What the Hell Did I Just Read: A Novel of Cosmic Horror
Ratings47
Average rating4.2
It's the story "They" don't want you to read.
Though, to be fair, "They" are probably right about this one. To quote the Bible, "Learning the truth can be like loosening a necktie, only to realize it was the only thing keeping your head attached." No, don't put the book back on the shelf -- it is now your duty to purchase it to prevent others from reading it. Yes, it works with e-books, too, I don't have time to explain how.
While investigating a fairly straightforward case of a shape-shifting interdimensional child predator, Dave, John and Amy realized there might actually be something weird going on. Together, they navigate a diabolically convoluted maze of illusions, lies, and their own incompetence in an attempt to uncover a terrible truth they -- like you -- would be better off not knowing.
Your first impulse will be to think that a story this gruesome -- and, to be frank, stupid -- cannot possibly be true. That is precisely the reaction "They" are hoping for.
John Dies at the End's "smart take on fear manages to tap into readers' existential dread on one page, then have them laughing the next" (Publishers Weekly) and This Book is Full of Spiders was "unlike any other book of the genre" (Washington Post). Now, New York Times bestselling author Jason Pargin is back with What the Hell Did I Just Read, the third installment of this black-humored thriller series.
Series
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4 primary books5 released books#3 in John Dies at the End
John Dies at the End is a 5-book series with 4 primary works first released in 2007 with contributions by David Wong and Jason Pargin.
Reviews
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This may be the strongest book in the John Dies at the End series - it retains the delicate balance of goofy humor, existential dread, and grotesque horror, but it hangs together better as a coherent arc, where its predecessors sometimes rambled with less direction.
Wong/Pargin does a great job of setting up a truly disturbing scene, or poignantly addressing depression and its impact on loved ones . . . and then having John barrel through doing something insouciant, egotistical, and ridiculous. It doesn't undo the more serious themes, it just makes them easier to handle. And provides a good portion of laugh-out-loud moments, which is a worthwhile endeavor all on its own.
And blessings on the author for his afterword, addressing the fans who have contacted him about their real-life encounters with monsters - he kindly exhorts these folks to seek medical help, reassuring them both that his work is 100% fiction, and that seeing visions like this is not uncommon, but is very treatable. You wouldn't necessarily expect important and compassionate reflections on mental illness in a book that deals so much with silicone sex butts, but this novel really delivers on both.
David Wong can definitely write a fun story. It always keeps me going one more chapter one more chapter then it's midnight and I should have been in bed.
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