I didn't find that key again until the carpet cleaner moved my desk three months later - the front door was just unlocked for three whole months - and we didn't have a single break-in."
_______

"We need a Jeep dealership," said Brooke. "Or a . . . . jelly-bean factory."
"A jelly-bean factory?"
"They have to come from somewhere, right? Why not right here, in this empty desert wasteland?"
"Yeah," I said, looking out at the low, empty hills. "Why not?"
_______

"J," she said triumphantly. "Right under the Armadillo Grill - it says 'Buster and Jackie,' or 'Beef and Jerky' or something like that."
"Boots and Jackets," I guessed. "B."
_______

Death was the greatest peace I'd ever seen, the greatest calm I'd ever felt. Dead bodies were quiet and still and perfect. I was never more comfortable, more peaceful, than when everything around me was dead.
_______

"Run from Rain," said Brooke, automatically, as if it was an instinctual reaction. It was the same thing she'd said before, and she said it the same way.
"Is Rain that frightening?" I asked.
"Yes," said Brooke. "I don't know why, I just know that I'm scared. Like it's a part of me, deep inside."
_______

I thought of all the ways we could kill her, all the ways we could hide the body . . .
_______

Killing wasn't a job, it was literally what I did for a living. To live. To help other people live. I couldn't just kill people, except sometimes I could.
That was the moral swamp I swam in and I was barely keeping my head above water.
_______

Most of the shadows are empty, I reminded myself.
_______

"I screwed up. If I was Brooke I could do it, but I'm just a big pile of dead girls."
_______

"Suckin' on chili dogs outside the Tastee-Freez."
"What?"
"Classic rock," I said.
_______

"We're a great team."
"Yeah," I said, looking at the open door. "Between the two of us, I figure we make just about one whole person."
_______

We rode her reflected goodwill for all it was worth.
_______

"It's not about bodies," I said. "It's about whoever's inside of them."
_______

Extreme pain and extreme terror have a way of blending all voices into one primal sound, as if there were only one scream, and we just tapped into it now and then.
_______

Ingrid looked at the phone in her hand as if it were a museum curiosity, a bizarre object that had somehow transported itself magically into her hand.
_______

I, of all people, couldn't condemn a guy just for being suspicious and not fitting in.
_______

"Be careful what you wish for," I said. "Wishes are coming true a lot more often than they should."
_______

"You've got my best friend in handcuffs," I said. "You don't get to parade her around like a freak show."
"You're best friend is a demon?" he asked.
"Well look who's Judgy Judgerson all of a sudden."
"I don't mind the cuffs," said Nobody.
_______

"Coulda shoulda woulda," I said, stepping out onto the sidewalk.
_______

"Effing eff."
_______

I was stymied, as always, by the math of morality. I couldn't murder my way to peace.
_______

The city disappeared behind me, and the wind whistled secrets in my ears.

[Dev · Rating 4 out of 5]

actual rating: 3.5

I think this is probably the best book since the first one, but it still definitely has some rough spots. I like that it is more focused on John and Brooke [and Brooke's other personalities] because one of my huge problems with the fourth book were that there were just too many characters and I didn't care about any of them so it's nice to get back to basics here.

Unfortunately the plot seemed to meander aimlessly for a lot of the book, but I guess since they are hitching their way around the country that might have been on purpose. It does all come together at the end and I did like it overall, but I still kind of wondering 'where is this going' for a lot of the time.

Also killing the Withered seemed a bit 'too easy' a lot of the time. I mean surely they would have heard about the events of the last book and be actively on the lookout for John and Brooke? We know the FBI is looking for them and that gets brought up a lot here, but it seems like they should have had more resistance from the Withered community overall.

I'm interested to see how Wells wraps it all up in the last book and where John ends up after everything. This series has definitely had its ups and down but overall I think it's pretty enjoyable and definitely a cool combination of the horror and serial killer genres.

[Travis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow the emotional roller coaster that takes place within this book is extreme. John goes on one of his toughest missions yet and is hit with a bunch of different obstacles each one more harrowing then the next. I swear Dan Wells gets better with each book because you can tell he does his research to the finest point. He makes sure he knows what he is talking about and does it in a way that hopefully won't offend people while reading. I also find myself learning while I've been reading this series. Over Your Dead Body probably ranks as my second favorite book in this series. I have had a blast reading about John Cleaver and with only one book left I am excited but also sad to see this story come to a close!

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another solid addition to the series. Read with caution if suicide is a trigger for you because Nobody/Brooke is incredibly suicidal and there are lots of instances of John having to save her from killing herself. I’m able to get through it because it’s got a fantasy context to it, but it could still be super triggering to some.

[Maximiliano · Rating 4 out of 5]

VIDEO RESEÑA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apQ3M... (En la cual por un error de edición dice que le dí 1 estrella, pero no es así jajajaja)

[Jason K. Barker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quinto libro de la saga; y aunque gran parte del mismo me dio la impresión de ser algo lento, o repetitivo en su escencia, que su historia no trascendia mas aya de lo que venia haciendo John Wayne Cleaver, es decir buscar demonios y cazarlos, al final del mismo me dejo con muchos sentimientos encontrados...

No fue sino hasta el ultimo tercio del libro (o un poco mas), que agarra fuerza y/o muestra algo diferente, si bien a lo largo de esta 5ta entrega ya venia mostrando una faceta diferente de sus protagonistas, es aquí donde se muestra con mas firmeza ese otro aspecto que no se veía en su protagonista, y me refiero a que aquí se muestra su lado mas humano, y logra mostrar sus emociones, no solo su lado sociopata, sino también sus sentimientos, y esa lucha interna por negar lo que siente, y que por fin logra reconocer ese sentimiento llamado Amor.

Creo que este es el punto mas fuerte de este libro (y tal vez de la saga), el hecho de que una persona diagnosticada con tendencias sociopatas y antisocial, logre sentir y manifestar sentimientos empaticos. Y gran parte de esto es debido a otro personaje que realmente también se roba toda la atención...Brooke.

Realmente fue muy grato ver el papel que desempeño Brooke en esta parte de la historia, no puedo decir mas para no caer en spoilers, pero me agrado de sobremanera su personaje y sus diversos roles.

Solo diré que este final me dejo muy tocado, he llegado al punto en que no quiero leer el siguiente libro simplemente porque no quiero terminar la historia...ya saben, uno se encariña con los personajes....😣

📚🌟9.5/10🌟📚

[Carolina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Estuvo mucho mejor que el anterior. John es un personaje que me había gustado un montón, lo veía como alguien súper malo y enfermo y escalofriante. En este libro lo noté menos como un sociópata. ¿Los sociópatas se dan cuenta de que lo son? Esa es mi gran pregunta porque John en todo momento se lo recuerda a terceros y es cansado. Lo dice con orgullo, como si fuera algo de admiración.

Me gustan más lo villanos cuando no lo demuestran. Cuando son sigilosos e intentan parecer normales. John ya no entra en esa categoría. Es demasiado narcisista, pero a veces es blando y tiene sentimientos. ¿No se supone que los sociópatas no tiene empatía? No, no la tienen. Solo fingen que la tienen. Y John en verdad logra sentir empatía por otros y no cuadra.

Me estoy metiendo en donde tal vez no tenga mucho conocimientos pero he leído historias narradas por psicópatas y sociópatas y son mucho más reservados y calculadores. Son fríos y John es solo un chico que no logra encajar en su mundo. En fin, me gustó, estuvo bien y lo leí en un suspiro pero la historia y John me dejaron pensando. No cuadran sus pensamientos con sus actos.

[Ozymandias · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with the last book this is kind of a major leap away from the things that made the first book great. The first trilogy had relatable issues – the awkwardness of puberty, difficulty understanding other people, the feeling that your world is falling apart, the urge to violently slaughter random civilians… Who hasn’t felt that? The biggest issue in this book is how to best deal with the fact that your closest friend is possessed by an evil ageless entity and the minds of her thousands of victims including your dead girlfriend. It’s just… a bit too much. If the protagonist was fun enough, a ball of comic energy or adventurous spirit, this might work. But we’re stuck with John Wayne Cleaver, who can be comically caustic when he chooses but does so only mockingly and in bad taste. A great character stuck in a book where he just doesn’t belong.

This book was still something of an improvement over the last one. Instead of watching John fail to even try to be a team player with his FBI unit we’re watching him drift around the country like a homeless drifter. Which he basically is. Given the way this series started and worked best there’s probably something that could be done with this. There have been a number of serial killer drifters out there and playing with that side of his personality could be fun. But by this point his sociopathy and bloodlust are basically just retired plot points. The main drama is how to deal with the guilt of what happened to everyone he loves. There are elements of this that work. It feels like a massive tragedy and constantly reminds you of the fact. But it’s also clear that there will never be a solution to this. No closure or fully happy end. Yet this is the sort of book that seems to want tidy conclusions.

The hunt itself is fun. Figuring out what the villain is lacking so you can figure out their weakness leads to some interesting detective work. But as before when you meet a new character you ask yourself whether they’re the victims or the perps because there is no other role they can fit into. It’s hard to care about anyone else, leaving much of the story a little undercooked. John and Brooke are the only people you care about and they remain the focus. It did work better than I feared. I still miss the older stories.

[Jorge Trejo · Rating 5 out of 5]

¡Una de mis sagas favoritas!

Después de los hechos ocurridos en “El único amigo del demonio” tendremos a John y Broke completamente solos en su búsqueda por asesinar hasta el último marchito. Su caza los ha llevado alrededor de diferentes pueblos mientras que también huyen del FBI.

Por si la situación no fuera demasiado problemática, una persona del pasado de John volverá de entre los muertos para ayudarlo de una manera como nunca lo creyó posible y con esto poner fin de una vez por todas a los demonios que él mismo lleva dentro.

Por otro lado, al igual que en las entregas anteriores nos encontremos con un nuevo Marchito, un demonio muy diferente a cualquier otro al que hayamos visto anteriormente, uno capaz de confundir al propio de John y de conseguir mantener su identidad oculta hasta el final.

¿Cómo logrará acabar John con este nuevo Marchito?
¿Qué precio tendrá que pagar para conseguir su objetivo?

También podemos mencionar que en esta ocasión Broke será quien en verdad se robe la historia, ya habíamos visto como su desarrollo en las entregas anteriores iba cobrando más fuerza en cada ocasión, también sabemos que después de haber sido poseída por el demonio Nadie, su mente y personalidad se fragmento, dotando a su personaje de una intrigante aportación que enriquece la historia como muy pocos acompañantes podrían hacerlo.