Starred Review Lyga's burial of the I Hunt Killers trilogy cements it as one of the most ambitious thriller series in YA history, and the absolute best cliff from which teen readers can dive into the grueling world of adult crime procedurals. Given the violence of Game (2013), it's no shocker that Jazz, Connie, and Howie begin laid up in the hospital. But there's no rest for the wicked: in short order is novel's time frame is brutally truncated zz busts out, determined to do away with, once and for all, his serial killer pop, Billy Dent. First, though, he will need to divine the truth behind "the Crows," which appears to be a cult of murderers in thrall to the elder Dent. As Jazz's every evasive move against encroaching cops becomes more morally questionable, the central conflict n he use his dad's sociopathic tricks without sliding into sociopathy himself? writ large. You can't stop reading, though; as before, Lyga's strength is a plot that rockets with blood-slicked assurance and with the intercut speed (and splatter) of Thomas Harris' The Silence of the Lambs (1988). Will Jazz end up a Crow or just another "prospect"? Here's hoping the Edgar Awards retroactively present Lyga a trio of statuettes for his chilling three-book answer. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Strong reviews, Hollywood interest, and Lyga's ever-growing fan base should keep this splashy series capper on the front pages for some time.

Gr 9 Up-Jasper "Jazz" Dent is locked in a storage locker with two dead bodies, trying to nurse his own bullet wound in the dim light of a fading cellphone. Picking up (without pause) from the cliff-hanger ending in Game (2013), Lyga's series about the 17-year-old who was first introduced in I Hunt Killers (2012) as the son of escaped killer Billy Dent continues as he tries to aid the police in his father's recapture. Unaware that his girlfriend Connie has been lured by Billy to a Brooklyn tenement house and imprisoned with Jazz's mother, and that his hemophiliac friend, Howie, has been attacked, Jazz faces his demons aloneincluding repressed memories with sexual undertones, and the creepy voice of Billy educating his son on the acumen required to be a good serial killer (appearing in italics). The worrisome genetic factor plagues Jazz yet propels him in the right direction to foil some copycat killers and elude authorities long enough to solve his own life's mysteries. Obstructing the law, the teen follows clues that take him back home to Lobo's Nod for the chilling climax and surprise ending, despite red herrings thrown in the readers' path at every turn. Connie and Howie continue to play major roles in this episode, often providing their own points of view, as do officers Hughes and Tanner as bumbling but likable authorities. As a trilogy wrap-up, this gory winner with raw appeal requires having read the first two titles. Vicki Reutter, State University of New York at Cortland

This trilogy-ender begins with a bang: Jazz (son of serial killer Billy Dent) has been shot and trapped; hemophiliac best friend Howie is in the ER; and girlfriend Connie is being held captive by Billy himself. The teens fight to reunite and take down Billy, uncovering more gruesome secrets about Jazz's family. The previous books raised tantalizing questions--Lyga delivers with a vengeance.