WEIRD WEDNESDAY: John Dies at the End by David Wong

It's Weird Wednesday, which means that I'll be reviewing a book that is...well... weird. It's not exactly a mainstream hit, but is an interesting read nonetheless. 

Imagine you go to a party and the next thing you know, all Hell breaks loose. Your friend dies after the two of you are at a police station. You take a substance that gives you the ability to know the ins and outs of timespace. Your friend ends up not really being dead and helps you fight the unimaginable and absurd. If anything described above sounds familiar to you, you may be a character in the horror-comedy-sci-fi adventure John Dies at the End.

John Dies at the End is a entertainingly strange and quirky novel written by David Wong. Wong is best known for his writing on the popular humor site Cracked.com. The humor is dark, but remains comical enough to appeal to readers who may not necessarily be a fan of science fiction or horror.  Yet there are some bits that are genuinely creepy and make you question the sanity of the writer. The writing toys with the reader's mind with psychological suspense and dark tones, but then adds a moment of comical relief to change gears up a bit. 

David and John are friends. To be more exact, they're friends who casually fight evil and aliens and consider it to be their typical Friday night. A unique series of unexplained events happen in their small town, and it all appears to be linked to a Bob Marley poser who deals a special drug only known as "the soy sauce".  This 'soy sauce' is a mysterious substance that chooses who can tolerate it and consume it. It gives its users the ability to pick up on the doings of other dimensions, the past, the future, and can even allow telepathy and the reading of minds. For example, at one point, David is able to gain the insight of how a defective bullet was created and how it just so happened to end up in a gun that was aimed at him. This substance ends up being a key into something much more bigger than anyone could have known. It's also the key to an invasion from another dimension. Through manipulation, invasion, and destruction, evil tries to sneak its way into the modern world. Luckily, David and John know just how to handle situations like that. 

In a way, this book reads like a buddy comedy with odd-ball characters and laugh-out-loud absurd situations (the first monster that is encountered is entirely made up of meat that was left in a freezer too long). At the same time, there are many elements from the horror and sci-fi genres that add a sort of cleverness and adventure to the story. Additionally, David Wong wrote a sequel of sorts to this novel, titled "This Book is Full of Spiders", which also draws on elements of the same genres used for this novel. 

I would recommend this book to the older end of 'young adult' and above. Although the book itself may lack maturity, there is much mature content in the story that wouldn't be appropriate for a younger audience.  John Dies at the End is cleverly written and is sure to keep readers glued to the pages.

John Dies at the End by David Wong BarnesAndNoble.com, Amazon.com, retail booksellers, and David Wong's booksite JohnDiesAtTheEnd.com. It is available on Kindle, Nook, and audio book. This book has also been made into a motion picture (and is actually pretty good!).