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John Dies at the End

John Dies at the End, Book 1

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John Dies at the End

By: Jason Pargin, David Wong
Narrated by: Ari Fliakos
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About this listen

John Dies at the End is a genre-bending, humorous account of two college drop-outs inadvertently charged with saving their small town—and the world—from a host of supernatural and paranormal invasions.

Now a Major Motion Picture.

"[Pargin] is like a mash-up of Douglas Adams and Stephen King... 'page-turner' is an understatement."—Don Coscarelli, director, Phantasm I-V, Bubba Ho-tep

STOP.

You should not have touched this flyer with your bare hands. NO, don't put it down. It's too late. They're watching you.

My name is David. My best friend is John. Those names are fake. You might want to change yours.

You may not want to know about the things you'll read on these pages, about the sauce, about Korrok, about the invasion, and the future. But it's too late. You touched the book. You're in the game. You're under the eye.

The only defense is knowledge. You need to read this book, to the end. Even the part with the bratwurst. Why? You just have to trust me.

The important thing is this:

The sauce is a drug, and it gives users a window into another dimension.

John and I never had the chance to say no.

You still do.

I'm sorry to have involved you in this, I really am. But as you read about these terrible events and the very dark epoch the world is about to enter as a result, it is crucial you keep one thing in mind:

None of this was my fault.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press

©2009 Jason Pargin, David Wong (P)2025 Macmillan Audio
Epic Fantasy Horror Literature & Fiction Thriller & Suspense Witty Paranormal

Critic reviews

John Dies at the End…[is] a case of the author trying to depict actual, soul-sucking lunacy, and succeeding with flying colors.”—Fangoria

“[Jason Pargin] has managed to write that rarest of things---a genuinely scary story.”—David Wellington, author of Monster Island and Vampire Zero

“The rare genre novel that manages to keep its sense of humor strong without ever diminishing the scares.”—The Onion AV Club

“Sure to please the Fangoria set while appealing to a wider audience, the book's smart take on fear manages to tap into readers' existential dread on one page, then have them laughing the next.”—Publishers Weekly

All stars
Most relevant
Whilst EYE prefer the original narration by Stephen R. Thorne, Ari Fliakos does an excellent job matching Stephens performance which SERVEs to bring the characters to life.
The story itself is one hell of a trip; it's fantastic mix of horror and comedy that, just like the third book in the series, leaves you asking "What the hell did I just read?" NONE BUT of the other books in the series come close to the level of insanity portrayed here. Well worth the listen.
KORROK.

The greatest fever dream ever read

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Loved this! Read before and now listened to in prep for the next book coming out.

Surrealism at its finest

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I was hoping for some urban fantasy action with a bit of violence, humour, you know the drill.

This unfortunately is not it.

I almost gave up several times and skipped the last half of the second epilogue as I found I just didn’t care enough to find out whether the title was true.

There is a lot of horror imagery and gore - to the point where it becomes meaningless and not scary at all. The plot is pretty straightforward when you remove the set dressing, and that dressing needed a good editing as the novel is way too long for the story it’s telling.

Frat boy humour and multiple repetitions of the offensive ‘r’ and ‘n’ words did not do it any favours either. It felt like being the only sober adult on a road trip listening to a bunch of drunken teenagers all trying to tell a different story at once.

The narrator is not bad; pleasant voice to listen to, doesn’t do OTT voices for women, puts a bit of drama in to enhance the dialogue when needed. Solid performance of somewhat testing material!

I’m not entirely sure who the target audience is; I’ve enjoyed The Laundry Files, Rivers of London, Dungeon Crawler Carl amongst others so was expecting a decent read from the set up and was left disappointed.

Gory but somehow boring

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