John Dies @ the End by David Wong (4.5 stars)

The original paperback version of this book is selling on Amazon for $200 right now. No kidding. I think that price has been driven by mass popularity (apparently 70,000 people read the original online version) and a very limited print run (you can get the 2010 edition for $10).

It is a horror-comedy, laugh-out-loud funny in parts, and one of the strangest books I have ever read. I didn't find it particularly scary, more just weird and disturbing - it gave me some seriously bizarre dreams. Think the drug-crazed scenes from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas meets Donnie Darko. People climbing into giant spiders, which work as elevators, a cavern dug under a trailer complete with a resident fanged giant slug and a pile of human fingers. You get the idea.

The movie rights have been purchased, but no sign of a film yet. I think it would be a great movie, and fairly scary despite the humour.

The humour is mainly one-liners delivered by John:

You're the kind of man a man wants when a man wants a man

I particularly liked the series of wrestling puns he delivers as he beats the undead with a chair:

You wants the committee, asshole, then you best meet with the chair!

I liked the Soy Sauce and accompanying special powers:

You might be able to read minds, make time stop, cook pasta that's exactly right every time.

I think it was a shame there wasn't more Soy Sauce in the story. The part when John uses it to talk to Dave through a bratwurst was a highlight:

Glancing around, I tried to be as inconspicuous as possible as I lay the sausage against my ear. Abruptly, my cell phone went dead.

A drop of grease dribbled into the dead center of my ear, creeping like a worm down onto my neck and below the collar of my shirt. A group of men and women in business suits walked by, swerving to avoid me. Across the street, a homeless-looking guy was staring at me, curious. Yep this was pretty much rock bottom.

Just when you think the story is getting stupid and ridiculous, Wong throws in a joke to have a laugh at himself:

Good. Now, if I know what's going on here, and I think I do, we'll have to wander around looking for that door. Behind it we'll meet a series of monsters or, more likely, a whole bunch of the same one. We'll kill them, get another key, and then it'll open a really big door. Now right before that we'll probably get nicer guns. It may require us to backtrack some and it might get tedious and annoying.

Creepy, highly entertaining, and funny. Be ready for a lot of gore, poop, and dick jokes.

4.5 stars.