Jane and Dan at the End of the World
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4.2 • 12 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
USA Today Bestseller
"Hilarious."—People
Date night goes off the rails in this hilariously insightful take on midlife and marriage when one unhappy couple find themselves at the heart of a crime in progress, from the USA Today bestselling author of The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise.
A ZIBBY OWENS MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2025!
A GOOD HOUSEKEEPING BOOK CLUB PICK!
Jane and Dan have been married for nineteen years, but Jane isn’t sure they’re going to make it to twenty. The mother of two feels unneeded by her teenagers, and her writing career has screeched to an unsuccessful halt. Her one published novel sold under five hundred copies. Worse? She’s pretty sure Dan is cheating on her. When the couple goes to the renowned upscale restaurant La Fin du Monde to celebrate their anniversary, Jane thinks it’s as good a place as any to tell Dan she wants a divorce.
But before they even get to the second course, an underground climate activist group bursts into the dining room. Jane is shocked—and not just because she’s in a hostage situation the likes of which she’s only seen in the movies. Nearly everything the disorganized and bumbling activists say and do is right out of the pages of her failed book. Even Dan (who Jane wasn’t sure even read her book) admits it’s eerily familiar.
Which means Dan and Jane are the only ones who know what’s going to happen next. And they’re the only ones who can stop it. This wasn’t what Jane was thinking of when she said “’til death do us part” all those years ago, but if they can survive this, maybe they can survive anything—even marriage.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Oakley (The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise) explores midlife dissatisfaction in this disappointing tale of a married couple's date night gone wrong. To celebrate 20 years of marriage, Jane and Dan stray from their usual anniversary dinner at Macaroni Grill to dine at the world-famous La Fin Du Monde, a choice far above their pay grades as a failed writer and podiatrist, respectively. Jane, certain that Dan is cheating on her and unfulfilled as a mother of two teenagers, suggests they get a divorce. Before he can respond, the restaurant is invaded by a group of masked ecoterrorists. It turns out the group is targeting a billionaire tech tycoon who's on his way there to meet his wife, which means everyone has to wait. Jane realizes two things: first, the situation is eerily similar to the plot of her poorly received book, Tea Is for Terror, and second, one of the terrorists is her teenage daughter, Sissy, whose voice she and Dan recognize. The plot twists become increasingly far-fetched as the narrative veers from the initial commentary on capitalism and environmental issues to humdrum depictions of marital woes brought about by Jane's discovery of the truth behind her suspicions about Dan. It's a miss.
