Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies

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

By: Michael Ausiello

Narrated by: Michael Ausiello

Length: 10 hrs

Publisher's summary

In this evocative and gorgeously wrought memoir reminiscent of Rob Sheffield's Love Is a Mixtape and George Hodgman's Bettyville, Michael Ausiello - a respected TV columnist and founder and editor in chief of TVLine.com - remembers his late husband and the lessons, love, and laughter that they shared throughout their 14 years together.

For the past decade, TV fans of all stripes 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 to his influential stints at TV Guide and Entertainment Weekly to his current role as founder and editor in chief of the wildly popular website TVLine.com, 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 husband, Kit Cowan, was diagnosed with a rare and very aggressive form of neuroendocrine cancer. Over the course of 11 months, Kit and Michael did their best to combat the deadly disease, but Kit succumbed to his illness in February 2015.

In this heartbreaking and darkly hilarious memoir, Michael tells the story of his harrowing and challenging last year with Kit while revisiting the 13 years that preceded it and how the undeniably powerful bond between him and Kit carried them through all manner of difficulty - always with laughter front and center in their relationship. Instead of a tale of sadness and loss, Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies is an unforgettable, inspiring, and beautiful testament to the resilience and strength of true love.

©2017 Michael Ausiello (P)2017 Simon & Schuster Audio

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

Must read for anyone with a heart!

This is one of the best most complexly loving book written this year. The passion and love can be felt in every heart felt word and the authors voice as he tells the story of his great love. Micheals depth of love for Kit was so deep as was the love Kit had for Micheal and those who knew him. I cried, I laughed I revealed in such a glorious love story! This is an absolute must read!!

God That Was Sad

So incredibly sad...I lost my husband of 10 years when he was just 59 so I know the horrible pain. This relationship between Kit and Michael was so wonderful, so deep, so amazing! I loved these two and this book so much.

Beautifully heartbreaking truths!

I lost my husband this past October to heart failure so for some dark reason (I guess I like to break my own heart) I just had to read this book. Let me say a very heartfelt thank you (though I doubt he will ever read it) to the author. It was almost like reading the last year I lived. The humor, the heartbreak, the pain of watching your other half struggle, the moments of dementia and the moments of clarity, the joys of those little moments that matter mixed with the hurt, the pain of previous loss of people so important to you, so much of it. You put into words much of which I don't even know how to put into words. I am so sorry for your loss. No one (especially so young. My husband passed at 35 and I am 33 so I understand the feeling that it is all too soon) should ever have to watch their person taken, especially in such a cruel way. All I can say is thank you. It is somehow in a dark and twisty way a comfort or therapudic to know someone else out there has experienced much the same and gets it. Actually knows how you feel. It was so hard to get through this as it triggered so many memories, but I could hardly put it down at the same time. I have loved taking part in this tiny slice of your life. Thank you!

Heartbreaking and Heartwarming

The narration’s tender and filled with humor and sadness. A great personal love story well told.

Loved the book & movie

I just watched the movie and I didn’t realize there was also a book. I loved both. It was a beautiful and heartbreaking. It’s been awhile since I’ve cried while listening to book.