John Dies at the End (John Dies at the End, 1)

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.

This updated special edition includes commentary from the characters and the author!


"[Jason Pargin] has updated the Lovecraft tradition and infused it with humor that rather than lessening the horror, increases it dramatically. Every time I set the book down, I was wary that something really was afoot, that there were creatures I couldn't see, and that because I suspected this, I was next. Engaging, comic, and terrifying." —Joe Garden, Features Editor, The Onion

"[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 book 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.

Unfortunately for us, if you make the right choice, we'll have a much harder time explaining how to fight off the otherworldly invasion currently threatening to enslave humanity.

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.

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Published Oct 5, 2021

464 pages

Average rating: 7.51

43 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

allmimsyweretheborogoves
May 23, 2025
10/10 stars
I first read this book about 15 years ago, this is my 3 readthrough of it. The first time I read it, I loved it, hands down, everything about it. I ate up the ides of multiple universes, non-linear time, and the pure badassery of it. Now years later, while I still love this book, I'm looking at it through the lens of how times change. About a year ago I scoffed at friends who said they didn't like this book because of the misogyny and racist language in it and having last read it about 10 years ago didn't remember it being that bad. While I disagree with the book being misogynistic and racist (it's obviously satiric and shock art), I can now understand how some people might be made uncomfortable by it. All that aside, the thing that surprised me the most about this re-read is how clearly it highlighted my own mental atrophy. More than a decade after the first time I read this book (in 2 days), I struggled to grasp some of the concepts in it that were so fluid to me when I was younger. I also feel like I looked at it from a completely different prospective than I did before. When I was younger, I liked David, I cheered him on and kind of dismissed John as an idiot who was there for comic relief. This time I really didn't like David much, and came to the realization that John was a much more important and empathetic character than I had previously perceived him to be. John is the one who knows everyone's names and stories, who checks in on people, who corrects David's callousness when it comes out even though he is still also obviously the comic relief as well. All of my personal feelings aside, this book is still a great absurdist/horror/sci-fi adventure with a decidedly Lovecraftian flair that is way deeper than it appears to be on the surface. It might just get you contemplating the meaning of universe and an questioning how everything works.
jibbmgsjg
Jan 22, 2025
8/10 stars
Hilarious! Listening to it at work in my ear buds laughing and snorting making people think I needed a nice huggy jacket with bouncy walls!
brismel
Feb 01, 2024
8/10 stars
Review: John Dies at the End by David Wong John Dies at the End is one of those books that when asked to explain the plot, you can hardly do it justice. You’ll either sound crazy or….well, you’re just going to sound crazy. See, let me try. It’s about two friends named John and David who take this drug called Soy Sauce. It makes them see things but it really just opens up another world to them. Or let’s try this. Things you will read about in this book: Soy Sauce, Morgan Freeman, and a bratwurst telephone. See? None of that makes sense and would probably just put people off from reading it. But please, don’t be afraid.If you’ve only seen the movie, then you’re sorely missing out. While there were some awesome moments from the book, there was so much more to the story that couldn’t fit in the timeframe of a movie. The movie was like someone had pulled out a handful of pages from the beginning, middle, and end of the book and tried to tie it all together as quickly as possible.The humor may be juvenile at times, but the story is so imaginative and off the wall that it more than makes up for it (if you don’t like that sort of thing). This book goes off the deep end and keeps swimming. But it’s good. Crazy good.It does get a little long after a while and I did find myself dragging my feet at the 400 page mark. It felt that after reading pages and pages about aliens, exploding bodies, talking dogs, and spiders that my brain could only hold so much. If it wasn’t for David Wong’s writing, I don’t think I would have ever finished a book like this.Basically, If you haven’t read this book, you’re already behind. Pick it up. Read it. And prepare yourself for the craziest ride you’ll ever experience.(For more, check out: The Short Read)
AubreyHi
Aug 22, 2023
10/10 stars
If you like fun, gross humor - this would be a book for you. If you don't, don't pick it up. I've read this a few times, and each time I'm sort of astounded by how much this cracks me up. The characters are interesting in a Clerks meets Shaun of the Dead kind of way - they're slackers and it's up to them to save the universe.

You won't come out of this a better person. But then again, did you come out of War and Peace a better person? Yeah, I didn't think so.

Read this. It's pure gosh-darn fun.

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