The Last Days of Jack Sparks

By: Jason Arnopp

Narrated by: Joe Jameson

Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's Summary

Jack Sparks died while writing this book.

It was no secret that journalist Jack Sparks had been researching the occult for his new book. No stranger to controversy, he'd already triggered a furious Twitter storm by mocking an exorcism he witnessed.

Then there was that video: 40 seconds of chilling footage that Jack repeatedly claimed was not of his making, yet it was posted from his own YouTube account.

Nobody knew what happened to Jack in the days that followed - until now.

©2016 Jason Arnopp (P)2016 Hachette Audio

Critic Reviews

"Funny, creepy and totally nuts." (Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts)

"This is The Omen for the social media age." (Chris Brookmyre, author of the Jack Parlabane thrillers)

"Wow. Seriously hard to put down.... Chilling and utterly immersive." (M. R. Carey, author of The Girl with All the Gifts)

Scary, hilarious, creepy, snarky, fun

Jack Sparks is a sarcastic Brit with a big social media presence and a few published books. He's probably getting a bit long in the tooth for this kind of life, but his bank account is emptying and another best-seller is in order to follow the last one, Jack Sparks on Drugs--from which he has just barely recovered. This time he figures he'll write Jack Sparks on the Supernatural, thinking the research and so forth will be fun for an atheist like himself.

But things don't turn out quite the way Jack thought. After he attends an exorcism in Italy, his life takes a few weird turns, and then a terrifying video is posted to his YouTube account. Searching for the source of the video, Jack ends up in Hollywood, slowly--or even quickly--going insane.

Arnopp's take on the supernatural here is fresh and interesting: this is definitely not your regular old book about demons and exorcists. Jack's insane adventures build to an ending that really satisfies, in spite of being a little bit drawn-out.

I won't say more for fear of spoilers, but trust me, this is a great listen. Parts of it were so scary I had to pause it while listening alone in a dark room. Other times, I paused it because I was just laughing too hard to hear the next bit. Overall, Jack is an absolute jerk, but he's funny enough to make that work in his favor.

Joe Jameson narrates the book with exactly the right tone--you can practically hear his eyes rolling in some places, but elsewhere you can hear just a bit of sympathy for Jack. This was a truly entertaining listen, and I'm eagerly looking forward to more of Jason Arnopp!

Scary and Satirical

Self-obsessed author Jack Sparks loves to write about himself. He’s a smug atheist, a social media junkie and a selfish jerk. He’s also dead, which I assure you, is not a spoiler.

Jack narrates most of this story, which is part horror novel, part mystery and more than a little satire. He’s not what I'd call a reliable narrator. The novel is actually presented as a book within a book: “Jack Sparks on the Supernatural” is written by Jack himself but is framed with (and occasionally interrupted by) editorial content from his brother. The book we're listening to is from a manuscript Jack left behind.

Jack sets out to experience and debunk the supernatural, beginning by attending an exorcism in Italy. The novel takes off from there and it will keep you guessing. It’s a satisfying read with an interesting ending and a few laughs and frights along the way.

This is biting, sharply-written fiction with just the right amount of ambiguity. I found it refreshingly original and narrator Joe Jameson deftly handles both the character voices and the story.

Not sure how this one slipped under my radar....

THIS. BOOK. WAS. AWESOME!!!! Don't skip over this one!! It has biting wit, hilarious moments, and some decent horror as well. I will be trying anything else Mr Amopp puts out. Easily a top pick of the year in my eyes. The narrorator nailed it as well. Thoroughly enjoyable!

Meta-Psycho Journalism at it's Finest

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Sure- it was entertaining and very well voiced.

If you’ve listened to books by Jason Arnopp before, how does this one compare?

This was my first Jason Arnopp. Might not be the last!

Which character – as performed by Joe Jameson – was your favorite?

De Steffano's old-school Italian accent was spot on. The Mimi character was hella annoying.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

"Be careful what you investigate..." or "The devil doesn't care what you believe..."

Any additional comments?

It got a little predictable here and there, but the interjections via documented accounts/post-book interviews/email exchanges etc. brought me right back into the believability. I'm also a sucker for transient literature, so this book won me over in a lot of inventive ways.

One of my Favorites of 2016

It seems the social media age and horror may be a perfect fit. Arnopp’s Jack Sparks, a narcisistic, atheist reporter who seeks out the supernatural, is not just an unreliable narrator, but an asshat that is blatanly lying to you. I absolutely loved every minute of this book, and the narrator, Joe Jameson, hits all the right marks.

Last third of the book was good

The narrator was annoying which I imagine is what they were going for. I found myself tuning out often. The last third was good and wished I didn’t have to slog through the two thirds to get there. Story was good but would have been better told more succinctly

A little scarier than I was expecting

So I came off this having just listened to Tales From the Gas Station 1 & 2, and outside of that the only horror books I have in my library are David Wong's "John Dies at the End" series and (arguably) a couple of Peter Cline's books, so when Audible's algorithms recommended this I was expecting something that was more absurd/weird/funny than scary, and a couple of review I read did indicate it was funny. And it was somewhat amusing at times. But this one also gave me the willies. It's dark, and it shows a bad side of humanity, and it's creepy. I was physically uncomfortable for a portion of the book. I thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend it, but be prepared for something that's disturbing and uncomfortable.

MEEEEEE. MEEEEEE.

Solid & Rather Frightening

I have amassed a VAST library of
Audible books mainly within the horror genre. Truthfully, 75% of the books I have listened to fall to the wayside and even after reading the “details” I struggle to remember and draw blanks as to what the book was even about. This book DOES NOT fall into that category. This was truly a unique and frightening tale with an excellent ending. I would highly recommend it to anyone. It has been well over a year since I listened to this book and thought it was time to give it the praise it deserves.

Thought provoking tale.

Interesting, unpredictable and thought provoking. Excorcist, Blair Witch and Hitchcock tale combined. I laughed out loud at times, too.

The thinking person’s spook story

Beautifully written and brilliantly read by Joe Jameson, this is by turns a thought provoking, hilarious and mega creepy yarn. Just when you think you know Jack, author Arnopp throws another curveball. Can’t say enough about the quality of the narration. Completely original, highly recommended.