The Wrong Dead Guy

By: Richard Kadrey

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman

Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's Summary

In this fast-paced sequel to The Everything Box - the second entry in New York Times best-selling author Richard Kadrey's comedic supernatural series - chaos ensues when Coop and the team at DOPS steal a not-quite-dead and very lovesick ancient Egyptian mummy wielding some terrifying magic.

Coop, a master thief sort of gone legit, saved the world from an ancient doomsday device - heroism that earned him a gig working for the Department of Peculiar Science, a fearsome top-secret government agency that polices the odd and strange. Now Woolrich, Coop's boss at the DOPS, has Coop breaking into a traveling antiquities show to steal a sarcophagus containing the mummy of a powerful Egyptian wizard named Harkhuf. With the help of his pals Morty, Giselle, and a professor that's half cat, half robotic octopus, Coop pulls off the heist without a hitch.

It's not Coop's fault that when DOPS opened the sarcophagus, they didn't find the mummy they were expecting. Well, it was the right mummy, but it wasn't exactly dead - and now it's escaped, using a type of magic the organization hasn't encountered before. Being a boss, Woolrich blames his underling for the screwup and wants Coop to find the missing Harkhuf and make it right, pronto.

Digging into Harkhuf's history, Coop thinks the mummy is hunting for an ancient magical manuscript that will help him bring his old lover back to life. Which wouldn't be so bad if she wasn't a warrior sorceress hell-bent on conquering the world with her undead armies. Coop would very much like to run from the oncoming chaos. It's one thing to steal a mummy but another to have to deal with head-hunting bureaucrats, down-on-their luck fortune-tellers, undead mailroom clerks, and a rather unimpressed elephant. Unfortunately there's nowhere to run. If he wants the madness to stop, he's going to have to suck it up and play hero one more time. But if Coop manages to save the world again, he's definitely going to want a lot of answers. And a raise.

©2017 Richard Kadrey (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers

Tongue-In-Cheek Horror

This is a follow-on to 'The Everything Box', and carries the same offbeat characters through to new adventures. Consider that the action centers around an agency so secret that if they tell you about it they have to kill you - and then put you to work in the mailroom. Using everything from psychotic ghosts to mutant mice, Kadrey tells a wild, fast-paced story of a mummy's boy who is wrapped up in the search for his lost love, and the mayhem and murder that ensues. Cooper, our criminal and reluctant hero, has his hands full saving the day while doing his best to stay alive. He really doesn't want to end up in the mail room. Great fun and highly recommended.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Still a fun series

This is a really goofy series and I really like it.

That's a lit going on and there's a couple of hiests (which I think is where this series shines) and there a bunch of weird magic stuff (which is also very well done, especially when it's particularly silly) and there's still a relatively strong sense of "if the protagonist doesn't do something, the bad guy weeks". it's not necessarily a sense of narrative tension, it's all a little too goofy for that, but it's still there.

The plot is a little hard to describe, there's a mummy and there's a bunch of rich kids that are wannabe animal rights activists and there's a crooked car salesman and there's an elephant and then there's another plot against the protagonist all together.

At times it's a little hard to connect all the plots and remember what's going on. The stuff in the basement is generally pretty funny, but gets a little odd by the end, like I kind of forgot exactly why the stuff that was happening to them was happening. And it takes a long time for the animal rights stuff to pay off, and it's not a big good ultimately, just another hitch in the road for the crew.

I really like the doctor that's a ghost cat that's a robot, that's a great thing. That's the kind of thing I look for in books, something that is nearly indescribable and also is exactly what it sounds like.

Overall I liked it. I don't think it's quite as good as The Everything Box, but it holds its own and it's a fun book.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

great series

very entertaining series - I highly recommend it. this one was a nice build on the last with out leaving any huge clif-hangers at the end, but still setting up your interest in more of Coop' s adventures. Audible 20 Review Sweepstakes Entry.

Even more fun than the first book!

As always Oliver Wyman delivers a fantastic performance and brings the book to life.
I really hope Richard Kadrey continues to write more in this series. So many laugh out loud moments. I love a good action adventure, far fetched, make you laugh, just can shut off audit books. A great set of stories, a great narrator, who could ask for more. Richard, do it again. Oliver, keep reading to us.

Kadrey is trying too hard in this series.

I am a big fan of the Sandman Slim series, it feels like Kadrey is trying to create a PG13 version and it just feels like he is trying too hard and it falls kind of flat.

The perfect book...

Who was your favorite character and why?

Coop. He's deadpan, practical, and hilarious.

What does Oliver Wyman bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Each voice is distinct and you know which character is speaking even if it's not announced first.

Any additional comments?

This book is just perfect. Great characters. Hilarious dialog. Clever problems, inspired results. I kept checking how much longer was left in the book because I didn't want it to end. I've read all of Kadrey's book but this is definitely best which is saying something since the others are so great. It's a crime caper, revenge story, curses, mummy's, poor management, and a cat/squidbot. You really need to listen to this. You're day will become substantially brighter.

not his best work, but entertaining

The ending felt a little thrown together and unsatisfying, but the characters are fun and the narration is excellent.

even better the 2nd tim

What made the experience of listening to The Wrong Dead Guy the most enjoyable?

the wry humor, oliver wyman;s great voice

What did you like best about this story?

this one differs from the first one by concentrating on coop and his team, while having an angel punched in the nose was a great start, it had a lot of lines, now it takes the best of them

Which character – as performed by Oliver Wyman – was your favorite?

got to be doctor lupinsky, come on a doctor in egypology who gets turned into a cat, dies, haunts a CRT monitor that works on D batteries and has his own octopus like robot body to move in

how can you not like this, ps i want more!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

it is a genuinly funny book, coop reacts to all the frustration in his life with a mixture of sarcasm an fatalism

harcoof the mummy and his gluton for punishment thrall is funny too

Any additional comments?

get it, listen, forget the time, be late and ruin your life, you will still be happy

Poor Coop just attracts trouble

What made the experience of listening to The Wrong Dead Guy the most enjoyable?

Mr Kadrey has a story that keeps wit and humor rapid fire, Mr Wyman is a great reader who puts like and wit into every character I enjoyed both books

What other book might you compare The Wrong Dead Guy to and why?

I like the first one and the second just got better, Not many with this much action

Have you listened to any of Oliver Wyman’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I only have the 2 books in this series to judge and he did a great job on both

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

Not sure I like the title it speaks to the spirit of the DOPS which is somewhat different than most govt agencies

Any additional comments?

PLEASE Mr Kadrey don't stop with just 2 WE all want more!!!

It picks up

The first half was boring and confusing. It also didn't help that I couldn't remember all the characters. For the first time I wished a sequel would rehash some information about our main characters. Eventually it picks up and becomes quite funny. If you like light, crazy, fantasy stories told from multiple points of view this is good choice, but I would hesitate to recommend to everyone.

More adventures of Coop

You do need to listen to the first book to appriciate this book . The same group of characters as before . Well created charcters in another strange adventure . really enjoyed this I do hope Mr. Kadrey wites more books in this series.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful