John Dies at the End

Paperback, 480 pages

English language

Published Nov. 10, 2010 by Thomas Dunne Books.

ISBN:
978-0-312-65914-1
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OCLC Number:
645673232

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3 stars (13 reviews)

John Dies at the End is a comic horror novel written by David Wong that was first published online as a webserial beginning in 2001, then as an edited manuscript in 2004, and a printed paperback in 2007, published by Permuted Press. An estimated 70,000 people read the free online versions before they were removed in September 2008. Thomas Dunne Books published the story with additional material as a hardcover on September 29, 2009. The book was followed by three sequels, This Book Is Full of Spiders in 2012, What The Hell Did I Just Read in 2017, and If This Book Exists, You're in the Wrong Universe, in 2022. A film adaptation by Don Coscarelli was released in 2012.

12 editions

Review of 'John dies at the end' on 'Goodreads'

1 star

1.5 stars

So happy to be done I haven't been so happy to finish a book in a long time. The concept is really interesting and I wanted to care but the constant penis jokes/taunts/fascination, use of the word "retarded" as a descriptor for people or situations, and, well, the author's voice and style all combined to make this a painful read. I wouldn't have finished it at all if I didn't need a book starting with "J" for an A-Z title challenge.

I'm sure I would have enjoyed it much more if I were a teen-aged boy.

Review of 'John Dies at the End' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Is this some experiment in allowing a first-time writer to publish a book without ever sending it through the traditional editing process? A blisteringly entertaining opening gives way to a glacial middle third, and then the book just fizzles to a close without any sense of any sort of through-line or cohesion. I guess the through-line and cohesion would appear if you read the follow-up, but honestly, after slogging my way through this, I don't think I'll return for seconds, thanks.