The Wrong Dead Guy

By: Richard Kadrey

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman

Length: 12 hrs and 11 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

A good sophomore effort

This is the second book in this series and suffers slightly for the sophomore slump. By no means does that mean it is not a fun book. It just takes it's time getting rolling. While it is doing that, you do get moments of brilliantly weird humor and character development. Stick with it. the last quarter or so are worth the wait.

Recommended to fans of the Nothing Box and heist stories with a sense of humor.

meh

First book was really good.. this book not so much. I mean its okay.. just slow, boring, over descriptive .. author literally takes a paragraph worth of info and stretches it out over chapters.. so all filler.
Now Oliver Wyman.. yowzza.. what a narrator .. in fact he is the only reason I didn't return the book after the first hour

quirky and fun

An amusing story and it kept me entertained. I liked the characters and how the early confusion of the story eventually pulled it all together.

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

Good narrator

The stories OK, it doesn’t flow as smoothly or as interestingly enough to keep me turning the pages/listening but I did finish it. Might go back and try the first one, not sure I would pick up a third one if this book was the only sample.

Funny and enjoyable

Love the author and took a chance on this (it was on sale). Great book to listen to while commuting, it's not complex, which I don't need in traffic, and I loved the narration!

Where is the next book?

Seriously,where is the next book in this series? Killing me and feels like this series might have been dropped which would be a huge shame. I freaking love sandman slim but want 5 more Coop adventuress!

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!!!

Anxiously awaiting another book by this

The pairing of this author and this narrator cannot be beat. Tons of laughs lots of thought-provoking material. I’m sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for them to produce another masterpiece

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.