I've seen some people mark I Am Not a Serial Killer as YA. I suppose that makes some sense, the book does feature a not yet 16 year old protagonist, but the content within the novel... man, I don't think I could ever read this as a high schooler. John Wayne Cleaver is a troubled teenager whose mother and aunt run the local funeral home. He also is a diagnosed sociopath with homicidal tendencies and an obsession with serial killers. His obsession stems from a desire to understand that which he is. He doesn't WANT to be a serial killer, but there's no denying that all the identifiers are there. He habitually wets the bed, he enjoys hurting animals, he loves starting fires, he cannot connect emotionally with other human beings and most of all, he fantasizes about hurting others. He also doesn't WANT to hurt anyone. He doesn't want to be the bad person he seems destined to be. 
 It should come as no surprise that the content of this novel was a tad difficult to handle. Strangely enough though, the scenes that internally upset me the most had nothing to do with murders or John's sociopathic nature. No, the parts I couldn't stomach came from the work his mom and aunt perform. As mentioned, John's mom and aunt run the local funeral home and do all the embalming for the city and although it certainly is admirable the amount of research Mr. Wells put into learning about the embalming process, it grossed me out completely. I could handle reading about serial killers torturing and eventually murdering their victims, removing organs from their bodies, I literally was cringing in my seat hearing in depth descriptions of how exactly bodies are prepared for viewings. 
 The basic plot is that our protagonist, John Wayne Cleaver is struggling with his homicidal tendencies when a serial killer shows up in Clayton county and begins murdering people and removing body parts. John, finally seeing a use for his darker nature, wants to try to hunt down the killer and stop him. On the outset, this might sound a lot like Dexter, but it really isn't. For one thing, whereas Dexter's lack of empathy is a subplot, showing up only in season 1 and then Dexter seems to have few problems blending in with society, John's lack of emotional understanding is front and center with each and every one of his problems. He genuinely struggles to keep his dark side at bay, knowing on the one hand that he does care for his mom and others, but also vividly fantasizing about torturing them. He doesn't know how to interact with other people without completely creeping them out, he doesn't know the wrong and right things to say and can't gauge when others are bothered by him. This exploration of character and lack of empathy I found to be extremely interesting and elevated John above Dexter in complexity. 
 I am unsure if this was a good or bad thing, but later on when we know who the killer is and are full in John's plan to stop him (the grand majority of serial killers are male, this isn't a spoiler) that Mr. Wells gave him a very humanized weakness. Of all the people, the killer was actually one of the people I felt was most human in terms of character. I kept feeling bad when John enacted his plans, but then would have to remind myself that this person had gruesomely killed many people. 
 There were a couple subplots that I think got on the chopping block and were never tied up. For instance, John's relationship with Max, his only friend of any sorts never gets resolved. I've read book 2 now and know that it IS resolved, but we never saw it happen. Suddenly every is just cool with them again. That was frustrating, I'd have liked to see them talk things through. 
 Overall, I found this book to be rather enjoyable. A tad simplistic at times, and some plot coincidences that happened (who the last victim is, for example) bugged me but I eagerly went on and read book two in the series and am currently working on book 3. I would avoid the audiobook for I Am Not a Serial Killer, though. I found the narrator to be lackluster and simply could not do female voices well at all. ESPECIALLY old female voices. Every time Mrs. Crowley (spelling? I listened not read) spoke, I cringed. 
 If you can handle the dark subject matter, give this one a read. You might not like the twist involving who the killer is and what his motive is, but I found it rather interesting and gave John an avenue to explore his darker side and the consequences thereof.