Book Review
Title: John Dies at the End (John Dies at the End Book 1) by David Wong
Genre: Horror, Comedy
Rating: DNF
So I didn’t really know anything about this book before getting into it but I prefer going into horror books blind. The first thing I noticed about John Dies at the End is that it is told in a strange way that makes it a little difficult to follow at first but I soon got the hang of it. We are introduced to friend John and Dave initially in the present where they have been contact by Shelly to deal with her ghost boyfriend. At the house they realise that she is supernatural herself and finds them stuck in the house with her and potentially another demon but it is quickly dealt with. Then it jumps forward where Dave is doing an interview about his life before jumping way back into the past. These supernatural things seem to be happening because of something called Dante’s syndrome but we don’t know what this is yet. John and Dave are working together in a video store and after John takes a mysterious drug known only as soy sauce or sauce he ends up seeing some really strange things. John even experiences really odd things like Dave receiving phone calls from him or a version of him while he is sat with John which really freaks Dave out and John seems almost possessed in these moments. Dave accidentally stabs himself with the needle John used and sees that the substance inside almost looks alive and disposes of it but the police come and take him and John in for questioning for unknown reasons. During this time Dave has also come into ownership of a strange dog called Molly who seems to be able to sense the supernatural things.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, the story is still bouncing around a lot from Dave’s story in the present to what actually happened in the past. At the police station, John and Dave learn that all the people that went drinking with John are either dead or missing. The drug that Dave accidently injected a little into his system begins working and he knows that several of the group are dead and how they died but she doesn’t have any information on the ones that are missing. Dave also figures out that John is dead as the police tell him that and things get even more weird then. Dave receives a phone call from dead John and he tells him that the police officer in the room with him isn’t real in the traditional sense and to get out of the police station. Dave ends up in a fight the demonic officer but does manage to escape and communicate more with John. John explains he needs to get to Robert’s place before the connection ends and Dave does just that. In Robert’s trailer he finds some disturbing things but he manages to find the source of the drug. In the present, he has to convince the interviewer what he is saying is the truth and ends up showing him some sort of creature which can’t be seen when you look at it directly but even then it takes some skill. Back in the trailer Dave gets infected with the drug and is given almost superhuman abilities in terms of thought processing and he knows this he shouldn’t but its overwhelming. One of the police officers turns up to burn the trailer down and decides to shot Dave and burn the trailer with him in it but he manages to survive because his car and Molly turned up to help. He communicate with John through Molly and learns that John’s body has been hijacked by whatever is left of Justin and they are heading to Las Vegas for some unknown reasons and John urges Dave to find them before it is too late.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, Dave is kidnapped by Justin who has all of the missing people who were infected with the drug and plans on taking them to Las Vegas. Together they decide to escape and are helped by the same police that shot Dave a little earlier but he turns out to be infected as well. By the time they make it to Vegas two have died and the others are preparing to meet with Doctor Marconi and prevent the door from being opened. Chaos ensues and I had absolutely no idea what was going on even though I was close to halfway through the novel so I decide to DNF it for now. I might come back to it later on and give it another go but for now I am putting it down.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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