What the Hell Did I Just Read: A Novel of Cosmic Horror

July 15, 2017
Dave, John, and Amy are back to kick supernatural ass and chew bubble gum. And they're all out of bubble gum. Wong (Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits, 2015, etc.)--in reality, Cracked.com executive editor Jason Pargin--burst onto the horror-comedy scene with his phantasmagorical novel John Dies at the End (2009) and has been steadily ratcheting up the madness ever since. You really can't say he didn't warn you when his new book's first words are: "You want to hear a story? Well, buckle the fuck up." Here Wong revisits his weird Midwestern town (name undisclosed) that's much like the splatterpunk cousin of Welcome to Night Vale (2015). What starts as a kidnapping case--a little girl is taken by a paranormal entity calling itself "Nymph"--quickly spins out of control to include biker gangs, a secretive government agency, implanted memories, a flying bat creature, and a boss-level leviathan affectionately known as "Millibutt." "Let me give you a tip: if you're ever the victim of a terrible crime--like, say, your kid goes missing--and you see the cops consulting with a couple of white trash-looking dipshits in their late twenties, it's time to worry," Dave warns us. As crazy as things get, the book remains grounded via an apocalyptic rain storm (giving Nymph a nice Blade Runner-inspired monologue), Dave's stubborn reluctance to treat his depression, Amy's sensible charm, and John's ineffable, if meth-fueled, confidence. But before you think this is evolving into a domestic drama, bear in mind that it also features a porn star made of shape-shifting bug monsters, a DIY gun that shoots hellfire-laced dildos, and a T-shirt cannon packed with the Shroud of Turin. There's even the return of old favorites like Dr. Albert Marconi and the psychedelic drug Soy Sauce. Oh, and John dies. Again. A frenetic, welcome return to Dave and John's grotesque but funny grindhouse nightmare.

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Starred review from August 21, 2017
Wong’s wildly mind-bending third installment (after This Book Is Full of Spiders) of the adventures of protagonist David Wong is filled with the humorous horror readers have come to expect. David; his girlfriend, Amy; and his friend, John, are still living in the town of Undisclosed, so referred to for “privacy reasons.” Their lives have slowly returned to something resembling normal after their previous brushes with the weird, and all seems well until their expertise is requested on the case of a missing child. What follows is a rapid descent into brilliantly convoluted psychological terror, action, and suspense with a few brief forays into the inner workings of the human mind. When the culprit is revealed to be a shape-shifting entity with questionable motives, and 10 more children go missing, the trio must do battle with an enraged father, a shadowy government organization, a mysterious bat-human hybrid creature called the Batmantis, and their own metaphorical inner demons. While the story gleefully wallows in absurdity, thoughtful themes of addiction, perception, and the drive to do the right thing quickly emerge beneath the vivid and convoluted imagery. The plot’s rapid pace holds the reader’s attention to the truly bitter end. Agent: Scott Miller, Trident Media Group.

September 15, 2017

Living in a Midwest town known for attracting aliens and monsters, paranormal investigators Dave, John, and Amy are used to being called when the unexplainable or supernatural occurs. This time it is a missing child case. Little Maggie was taken by a menacing man named Nymph--or was she? The trio are soon chasing down parasitic monsters that alter one's brain, while dodging a government investigatory team that doesn't have much respect for Dave and John's methods, which admittedly involve drugs, weaponized sex toys, and improvisation. VERDICT Introduced in John Dies at the End and last seen in This Book Is Full of Spiders, Wong's (pen name of Jason Pargin) irreverent protagonists return in another action-packed horror adventure full of crude but effective humor. For fans of the humor website Cracked.com, of which Pargin is executive editor. [See Prepub Alert, 4/10/17.]--MM

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2017

The New York Times best-selling Wong returns to the blackly funny world of his thrillers John Dies at the End and This Book Is Full of Spiders, whose antiheroes now face a shape-shifter from another dimension that's grabbing local children.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.