Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies

A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Other Four-Letter Words

De: Michael Ausiello

Narrado por: Michael Ausiello

Now a major motion picture starring Jim Parsons! A “heartbreaking but surprisingly hilarious memoir” (People) about the lessons, love, and laughter of the fourteen years a respected TV columnist shared with his late husband before he succumbed to cancer.

For over a decade, TV fans have counted upon Michael Ausiello’s insider knowledge to get the scoop on their favorite shows and stars. From his time at Soaps In Depth and Entertainment Tonight to his influential stints at TV Guide and Entertainment Weekly to his current role as cofounder of the wildly popular website TVLine, Michael has established himself as the go-to expert when it comes to our most popular form of entertainment.

What many of his fans don’t know, however, is that while his professional life was in full swing, Michael had to endure the greatest of personal tragedies: his longtime boyfriend, Kit Cowan, was diagnosed with a rare and very aggressive form of neuroendocrine cancer. Over the course of eleven months, Kit and Michael did their best to combat the deadly disease, but Kit succumbed to his illness in 2015.

In this heartbreaking and darkly hilarious memoir, Michael tells the story of his harrowing and challenging last year with Kit while revisiting the thirteen years that preceded it, and how the undeniably powerful bond between him and Kit carried them through all manner of difficulties—always with laughter front and center in their relationship.

“Engrossing, poignant, tragic, and hilarious” (Jenny Lawson, #1 New York Times bestselling author), Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies is “a story about love and loss, joy and heartbreak. And in the midst of personal turmoil, we learn that bravery comes in many forms” (The Washington Post).

An amazing glimpse to an amazing relationship

Thank you Mike for sharing your beautiful journy with Kit. I am really happy I got this audiobook.

You'll laugh, you'll cry

I have been reading Michael Ausiello's column for years. I have always enjoyed his "voice" in his columns and was moved when he shared the news of Kit's passing to the TVline.com readers. When I discovered he had written a book about the experience, I was anxious to listen. I LOVED this book. It was funny and snarky and real. Their love story is so honest and relate-able (regardless of your sexual orientation) - love is love.

Must read for any couple

Touching. Puts relationships into perspective. Don’t sweat the small stuff. And for the most part it is all small stuff.

A beautifully devastating love story 💔

This book shouldn't exist. And I say this because cancer shouldn't exist and Michael Ausiello should've never had to write this book with such a haunting title. So, we all know that the hero dies at the end, and that, let me tell you, is absolutely f***ed up. The love story between Michael and Kit if one for the ages, the kind that deserved to be in history books, the kind that people make movies about and create legend around it. And not because it was perfect, 'cause no relationship is, it's simply because they stood by each other's side through thick and thin, through sickness and in health. And that, nowadays, it's a very, very rare thing.

The story starts with the fabulous first date that this couple had, so you start loving them immediately: they're quite opposite but understand each other, their witty answers and dry humor makes the spark ignite. And throughout the book we learn a more about Michael and Kit, while the dreadful situation that the title warned us comes up, like a dark cloud ruining a perfectly sunny day: Kit has cancer.

So, if we already know where this is going, why bother? Because the story is ABSOLUTELY beautiful. Love like that, I believe, comes once in a lifetime. I understand Michael 100% and feel identified with him, so I felt close to the story throughout the whole book. There's a lot of humor, honesty and love in the narration, Ausiello's brilliant ability to write makes the reader a part of his life, a witness to his happiness and his sadness, a shoulder to cry on that will eventually cry with him.

You just can't help it, and if you're like me, you just don't want to. You just wanna cry, out of happiness for this beautiful love story, and out of sadness for the reality of life, of the fact that cancer is still taking lots of people way before their time and leaving deep wounds in their loved ones, who have incredible stories about resilience and strength to share to the world, but without that part of their hearts that's gone forever.

Where did Ausiello find the strength to write this, and to read the Audible audiobook with such love, poise and professionalism? I tip my hat to this incredibly strong man and to this beautiful and devastating love story.

Touching and heartfelt

Without romantising a journey through terminal illness, beautifully captures a modern-day story of true love