John Dies at the End

By: David Wong

Narrated by: Stephen R. Thorne

John Dies at the End is a genre-bending, humorous account of two college drop-outs inadvertently charged with saving their small town—and the world—from a host of supernatural and paranormal invasions.

Stop.

You should not have touched this flyer with your bare hands.

No, don’t put it down. It’s too late. They’re watching you.

My name is David Wong. My best friend is John. Those names are fake. You might want to change yours. You may not want to know about the things you’ll read on these pages, about the sauce, about Korrok, about the invasion, and the future. But it’s too late. You touched the book. You’re in the game. You’re under the eye.

The only defense is knowledge. You need to read this book, to the end. Even the part with the bratwurst. Why? You just have to trust me.

The important thing is this: the drug is called Soy Sauce, and it gives users a window into another dimension. John and I never had the chance to say no. You still do.

I’m sorry to have involved you in this, I really am. But as you read about these terrible events and the very dark epoch the world is about to enter as a result, it is crucial you keep one thing in mind: none of this was my fault.

©2007 David Wong and Permuted Press. All rights reserved. (P)2011 BBC Audiobooks America

Tried something new, and I liked it!

What did you love best about John Dies at the End?

I loved that this story wasn't a formula driven story. No "good guy battles the bad guy and wins because he is the good guy" stuff. The characters are not knights in shining armor, everyone is broken (or at least chipped), but that didn't make them bad people, or especially good people. Just... people. The story was a little crazy... a little funny... a little surprising... And the twists and turns weren't sadly obvious, or so ridiculous that it ruined the story. It all felt like it just fit together. And fit well.

What did you like best about this story?

I was afraid the the story was going to get overly complicated... overlapping time, and different dimensions, and all of the classic over-complications of scifi...

Nope! The story was "filtered" by the point of view of the regular guys on an irregular adventure. They didn't bother trying to explain everything. They figured out what they needed to know, and went with it.

It was an interesting premise, a good story, and a very good performance. Thorne's performance fit the characters perfectly, in all their imperfect glory.

Any additional comments?

I almost hope for a sequel to this book.... but I would be afraid it wouldn't be able to capture the same magic as this one did.

Appeals to 14 year old boys.

If a 14 year old wrote a supernatural book complete with penis jokes, gratuitous feces, blood, and vomit scenes, and some unsophisticated one liners, this would be it.

Interesting story. But the cursing is tiresome.

Why does it seem impossible to find a good book nowadays that isn’t saturated with cursing? It gets very tiresome and turns an otherwise entertaining story, into and experience of irritation.

One of the greatest books ever written.

Douglas Adams meets Stephen King. But with more dick jokes. Read it, you won't be disappointed!

smartassed & surrealist humor

What did you like best about John Dies at the End? What did you like least?

The book was funny... "Your dead boyfriend's ghost *hits* you? What a dick."
But after too much over-sarcasm, I realized that the writing style still works as a novel, but works much better as Wong's shorter, cracked online editorial rants.

At some points the book had a similar surrealist humor to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.