I'd. missed the preceding books and so felt pretty much left out of the party for this one. I realize however that fans likely will be very happy with the chaos, commentary and comedy. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Over to others to recommend,

I did not realize that this book was part of a series. It was still rather enjoyable quick read, and a wild ride.

I look forward to checking out the previous books as well!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an arc of this book.

If you’re wondering if this series contains the secrets of the universe, the answer is yes.

Having made it through this convoluted and chaotic ride into the mind of a mad genius and out the butthole of a cosmic fart monster, I can tell you that the journey changes you.

Thank you Jason/David for making me scratch my head, pucker my anus, laugh my ass off, cry like a baby, and almost pee myself (or maybe really pee) in excitement.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me an advanced copy of this to read and review.

Full disclosure, I'm a long-time fan of the John Dies series and Jason Pargin as a whole. The first three John books were home runs for me, and I enjoyed the first book in the Zoey series as well (the second is on my TBR). I really don't have anything negative to say about this book, so it's going to be a lot of things I loved and like, one issue I had while reading it.

It's difficult to give a summary of a John Dies book without it being either completely illogical or being five pages long. So let's just say something unnatural happens in Undisclosed. John, Dave, and Amy become involved. They think it's one thing, but LOL! Enter new characters. Enter returning characters. Hilarity. Heartfelt moments. Existential dread. Nightmares. Conclusion. Just kidding, actual conclusion.

I think my favorite part of this is the return of Monster Dave. Monster Dave is one of my most memorable parts of Book 1. I think if I had any feedback from books 2 and 3, it's that I wished they all kind of tied together a bit more. The sauce is over-arching between all of them, but if I remember correctly, Monster Dave isn't talked about outside of Book 1 and it's a big deal. Or if it was talked about, it was briefly and not a large plot point. Here, it's brought up a few times and he has a great role at the end. I really enjoyed reading how Dave is learning to embrace being Monster Dave, but also struggling with it. I really enjoyed his relationship with Joy and the dynamic between the two of them. For some reason, the things Joy says to him through the bathroom door after the first appearance (in Book 4) of Monster Dave were somehow sweet but also sad and jarring. It felt very real.

The John Dies series is full of the existential dread and cosmic horror that genuinely scares me. These books always give me actual nightmares, and this one was no exception. The unknown is terrifying, but Jason has a way of making the known also terrifying. In this book, our gang knows what's going to happen. They know the future. They know several timelines. They know the future outcome, and somehow that is more terrifying than if they didn't know. Going through this path over and over trying to prevent this terrible future and failing over and over, and that feeling of dread, the sinking of not being able to prevent the inevitable. UGH. It's so good! This book gave me nightmares about me going back to my old, horrible job I had 3 years ago that reignited my anxiety and depression, except it wasn't past me at the job it was current me, and I knew this job was going to make me sick. So at one part where my boss was berating me, I just quit. And then I reported her to our project head. And then our project head turned into a cult leader that locked the whole office down so he could do his ritual and he STILL wasn't taking care of dealing with my boss! Yeah.

I also really enjoy the way Jason writes characters. I feel like we all know a John. Their name may be Todd or Courtney or Rumplemintz Josh, but we all know someone like him. And I appreciate the incompetence and realness in the conversations that are had and the "plans" that come into play. I really liked the talk about Amy's chronic pain in this book. I thought it was well described. Every book I read in the John Dies series, it's like coming back to a group of friends, and that's a really neat connection to have to a group of characters. Each main character also has a distinct personality. I also love seeing Dave progress as a person. It's slow, but it's real. Seeing him learn to deal with his depression, learning about his values, you can't help but root for him but at the same time be like, guy really? Again, it's just real. He's just a dude dealing with real-life hard stuff as well as bizarro stuff.

The only thing I have to say is that these books can get confusing. However, Jason actually addresses this in the author note at the end and is basically like "Yeah you should be." So I don't feel so bad about that.

I'm always on board for a new Jason Pargin book, but it's even better when I can say that I couldn't put it down, despite it giving me actual nightmares. I think in the series it's tied with Book 1 as my favorite. It was an enjoyable read as always. Looking forward to more!

A popular app, a child’s toy, and a troubled family are what seem to be fueling this particular apocalypse. The fourth book in the John and Dave series begins with the team, John, David, Amy, and occasionally Joy, being contracted, yet again, to look into weird happenings in Undisclosed. And once again they show the world why they are the best option for these types of jobs. The fact that they are the only game in town has nothing to do with it.

Do you like cosmic horror with a healthy dose of sarcasm and humor? Then may I suggest trying If This Book Exists, You’re in the Wrong Universe. I never know how to explain to people that these books, with these silly titles are filled to the brim with dumb jokes, music suggestions to drive away the demons, AND witty insight on the state of the world and humanity. This book made me laugh out loud to the point I scared my cat and left me with some things to think about as I continue to ponder how to be an asset to this world, instead of yet another asshole in it. If any of that sounds good to you I suggest you try this book and this series.

Dave and John are back again (Yay!) this time dealing with a children's toy that is the centerpiece of a nefarious cult, a cult run by an angsty teenager who has mastered magical abilities and a desire to end our reality. The JDATE series is one of my absolute favorites because they are the most hilarious books with imaginative plots and wonderful blend of comedy, horror, sci-fi and weird fiction. And this one was no exception. It took me forever to get through the opening parts of the book because I found myself stopping to laugh out loud so many times. As the plot becomes more series in the latter parts, the humor does taper off and tone down a bunch, but pithy comments still find their way into the narrative. If I have one minor complaint it's that, though I want to read more and more of Dave's and John's adventures, but not all in one book. One or two fewer twists and 0 fewer pages would make it feel like a tighter read. But overall, this was as hilarious and well written as any of Pargin's series.

In ITBEYITWU, we return to the city of Undisclosed which is basically ground zero for everything supernatural, demonic, or otherwise weird and bizarre, and catch up with our favorite trio of professional paranormal investigators. David has depression, Amy has anxiety, and John is just having a good (?) time. Oh, and Joy is a hive of interdimensional insects. The gang find themselves stuck in a seemingly doomed-to-fail time loop trying to stop a cult of nerds (who really need to stop for a minute and touch some grass) from bringing about the apocalypse in the form of one of those hatchable toy egg things with a stuffed furby-esque bird inside, which is REALLY hungry for human body parts (eat a snickers, Magpie, you’re not you when you’re hungry).
Maybe I’m biased because John Dies At the End is my favorite book, but this series never disappoints me. Confuse me? Oh, absolutely. Gross me out? Naturally. Make me read 400+ pages without a single clue as to what is going on? I mean, what else would you expect from a JDATE book. But disappoint me? Banish the thought.
I have no complaints, so let’s roll out the praises:
-Joy was an absolute joy the entire time!! She fit in with the trio perfectly with her sassiness and flippant attitude about weird shit happening. I loved her attitude with Dave specifically—-“What can Joy do?” “What can you do? Juggle?”
-Such a good balance between heavy and philosophical and ridiculous and funny. You can definitely sense that the characters have grown up a lot since the first book, even if a lot of it is reflected internally, and I’ll forever love how Dave is so loyal to John and Amy. He doesn’t have much in life but he has them, and they bring out the best in him.
-The end successfully tied everything together for me. Sure, there are always going to be parts where you’re like “I have no idea what just happened and I’m never going to know” and you just have to barrel right on ahead, but personally I think it’s all worth it in the end.
-The idea of John and Dave smoking weed with the boy who’s been trying to bring about the apocalypse and kill them was hilarious to me, but it actually really fleshed out Bas as a character. You know it’s a good “villain” when their monologue starts making a bit too much sense

I started rereading John Dies at the End for the millionth time recently, and comparing the stories back to back really highlights how far they’ve come maturity-wise, with Marconi going from a super powerful untouchable figure to a sort of long-suffering rich uncle, and them hardly even caring about soy sauce (“I am not in the mood for this.”) But at the same time, everything I’ve loved about the trio from the beginning is still there—the humor, the stupidity, their “professional” method of dealing with the paranormal by saying fuck it and poking it with a stick.
Look, as much as I sing the praises of this series, I am very aware that it’s not for everyone—it is VERY much a love it or despise it type deal. But if you’re here for a good time not a long time and you like your cosmic horror served up slapstick style, then I couldn’t recommend this series enough.

At long last, David, John, and Amy are back!!! I'm a big fan of the series, so when NetGalley was kind enough to grant my request for an ARC, everything else on my (VERY LONG) to-read list took a backseat.

If you've read the first three installments in the JDAtE series, you can probably guess that this book is impossible to sum up in a few paragraphs. Rest assured, <i>If This Book Exists, You're in the Wrong Universe</i> fits right in with the excessively weird and wonderful world the author formally known as David Wong has been sharing with us for the past couple decades.

New to the series? Well, you technically can read this one first and no doubt be delighted by our trio, the utterly unique and bonkers apocalypse they face, and the madness of their methods... buuuut I suspect those that start at the beginning will get far greater enjoyment while simultaneously finding their new favorite book series. So do that. Seriously.

Fingers crossed that we wont have to wait another 5 years for more mayhem from [UNDISCLOSED]. That said, as long as Pargin gives us more (of this and the Zoey Ashe series- also stellar and a must-read), I'm willing to be patient.

This series just gets stranger and stranger, and now the author has killed his pseudonym. I understand wanting some recognition, but I sure miss David Wong. Or is that part of the story? Weird parallel worlds imbued with humor. I'd recommend getting to this one in the series.

Great addition to the series. I absolutely love these books and the characters. I'm hoping there are more books in the future.

John, David and Amy are back to save the world in this, the fourth installment of the John Dies at the End saga, and I couldn’t be happier. Once again, Undisclosed is under siege from the powers of darkness, this time in the form of an innocuous children’s toy and a group of incel nerds who are hell bent on bringing about the apocalypse. Before reading this one, I went back and reread the other three, not because I didn’t remember them, but because they are that much fun. Jason Pargin (now publishing under his real name) has gifted us with another peek into his bizarre imagination and it’s well worth the look.

If This Book Exists, You're in the Wrong Universe by Jason Pargin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It feels like it's been an awfully long time since I could jump into the timey-wimey, cthulhu-esq, darkly funny and immensely sarcastic world of David and John (and Amy!) as they scramble through poverty while fighting the good fight.

They're not Sam and Dean. They don't have that kind of plot armor. But for all that, they are still fighting the fight as shadow people deal deals that only increase suffering, as future cult leaders become Earthly Gods through prophecies spanning backward through time, when phone apps tell your children to feed it human teeth...

Oh yeah, the stakes are always high or at least deeply strange and I LOVE it.

It feels like fourth-wall breaking, especially the first three books that were written under the PoV CHARACTER's name, only to mix things up as the actual author brings out his real name now. Jason Pargin is the ACTUAL writer, post-timey-wimey real continuity, and that's kinda the point.

If you like reality like you like your spaghetti, all tangled up and bloody-red, then I'm sure you'll love this return. :)

I love this series. The characters are so wacky and their adventures just fun! The dialogues and situations are laugh-out-loud funny, but with an emotional center that makes Dave, John and Amy relatable. The supernatural parts are very smart and well thought out. Yes, the author says in the afterword how there are inconsistencies, on purpose, but the weirdness makes sense. Obviously, this is pure science fiction and the situations are implausible to the extreme but the way they’re plotted makes them completely logical. Time travel, paradoxes, multiverses… it all made me think about the story, debating what could have happened if… It’s no accident that the author, also in the afterword, name checks Doctor Who. I don’t want to give away the story, not that I could boil it down to a synopsis, but what happens is not important. The heart of this novel is in the relationships amongst the characters, the situations that they find themselves in and, as always, the apocalypse. I really hope there is another one, I will keep reading them until the end of the world.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, #NetGalley/#St. Martin's Press!

"[I]t just comes back to that fundamental truth, the first thing they'd teach you in school if anyone offered classes in whatever they call this work: that for the most part, houses and dolls aren't haunted; people are haunted."

First off, thank you so much to St. Martin's Press, Netgalley, and Jason Pargin for an ARC of this book. I'm such a huge fan of this series, so getting an early peek in was such a sweet opportunity.

This is book four in the "John Dies at the End" series, and it fits perfectly alongside the other three. The world is just as bizarre and messed up as always, and John and David (and Amy and Joy - who I LOVE) are there to try to do something close to fixing its current problem, this time in the form of a possessed kids toy who is starving for human flesh in order to hatch.

What I love most about these books is that the plots are so unique and hilarious, but never lose track of the meaning - be it family, friendship, making a difference, etc. Being able to toe that line of ridiculous and poignant is a tough one to crack, but Jason Pargin nails it in each one of his books. Horror-comedy is my favorite genre hybrid, and honestly, I hope Pargin keeps writing these forever just so that I selfishly always have some guaranteed.

If you've never read a JDatE book before...no judgement, but I would get on that. If you enjoy horror, comedy, and especially a mixture of the two, I can't recommend this enough. If you have read JDatE, then you should be as excited as I'm sure that you already are.

"If This Book Exists, You're in the Wrong Universe" will be available on October 18, 2022

5/5

I'm a huge fan of the author's work, and of this series particularly. It's an amazing blend of horror and comedy. I got the sense that the author was trying to grant some maturity to his characters this time around. I feel that there is always a sense of reality, or an attempt to humanize people who live on the fringes in these books, which is a nice edition. However, I think in this book it sometimes overshadows the story. I still enjoyed the book, and hope there are more in the future!

5 out of 5 gumballs.
The John Dies series is something I regularly return to for casual readings (and re-reading), and I LOVED this one. While I was saddened there wasn't an ARG (or maybe I was just too stupid to find it this time, but I definitely looked!) for this release, I was so excited for the galley.
Recently I was helping a customer decide between This Book Is Full of Spiders and What The Hell Did I Just Read in order to follow the reading order. While previous books definitely work as stand-alone novels, I actually really liked that this directly built on established worldbuilding for Undisclosed. I think adding Joy's perspective - especially contrasted with Dave's - felt really hopeful, which I think is needed for an ongoing horror series.

I just really, really love this whole series of books!

The author is now writing under his real name (Jason Pargin), but this latest installment in the series might just be my favorite since John Dies at the End. These books are just so fun and stupid and gory and...delightful! Dave and John and Amy (and Joy!) save the world again, this time from a child's (possessed) toy and a doomsday cult. There are time loops and eyeballs and skin eating and even Fancy David.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Where to start? Oh, I know. First, I want to thank Netgalley for the Advanced Reader Copy.

I have been a huge fan of Jason “David Wong” Pargin since his second novel “This Book is Full of Spiders” came out. That was one of the few times I actually judged a book by it’s cover. I bought it solely for the cover, but then also bought “John Dies at the End” because I thought it was a sequel (they’re not, by the way. Each can be read as a stand-alone).

So, when I heard about this latest one, I was ecstatic – and Jason didn’t let me down.

I have to say that out of all of his books, this one is now at the top for my favorite one to date. I will probably reread it when my signed copy is delivered in September.

Thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, time travel and multiverses are becoming commonplace and boring; at least to many. However, a multiverse in Jason’s hands take on a while new life – with humor, gore, and a heartfelt message in the end. He masterfully constructs nothing short of a fable within the pages of a novel; how our past, present, and future are all not only connected, but affected.

Our bumbling duo of David and John haven’t changed, but with the help of Amy and Joy, they still manage to make everything right. One of the things I like most about this book is that we really get a feel for Amy, and she is basically the star of the show.

I can’t recommend this one enough, it was a ton of fun to read (if not a little confusing until you get in the grove), and leaves you wanting more from the gang. I’m not going to say this book was “da filthy” because that just what John would want, but I will say it “punches the future in the d**k”!

My thanks to St. Martin's Press, Jason Pargin and Netgalley.
Yay!😜 I discovered I was in the wrong universe as soon as I started reading, and I've never been happier!
David, John, Amy and Joy came together and kicked ass!
Oops! I mean they died. Then they kept dying. Repeatedly dying..and I loved every heart skipping moment.
I do love these people and their "undisclosed" town.
This book gets all the stars. To infinity and beyond!

I may be in the wrong universe, but that’s okay because I got to read this book. It lives up to the expectations JDATA 1-3 promised with a story so cosmically, comically horrific, I am pretty sure it melted parts of my brain. Though I am not sure how a story of nearly (surely) nonsensical time travel across parallel universes, unfathomable monsters, and cutting edge mobile technologies can also have heart. Because somehow it does. For a book so out of this world, it is actually quite down to earth and tiptoes the lines between sci fi, fantasy, horror, comedy, and reality fantastically.

If This Book Exists, You’re in the Wrong Universe is a rollercoaster ride with weightless drops, loops, pits of destruction, and scythes for chopping off heads. Light-hearted, dainty, apologetic, for the faint of heart are not ways in which I would describe it. I would much prefer gruesome, gory, disgusting, disturbing, out of this world, and monstrous with sprinkles of comic relief. It can be read standalone, though in my opinion, getting to know the characters from the beginning definitely adds to the journey.

I assume those devilish entities are already shoving black goo and creepiness up their sleeves to wreak havoc on the world and trust J + D will be there when the Cosmos strikes again. Gotta keep it da filthy.