History Literature / IDontWantToKillYou

--->Her voice was calm and even, her gaze unflinching. "I’m saying we have to stop them," she said. "There’s too many, and these three are nothing compared to what else is out there. We have to find them, and we have to stop them."
--->"But I lost Forman’s phone," I said. "That was our only link. That was the only way we could find them, and track them, and—"
--->"I don’t think you understand," said Brooke. "We don’t need Forman’s phone. I told you, I remember everything."
--->I stood silently, processing her words and their ramifications. Everything. I nodded. "Okay. Now try to rest; it’s over for now."
--->She laid back in the bed, staring at the ceiling. "No, John. It will never be over."

--->I lowered my voice a bit. "I have a key to your house." That wasn't true, but it sounded great on the phone.

--->'''John:''' Remember this the next time you doubt me. Of the two of us, I'm the one who held back when a fight turned violent.

--->'''Marci:''' Does all usually go well?
--->'''John:''' It never has before.

* DownerEnding: To the point that it's surprising that this was once meant to end John's story permanently. [[spoiler:Brooke is alive, but she's badly traumatized, Agent Ostler's comments imply that most of the deaths could have been avoided if John had let her help, and he discovers he still has a heart just in time to lose his first love and then his mother, to someone he brought into town.]] Ouch.

--->'''John:''' Mom's not keeping me out because it's a dead friend, she's keeping me out because it's a dead sixteen-year-old girl with no clothes on.
--->'''Lauren:''' And that's officially the creepiest thing you've ever said. Seriously-yuck.
--->'''John:''' I've got a live girlfriend, what do I need dead ones for?
--->'''Lauren:''' I'm not listening!

--->Brooke’s house was just two doors down from mine, a two-story tract home that followed the same basic layout as every other house in the neighbourhood – except ours, of course, which was just an apartment over the mortuary. I sat in my car, parked innocuously on the curb, and catalogued Brooke’s house in my head: there was the front porch, with the door right in the center; this led back into a long hallway that stretched to the rear of the house. On the left was the living room, small but cozy, with a large picture window, and on the right was a dining room that turned into a kitchen at the back; this had a large sliding glass door that led out to their backyard. The back corner on the left side was a bathroom and a large pantry.
--->The first floor I didn’t know nearly as well, having never been up there, but I’d been in the Crowleys’ house so I could guess where everything was. The staircase led up to a master bedroom – presumably her parents – at the top on the front right corner. I could see the windows from my seat in the car: white lace curtains and a couple of cutesy knick-knacks. Across the hall was a smaller bedroom which was probably her brother Ethan’s. The back left corner was Brooke’s room, with a wide view of the woods beyond. This I knew for certain, because I used to sit in the darkness of that wood and watch her through the uncurtained window. But I was better than that now.
--->Well, obviously not that much better.

* ArmorPiercingSlap: [[ParentsAsPeople Mrs. Cleaver]] to John, evoking a rare StunnedSilence from him.

* CallBack: After the ArmorPiercingSlap above, John grabs the same kitchen knife he threatened April with in ''I Am Not A Serial Killer'' and sets it down in front of her.

What's more, he wasn't expecting [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Nobody]] to [[BigDamnVillains come with backup]].

* BlackComedy: John "stalking" Mrs. Andelin's son to get information out of her is either this or AdultFear.

* NotSoDifferent: A rare case in which the hero notes it instead of the villain. When facing off against the Handyman, John realizes exactly what it is he's looking at. A human sociopath, traumatized by and ashamed of his own sins, trying desperately to make up for them with what he thinks is right.

The final book in the first "John Cleaver" trilogy by Creator/DanWells, following ''Literature/IAmNotASerialKiller'' and ''Literature/MrMonster''. [[TrilogyCreep A second trilogy is on the way]], starting with a novella and {{Interquel}}, ''Literature/NextOfKin'', serving as a bridge between the first and second trilogies, and the first book in the new series being ''[[Literature/TheDevilsOnlyFriend The Devil's Only Friend]]''.

* DanceOfRomance: [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments John experiences a rare moment of human connection dancing with Marci.]] When [[spoiler:considering what actions of hers could actually have been Nobody's]], he thinks of this before he thinks of kissing her.

* DanceOfRomance: [[SugarWiki/CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming John experiences a rare moment of human connection dancing with Marci.]] When [[spoiler:considering what actions of hers could actually have been Nobody's]], he thinks of this before he thinks of kissing her.

The final book in the first "John Cleaver" trilogy by DanWells, following ''Literature/IAmNotASerialKiller'' and ''Literature/MrMonster''. [[TrilogyCreep A second trilogy is on the way]], starting with a novella and {{Interquel}}, ''Literature/NextOfKin'', serving as a bridge between the first and second trilogies, and the first book in the new series being ''[[Literature/TheDevilsOnlyFriend The Devil's Only Friend]]''.

The final book in the first "John Cleaver" trilogy by DanWells, following ''Literature/IAmNotASerialKiller'' and ''Literature/MrMonster''. [[TrilogyCreep A second trilogy is on the way]], starting with a novella and {{Interquel}}, ''Literature/NextOfKin'', serving as a bridge between the first and second trilogies, and the first book in the new series being ''Literature/TheDevilsOnlyFriend''.

* BettyAndVeronica - Brooke and Marci.
* BoundAndGagged - John has a brief moment of imagining Marci this way.
* ChekhovsGun - The Handyman arrives at the same time as a chain of apparent suicides.
* DemonicPossession - John and Father Erikson discuss this as a possibility, although [[spoiler: it's only partly accurate]].
* DumbBlonde, BrainyBrunette: Double Subverted. Brooke (blonde) is generally described as more of the smart and sensitive loner archetype as well as being decribed as tall and willowy. Marci (brunette) is set up as a LovableAlphaBitch and is described as more of a voluptuous bombshell. In this book we get a better look at Marci and learn that she is, if anything, more intelligent than Brooke and certainly more empathic and insightful.
** Debatable. Brooke isn't as empathic and insightful as Marci when it comes to profiling a serial killer... but given the [[AloneWithThePsycho highly traumatic experience she had with one]] [[Literature/MrMonster in the previous book]] and her distrust of [[SociopathicHero John because of his questionable actions at the time]] this isn't really a good indicator.
* DrivenToSuicide - Nobody's victims. [[spoiler:Nobody herself, for that matter, recurringly.]]
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas - Assuming that we can qualify John as bad, this trope applies. [[spoiler: Although he doesn't actually realize it until after she dies.]]
* [[spoiler: FirstGirlWins - Zigzagged. At first glance the novel appears to play the trope straight, although in this case "wins" doesn't mean "gets the guy" so much as "lives out the trilogy", but in terms of who is John's real love interest this is averted; it's Marci, his second girlfriend, that really earns his love. However, John never stops focusing on Brooke even when she's dating other guys and he's supposedly happy with his own new girlfriend, and Nobody observes that he's had experiences with Brooke that "Marci never had" with him.]]
* HeroicSacrifice - [[spoiler: Mrs. Cleaver]]
* HollywoodSilencer - Played straight with [[spoiler:The Handyman's]] gun where John doesn't even know it's being fired until holes appear in the car trunk.

* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt - Invoked by Nobody. John wouldn't really [[spoiler:kill [[TheVirus Brooke's body]] simply in order to kill Nobody, too]] would he? [[spoiler:[[SociopathicHero Yes, actually, he would]].]]
* MamaBear - Mrs. Cleaver.
* PoliceAreUseless - Averted. John gets quite a lot of information out of Marci's father. [[spoiler:Agent Ostler turns out to be trying to hunt down Nobody, too; and if John had ''known'' she was trustworthy quite a bit of death could have been averted.]]

* ReluctantPsycho - John will get worse before he gets better...
* SacrificialLion - [[spoiler:Marci, and Mrs. Cleaver.]]
* SociopathicHero - [[MeaningfulName John Wayne Cleaver]]. [[spoiler: Averted by the end, as in grieving the death of his mother and of Marci he realizes he does have the capacity to love after all.]]
* StalkerWithACrush - John hasn't entirely gotten over this tendency. [[spoiler:It also turns out to be Nobody's entire ''modus operandi''.]]
* TakingYouWithMe - Done by [[spoiler: Mrs. Cleaver, to Nobody]].
* TalkingToTheDead - [[spoiler: John to Marci at the end]]

* TalkingToTheDead - In a spectacularly creepy scene near the end, John gets to fulfill his fantasy of embalming a loved one, complete with this.

* SociopathicHero - [[MeaningfulName John Wayne Cleaver]]. [[spoiler: Averted by the end, as in grieving the death of his mother he realizes he does have the capacity to love after all.]]

The final book in the first "John Cleaver" trilogy by DanWells, following ''Literature/IAmNotASerialKiller'' and ''Literature/MrMonster''. A second trilogy is on the way, starting with a novella and {{Interquel}}, ''Literature/NextOfKin'', serving as a bridge between the first and second trilogies, and the first book in the series being ''Literature/TheDevilsOnlyFriend''.

The final book in the first "John Cleaver" trilogy by DanWells, following ''Literature/IAmNotASerialKiller'' and ''Literature/MrMonster''. A second trilogy is on the way, starting with a novella and Interquel, ''Literature/NextOfKin'', serving as a bridge between the first and second trilogies, and the first book in the series being ''Literature/TheDevil'sOnlyFriend''.

The final book in the first "John Cleaver" trilogy by DanWells, following ''Literature/IAmNotASerialKiller'' and ''Literature/MrMonster''. A second trilogy is on the way, starting with a novella and Interquel, ''Literature/NextOfKin'', bridging the two trilogies, and the first book in the series, ''Literature/TheDevilsOnlyFriend'', having come out.

The final book in the first "John Cleaver" trilogy by DanWells, following ''Literature/IAmNotASerialKiller'' and ''Literature/MrMonster''. A second trilogy is on the way, with ''Literature/TheDevilsOnlyFriend'' being the first in the series.

The final book in the "John Cleaver" trilogy by DanWells, following ''Literature/IAmNotASerialKiller'' and ''Literature/MrMonster'' (Dan Wells has claimed that he plans on more adventures for John and [[spoiler:Brooke]] as they battle the demons, but plans to make that a new series).

* [[spoiler: FirstGirlWins - Because the other one died.]]

The final book in the "John Cleaver" trilogy by Dan Wells, following ''Literature/IAmNotASerialKiller'' and ''Literature/MrMonster'' (Dan Wells has claimed that he plans on more adventures for John and [[spoiler:Brooke]] as they battle the demons, but plans to make that a new series).

The final book in the "John Cleaver" trilogy by Dan Wells, following ''Literature/IAmNotASerialKiller'' and ''Literature/MrMonster''.

* RedHerring - For the characters as well as the readers. When the Handyman arrives in Clayton [[spoiler:John assumes he must be the demon and spends most of the book trying to profile him based on that assumption]]. Similarly, [[spoiler: the revelation that the Handyman mutilated the eyes of his most recent victim right after John had a discussion about another serial killer with a fixation on eyes with Marci and her dad.]]

* TalkingToTheDead - In a spectacularly creepy scene near the end, John gets to fulfil his fantasy of embalming a loved one, complete with this.

The final book in the "John Cleaver" trilogy by Dan Wells, following ''IAmNotASerialKiller'' and ''MrMonster''.