This title drew me him. Unfortunately the writing pulled me away. I liked the banter and dialogue. Some great laugh out loud moments. But overall I just didn't connect with this one.

*Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for a review.

it's a unique sci fi book and kind of a let down after john dies in the end, but that's not to say that i didn't enjoy it.
thank you to net galley for the review copy

Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits by David Wong; Jason Pargin was a different but unique sci-fi novel.
It was humorous, witty and engaging. Wong blends fantasy with humanity in a unique way.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Thomas Dunne Books for this eARC!

As a big fan of the John Dies at the End series I was a little disappointed by this. Maybe it's just because it's a different genre or I'm expecting too much but it just wasn't for me.

I don't think I've ever read a book like this before it's different in every way it's part Thriller Part Horror Story Part science fiction with zany comedy I'm really sitting around wondering how I could even write a review for this book it's strange if you like the weird and different you will very much enjoy this book it has it all

A pretty fun and engaging sci-fi novel. Recommended if you enjoy books by David Wong, such as John Dies at the End.

You have to know what you are getting into with a David Wong book. Much like the previous books I've read by this author, this one takes place in slightly different reality than we are presently living in. Imagine a city where everyday is The Purge. Pretty much everything is legal. It would be both the best and worst thing to be in control of that city. Basically, Zoey's dad was that guy. His death has made her incredibly rich and put her in unimaginable danger.

The book is over the top and the characters are sarcastic and gritty. Be ready for a lot of the violence that the title suggests. All the while people are trying to get to Zoey to get to her father's treasures, people are constantly watching, commenting on, and making suggestions about what to do with her when she is caught. It felt familiar but not like I was reading something I had read before.

Another hilariously ridiculous read by a favorite author! If your looking for a laugh out loud good time, this is the book for you!

I actually read this book a few years ago when it was originally published, so I don't remember too much about it. I've really enjoyed all of the books in his John Dies at the End series, but this book didn't grab me quite the same way for whatever reason. I feel like it has the same edgy, funny, dark tone, but the jokes didn't land.

Zoe, a barista living in a trailer park, discovers that she’s inherited her multibillionaire father’s criminal/financial empire after the first hitman shows up to kill her. Gore, snark, and improbable technologies ensue, in about equal measure. Pargin/fka David Wong writes Cracked.com, so if you’re familiar with that you’ll have an idea what you’re getting: cynical about humanity, but forgiving of human frailty, and unable to stop joking about anything (e.g., the villain’s constant rape threats are his Rape Tourette’s). Zoe is a good heroine: directionless, afraid, and untrained, but angry enough and sharp enough on the uptake that she makes a solid protagonist.

'Furturistic Violence and Fancy Suits' is by David Wong. I read 'John Dies at the End' by the same author and really didn't care for it. When it came up as a book club pick, I seriously thought about passing on it, but I ended up reading it and finishing it.

I like the main character, Zoey, who is plucked from her mundane life and put in the sights of killers when she inherits things from her deceased father. She really wants nothing to do with it all, but decides to go along with it, or is coerced. She's reluctant, but not stupid. Her main antagonist is a person named Molech, who keeps describing the horrible ways he is going to kill Zoey and her mother. That got tedious.

So did all the mysogyny, juvenile humor, over the top violence and unexplainable technology. There were characters I liked so I stuck with it. I didn't hate it as much as the other book by the same author. A lot of people seem to like this author, and that's fine. The nice thing about books is that there are a lot of them, and we can all have our favorites.

Really? This must be a mistake, granting a "wish" 7 years after I requested this title, lol. I'm sorry but I will not be reviewing this book.

This book is entertaining start to finish. Rags to riches, but with pure science fiction mixed in. Weapons of mass destruction, cars, sex, edible Christmas, and cats are all visible and not unusual in this tale. Fancy suits and fantastic violence throughout.

I’m a fan of David Wong’s other series so I had high hopes for this book. I wasn’t disappointed. It’s set in the near future and most of the tech described in the book seems like it will be real any day now. I liked Zoey and look forward to spending more time with her when the sequel comes out.

This was such a ride and I'm still not sure how I feel about it.

We follow Zoey, who lives a pretty average life until she starts having people trying to kill her. She at first doesn't understand why someone would want to kil her but soon learns that it is because her father has just died and left her the key to something everyone wants, yet no one even knows what that thing is.

She is saved from death by the Suits, who used to work for her father, and also want to know what this something is.

This book reminded me of a lot of action movies I love with its cheesy lines and somewhat comical scenes (a guy gets his dick put on fire at the beginning of the book, just to give an example) but I don't think this translated very well into a book.

I had a lot of fun reading this however and a lot of the characters grew on me over time.

Overall would recommend if you're looking for something crazy and fun!

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits
by David Wong
St. Martin's Press
Thomas Dunne Books
Sci Fi & Fantasy


David Wong's unique, humorous voice is a major draw for his fiction. He wrote the strange paranormal investigator series, John Dies at the End (the last book, What the Hell Did I Just Read, reviewed here).



His best characters are deeply flawed and have a modus operandi, a philosophy for living.



Zoey's father, a deadbeat beat dad who happens to be a famed rich inventor, has just died, which means that people are trying to kill her since she has the key that everyone wants to unlock some technological wonder. The novel opens enticingly enough:


The radio had stopped working years ago, and so Zoey made up for it by singing a hit pop song from her time called "Butt Show (and I Don't Charge Admission)" while she plugged in the strand of Christmas lights she had tacked around the top of the car's interior. She peeled the lid off her chili, watched steam waft into the frigid air, and decided that things really could be worse. Zoey always tried to appreciate the little things in life, like the fact that just a generation ago you couldn't devote both hands to eating a bowl of fast-food chili while the car drove itself (how did people use to eat car chili? With a straw?). She had also recently upgraded her phone to one that displayed a little holographic image of the caller, but so far she had found this feature was only useful for terrifying her holophobic cat, which hardly justified the cost of the upgrade. However, a moment later that feature did allow her to see that the call that saved her life came from a man who was fond of wearing fancy suits.

And we're off to the races in her Toyota with her hopeful would-be abductor trailing close behind.



Zoey isn't sure whom to trust--just as she finds someone to trust, even becoming attracted to him, he's dead. Somehow Zoey has to get past those who want to kill her, and those who want to use her for money for the technology she unwittingly has the key to.

Part of the pleasure of the novel is the near-futuristic milieu--a city so deeply rich in money and technology that we join a wide-eyed Zoey at the surprises that await her. Everyone's online and recording everyone, so that it's impossible to run away and anonymously melt into the crowd. She hates her father's absence and resents his using her this way, but she becomes accustomed to the lifestyle as she sticks around.



Part of the mixed pleasure and pain is that the author may love Zoey too much. She isn't terribly flawed in a significant way. Occasionally her personality takes off when expressing her desire for what clothes she'll wear, but as is, she's a little too idealistically drawn. In the John Dies at the End series, the female protagonist is defined by her contrast with her boyfriend. Zoey doesn't really have a companion here to be defined against.


Her antagonist is powerful and possesses a most wondrous reason for being--wondrous, not in that he's agreeable but fascinating. Unfortunately, he is so generously mocked, we don't quite believe he's a real threat to our protagonist.


It may be that since Zoey Ashe has a whole series planned around her, the author has a long-range arc laid out for her that isn't yet visible. She does become a master of her destiny near the end of the novel, but one can hope for an increased dynamic in the next novel of the series. Still, with Wong's skill for odd-ball characters, readers should look forward to the next novel, soon to be released--October 13, 2020.

‏I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review.

When Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits by David Wong was available to read for review, I was pleasantly surprised, primarily since it was published in 2015. I had read it for a book club in 2016 and remembered how much I enjoyed the story and its humor. My memory was indeed correct.

Wong is known for wit in his novels, and Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits is no exception. It falls into his usual writing genre - humorous SciFi. I realized I should not read his book while at work because I chuckle out loud.

The main character, Zoey, has a ton of snarkiness and a very smelly cat. It is "a world in which anyone can have the powers of a god or the fame of a pop star." It is worse than big brother watching you. It is an entire world in which an all-seeing social network tracks your every move. Villians have superhuman enhancements. Ok, yes, sometimes they do not work, and people blow up.

Zoey Punches the Future in the Dick, book two in the Zoey Ashe series will be released in October 2020, so you have plenty of time to read Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits.

This 200-word review was published on Philomathinphila.com on 5/28/20.

First thing first: my rating is my own biased opinion... as is the norm of most reviews.
Why I even feel the need to add this is because I can see this book appeal to a more targeted audience than myself.

The thing is, when I first started reading this book I was immediately sure that I would end up loving it: it was unusual and I couldn't, and still can't, really liken it to anything else I've read.
And it is funny, at times really funny, just not 100% my kind of humor.
I ended up sort of dreading having to continue reading it. Not that I didn't like it - heck, I'm giving it a three star rating, that's not really a bad grade; but I felt that I'd rather spend my time reading something else, which caused me to find excuses to pick up FVaFS, which in turn prolonged the time it took me to finish it... which began the circle anew.

Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits (wow, that is a mouthful), read like a modern action movie: a lot of stuff happened, there was (futuristic) ultra violence and a boatload of sfx, everything to keep the modern mind preoccupied, but not a lot of actual substance.

I think this book will hit the spot for people who are fans of quick comedy and action that focuses more on punchlines than character development. I didn't finish this book because I wasn't compelled by the plot or our main lead, Zoey, enough. I did laugh at parts of it but the pace and lack of world building and character development make it hard for me to become invested in anything.

Zoey Ashe is nobody special, just a girl who lives in a trailer with her cat (aptly named Stench Machine). That is until one day psychopaths with physical augments start trying to kill her and live streaming the whole thing, making her a viral sensation. However, it isn't until the suits show up that she realizes the father she barely knew was a mob boss in the futuristic city of Tabula Ra$a, who basically ran the city, now he's died and left her the key to his fortune.

This reminded me of Hardcore Henry, it has this non-stop action sequence feel that is almost like reading a video game. The story is constantly over the top, but intentionally; the extreme situations Zoey finds herself in and the weapons leveled against her are wildly imaginative. Having previously read Wong's John DIes at the End, this is also weird, but I think much more accessible to an average SF reader looking to try his work, so this would be a great jumping in point. This falls more in typical near future SF thriller genre with a heavy dose of snark - I would put this up for fans of Chuck Wendig or John Scalzi.