Customer Reviews

Jo-Jo and the Fiendish Lot

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2 star:		(1)
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I enjoyed Andrew Auseon's first novel Funny Little Monkey and was not disappointed by his second. Jo-Jo and the Fiendish Lot is an immensely creative and imaginative look at life after death. The story opens with Jo-Jo, a 17-year old boy, who has lost his girlfriend and his desire to live. He intends to commit suicide when he is distracted by the naked body of a young girl floating in the water. The sight of the body is enough to delay him and arouse his curiosity. When he decides to touch the body the unbelievable happens--she opens her eyes and comes back to "life." Jo-Jo learns that there is an Afterlife--just not quite the heaven we imagine. More of an "other life", the Afterlife is a place to go to try to fix the mistakes made the first time around. When Jo-Jo makes a poor decision he follows the girl back to the Afterlife and is given a second chance at "life" and needs to choose whether or not to take it.

The story is pretty damn cool. Auseon's vision of the Afterlife is unique and wonderfully described. But his description of the band that the young girl is in--The Fiendish Lot--and the music they play is just out of this world (no pun intended). I found myself wishing for a soundtrack. I would love to know if Auseon had a band in mind as he created the Fiendish Lot!

Auseon really hit his stride with this novel. I enjoyed it a lot and was really annoyed that I had only 30 pages to go when my water broke in the middle of the night and I went into labor--without the book packed! Luckily I managed to finish it when I got home. I highly recommend this and look forward to his next books.

After Jo-Jo Dyas' girlfriend Violet is killed, he doesn't think he has any reason to live anymore. On the morning he plans to commit suicide, he finds a naked dead girl floating in a river, and instead of following through with his original plans, he follows this girl Max as she rounds up the other members of the band she drums for, the Fiendish Lot. But after their impromptu concert, Jo-Jo accidentally completes the task he had wanted to do that morning, thus traveling to where Max and the Fiendish Lot are from, the Afterlife. Jo-Jo is lost in this new world until Max rescues him and shows him the ropes. The Afterlife is a time of second chances, but all Jo-Jo does is tag along the Fiendish Lot's band tour and look for Violet. Jo-Jo and the Fiendish Lot is a unique and unforgettable novel about life, death, and acceptance.


I am pleased to say that my high expectations for this novel were exceeded. I immensely enjoyed Auseon's unique version of death and the afterlife because it was so creative and entirely unlike any other book I've read on the same topic. The new world of the Afterlife that Auseon creates is such a perfect setting for Jo-Jo's story. From the very first page, I was drawn into Jo-Jo's tale and his adventures along with the quirks of the Afterlife and the members of the Fiendish Lot held my interest for the rest of the novel. The majority of Jo-Jo's story is an emotional journey as he reflects on his life, his relationships with Violet and Max, and his purpose. Jo-Jo, Max, and even Violet were wonderfully developed and I felt I got to know them rather well. I liked how this novel didn't focus on how Jo-Jo dealt with his own death per se but on how he held onto other aspects of his life; in a way, however, this was paradoxical because Jo-Jo was portrayed as rather selfish. The Fiendish Lot's music and its effects on Jo-Jo weren't perfectly woven into Jo-Jo's tale but it was done well enough that I felt connected. Overall, I was very impressed with this novel.


Jo-Jo and the Fiendish Lot is one of the more unique novels I've read in a while and is one of my new favorites. Readers who liked Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin will also enjoy this fabulous novel; I actually liked Jo-Jo's story better than Elsewhere which is saying something because I loved Elsewhere.

This wonderful book creates deep connections with the characters. Jo-Jo and the Fiendish Lot has an awesome and creative storyline that keeps you up until 2 in the morning trying to finish the book. It is sad at times which isn't a bad thing because it stirs up your emotions. Jo-Jo has many laugh out loud moments that can make your day. Andrew Auseon describes The Fiendish Lot in such a way that makes you wish they were real so that you could hear them play. Those characters are really kick-a$$, I'm telling you they're awesome! (Written by Kyle)

This book was a bit confusing, once I made it to the end of the book, it all made sense, I think. There was just too much irrelevant stuff and garbled dialogue in an otherwise intriguing story.
Jo-Jo takes a gun down to a culvert near his house to take his own life. Instead of doing so, he meets a girl from the afterlife and they go off together to meet with her other dead friends so their band can play a house show on earth. At the show, Jo-Jo accidentally kills himself and ends up in the afterlife. Luckily the band is also back in the afterlife and they find him. While there, Jo-Jo believes his mission is to find his dead girlfriend. On his search, he starts to learn about himself and what he did wrong on his life on earth, but he still needs help figuring out what to do in the afterlife to make up for it or he will fade away forever into nothingness.
This would be an okay book for the more advanced readers who can follow the story line and not give up too early. A lot of the parts didn't make sense, it was very depressing, and the dialogue was not real enough to appeal to teens.