So, John dies in the end? Its a pity it wasn’t sooner and save us all the pain of reading the book. For the first 30-50 pages the stage was being set for what I hoped would be another cult read. Unfortunately this just wasn’t to be for me at least. 
Where books like The Book with No Name and the Eye of the Moon find an inner strength and don’t force the story John Dies in the End doesn’t, it seems to jump around which only works for so long and in time becomes a distraction.
Its rare that I put a book back on my bookcase without finishing it BUT… and like all buts its a biggie John Dies in the End managed it. Through its ability to annoy and aggravate me in equal measure it’s gone to live on the upstairs bookcase with some of the other less than loved books I’ve bought over the years.
Why? I hear you ask, well… Its hard to read. I don’t mean it’s got words I don’t understand or its got harsh or graphic descriptions of events it doesn’t. What it does have is a ‘staccato’ narrative which seems to be the authors way of writing. -This could easily be from his time as cracked.com’s editor. I’ll be honest personally the ideas and the concept of the book sounds like fun, they were my original motivation for buying it in the first place and I’m sure when it’s been made into a movie (apparently by the same bloke behind bubba ho’tep) -I’ll come back to it and give it another go and see how it goes. I’m sure the film will be great I loved bubba ho’tep
A while ago I watched a documentary on the BBC called Why Reading Matters, during the documentary they described how your brain can ‘skip a beat’ as you read depending on what is wrong with the sentence that generated the ‘skip’. If its the meaning of a word that makes your brain skip its called an N400 which occurs 400ms after you read the words. Where as if the grammar causes the ‘skip’ it’s called a P600 and this occurs 600ms after you read the words.
For example Shakespeare used the sentence “they thought so well of the hero they godified him” which causes an N400 in your brain because of the use of godified rather than deified. Where as if the sentence had been “they thought so well of the hero they candled him” this would generate both an N400 and a P600 because it simply doesn’t make sense.
Now I know what your thinking ‘what’s this to do with John dies in the end?’ well when you read something that generates these N400’s and P600’s it takes you out of the moment. So you re-read it to make sense of it. Which for me at least kills the flow of the story; I’m sure there are those of you out there that would really enjoy reading this and enjoy the challenging linguistics. Unfortunately -for me, I'm not one of the chosen few.
Personally I’d have loved to tell you to rush out and buy this book. Sadly I can’t, I have to tell you to buy it only after reading some of it, if you like the writing style I’m happy you’ll enjoy it.
I’m not sad that its on the bookcase like I was with A Quiet Belief in Angels by R.J Ellory (I wanted to enjoy that book) I’m just not that bothered that its back on there; which I suppose is worse than if I’d hated it.
If your on the look out for a pop culture referencing modern fun horror style of book, I have to tell you to spend the money and buy The Book with no Name and its follow on The Eye of the Moon both of which are by Anonymous. I found them both to be are far more enjoyable and rewarding read, not to mention the fact I wasn’t sat there with N400’s and P600’s getting in the way.
I’ve said it before about other books I’ve not liked, not all books are aimed at everyone and sometimes the more aimed and targeted a book becomes (such as this one is) the less of the public at large will find it enjoyable. But that’s not to say YOU wont like it. Only that after spending my own money on something I didn’t enjoy it.
