Johnny and the Dead (The Johnny Maxwell Trilogy)

Johnny Maxwell, of ONLY YOU CAN SAVE MANKIND fame, is the only one who can see and chat with dead people. He and his buddy, Wobbler, are strolling through the cemetery talking about how it's just been sold to developers who will build offices on the land. On a whim, Johnny knocks on the mausoleum door of Alderman Thomas Bowler --- who opens it! As the Alderman says "Yes?" Johnny skedaddles with Wobbler sprinting behind. That's strange enough, but Wobbler didn't see or hear a thing and insists the padlocked door couldn't open. After Wobbler heads off, Johnny returns to chat with the dead Alderman and to teach him to dance like Michael Jackson. (The Alderman manages a moonwalk but says "Ouch!" instead of Jackson's "Oooowwwwwweeeeeah!") Because of his parents' marital problems, Johnny is now living with his grandfather. When Granddad and Johnny go to the cemetery, Johnny meets another dead man, communist William Stickers, "hero of the working class." Stickers adamantly doesn't believe in the stupid notion of life after death, even in the face of his own evidence to the contrary. Johnny soon discovers that all dead people despise being called "ghosts." When Johnny persuades his (alive) buddies to visit the cemetery, they gaze upon a particularly ornate mausoleum and decide the dead person is showing off: "There's probably a sticker on the back saying 'My Other Grave Is a Porch.'" The dead folks persuade Johnny to defend their resting place. But can he do it, realistically? Who will listen to a twelve-year-old? In the meantime, Johnny's dead friends rediscover the joys of living. They find unique ways to communicate with the living and indulge in activities including swimming, TV watching, pub hopping, horror movie watching, and journeying to the moon. Terry Pratchett has done it again, causing the reader to howl with laughter and yet contemplate serious issues. At one point Johnny looks at the dismal crowded projects his buddy Bigmac lives in and muses on how weird it is that so many people are crammed into such a small area while the "post-senior citizens" have a spacious cemetery. Pratchett also humanizes the dead, giving them unique personalities; he does the same for soldiers in long-ago wars. There's also a mystery running through the story: Who is the aptly-named "Mr. Grimm"? JOHNNY AND THE DEAD can be read (and thoroughly enjoyed) as a stand-alone book, but if you haven't read Johnny's previous story, the amazing ONLY YOU CAN SAVE MANKIND, you are totally missing out! Highest recommendation. --- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon

Johnny and his band of quirky pals are back in "Johnny and the Dead," the second book of Terry Pratchett's "Johnny Maxwell" trilogy. Pratchett was surer this time around, endowing this hilarious sequel with quirkier dialogue and stories, and snappier writing. Johnny Maxwell sees dead people. (Yes, like the little boy in "Sixth Sense.") For whatever reason, he sees the dead in their graveyard -- not really ghosts, but not alive either: a crabby former soldier, a distant relative of Einstein, a sprightly suffragette who died in a freak mishap, and a staunch Communist who STILL doesn't believe in life after death. All in all, they are a fairly harmless bunch. But a massive, mercenary, progress-obsessed corporation has just bought the graveyard for fivepence, and it will soon be razed for new construction. The only people more dismayed than the living inhabitants of Blackbury are the dead ones. So as the dead break their bonds to "unlive," Johnny and his friends will try to save the graveyard from... a fate worse than death? Yes, it's the sort of bizarre, slightly twisted plot that only Terry Pratchett could cook up, and then pull off. And yes, the same could be said of "Only You Can Save Mankind." But by the time he wrote this -- pre-Discworld -- Pratchett had obviously grown into his skills. In particular, the Big Message in this book is more subtle -- that money and progress aren't worth anything if they destroy the past. Despite that heavy moral, the handling of it is light and entertatining, such as when the dead Communist calls up a radio talk show host and speaks frankly about being "vertically challenged." Despite half a dozen amusing dead people, the star of the piece is Johnny himself -- smart, quiet unless he has a reason to speak out, and inexplicably able to see the dead. He also plays straight man to the quirkier pals, like peculiar Wobbler, intellectual Yo-less, and perpetually hungry Bigmac. Although you'll need to have read "Mankind" to know who they are. "Johnny and the Dead" is not just a sequel that surpasses the first book of this trilogy, but probably the best pre-Discworld work that Pratchett did. Funny, twisted and very well-done.

The town council wants to sell off the historical cemetery to a developer. They insist that no one except an old woman visits the place and it is expensive to keep it up. They do not know that twelve years old Johnny Maxwell uses it as a short cut and that he has personally met and talked with some of the vertically challenged residents such as the Alderman. The deceased people interred there are irate that their final resting place is to be bulldozed and refuse to lie around letting it happen. They draft Johnny as their spokesperson. Johnny enlists his friends like Wobbler Johnson, who thinks the whole thing is nuts but will help his pal. Their efforts to publicize the history are ignored as no one remotely famous is buried there; in some ways even with names on stones it is sort of a Potter's Field. The dead are no longer going to take it so they plan to kill the project before their bones are rattled except that they cannot agree on a plan. Only Johnny can bring the two parties together, but neither the dead nor the living heed the words of a preadolescent. The sequel to ONLY YOU CAN SAVE MANKIND is a terrific amusing satirical fantasy that is fun for readers of all ages. Johnny is the center of the story line that holds together the graveyard humor with his family escapades and the townsfolk plots of future development. Perhaps the only quibble for adult readers is the fast climax, but remember the targeted audience is the preadolescent crowd who will laugh out loud at the ironic dark humor. Harriet Klausner

Johnny Maxwell and his band of quirky pals are back in "Johnny and the Dead," the sequel to the unusual SF "Only You Can Save Mankind" and the second book of this trilogy. Funny, quirky, with an ingrained lesson and snappier writing, this tops the previous book and promises more to come.Johnny Maxwell sees dead people. (Yes, like the little boy in "Sixth Sense.") For whatever reason, he sees the dead in their graveyard -- not really ghosts, but not alive either. Among them are a crabby former soldier, a distant relative of Einstein, a sprightly suffragette who died in a freak mishap, and a staunch Communist who STILL doesn't believe in life after death. All in all, they are a fairly harmless bunch.But a massive, mercenary, progress-obsessed corporation has just bought the graveyard for fivepence, and it will soon be razed for new construction. The only people more dismayed than the living inhabitants of Blackbury are the dead ones. So as the dead break their bonds to "uvlive," Johnny and his friends will try to save the graveyard from... a fate worse than death?This book is not only more entertaining and humorous than "Mankind," but it is also more polished. Pratchett's style becomes more flowing and easy, and the message he puts in it is not ham-handed or badly-written. It's also extremely light and entertaining most of the time, such as when the dead Communist calls up a radio talk show host and speaks frankly about being "vertically challenged."Johnny is thoughtful and intelligent, quiet until he has a reason to speak out. His buddies Wobbler, Yo-less and Bigmac also return, with their individual personalities even more individualized: Wobbler is a little odd (wants to see a goat sacrificed), Yo-less is intellectual and more on Johnny's level, and Bigmac loves food. Perhaps the only problem is that if you haven't read "Mankind," you won;t know who the other boys are, but that is the only area in which "Dead" is difficult.Fans of Terry Pratchett and his Discworld series will enjoy the Johnny Maxwell trilogy, full of laughs, thoughts, and weird occurrances that will have you rolling on the floor.

This book stands as a testimony for the unique and broad writing skills of Terry Pratchett. Far away from the Discworld is the Earth, where Johnny Maxwell is living with his own struggles and problems of his life. Pratchett manages to tell a complete different story from the Discworld with a good mixture of humour and sensibility. Johnny and the Dead (they prefer "vertically challenged") is worth every single cent, pence or whatever currency is used in your country.