Publisher's Weekly Review
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. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
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 Parginburst 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 casea 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 crimelike, say, your kid goes missingand 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. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
David, John, and Amy are back in their third adventure (after This Book Is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It, 2012), and it's as snarky, bleak, and funny as one could hope for. The narrative starts with a high-speed car chase and never slows down, racing headlong at a breathtaking pace. Children are being kidnapped; the Big Bad is a shape-shifter; and there's an abandoned mine, a motorcycle gang, and yet another mysterious black-cloak organization. Our heroes remain hilariously incompetent and incredibly lucky. Then things get really weird. This book is a mind-trip, messing with the characters' heads and making the reader question reality right alongside them. These are established characters, so readers shouldn't look for much development. It's also a bit too fast-paced: it's easy to miss details that need to be remembered later. Although it's not the strongest entry in the series, it's exciting and a great deal of fun, which is really what Wong's fans want.--Keogh, John Copyright 2017 Booklist
Library Journal Review
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 Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
