I was glad this was a short chapter, though I usually prefer to read as much as possible.
This book is just so confusing and like Rachel said, a breather is really nice at this point. Not that a short chapter is so much less confusing. I still have no idea what's going on. Will that ever change?

I think this was the best chapter so far, too. I love how it's revealed that David probably told Arnie (and us) a lot of nonsense and that Arnie is still willing to listen to him.
The funny thing is, until David started to talk about being with Jennifer and the dog winning a bunch of money, Arnie would've most likely continued to belive him. It says something about David that he makes up banal, ridiculous stuff when he is nervous, but when he's honest his stories get very terrifying.

I really like that everybody is so upset by the ableist language, that's quite special for anywhere on the internet.
It's jarring for me too, because I've got so used to all of us on Mark's sites being carful not to insult or trigger each other.

I curse all the time, more in real life than online, where you can just censor yourself by writing f***.
It's not that I think cursing is so awesome, but sometimes there is just no better way to express your emotions.
Sure David could say "this is not a nice situation" but "this is fucked up" is simply the right way to show how upset he is.

About the soy sauce: I agree, it seems a bit like Felix Felicis in that it leads to unbelievable circumstances that save people's lives. What I don't understand is: why does it do that? It is a living thing and the Justin monster is somehow connected to it, so is the monster trying to help them, too?
Is there a grant plan and that's why some of the characters survive contact with the sauce and others die from explosion? Does the sauce keep them alive for a purpose? What the hell is in Vegas?
I'm so intrigued and so horrified.

Although it has just occurred to me that maybe it was one of the missing people and that's just how Dave saw it??

Wow, that's a scary idea. It makes sense though, especially if David is still on the sauce, so maybe he only sees the thing because of his heightened awareness. (or because he is in the right mindset, which was enough for Arnie to see whatever was in the trunk)
I wonder if the cop would have seen it.
Also there were fingers in the basement. Wasn't one of the victims missing fingers?

I think what's so horrible about the painting is that at first you think "aw, that's pretty" and then David discovers a wooden cross and hands and dead things and it all suddenly turns into hell.
It's like little kids in horror movies; they start as innocent and adorable and then suddenly they're nightmare fuel.
That's just the right kind of horror for me. ;)

Ok, this chapter was terribly weird, but at least we now know what the sauce is.
It opens other dimensions, apparently in people so that other creepy things can get in to our dimension.

Where does this stuff come from? Why would anyone play around with it, knowing what it can do?
Or did the "fake Rastafarian" not know the consequences either and just thought it a need party trick?
How come David still has it know, while he is talking to Arnie? I would have gotten rid of it the moment I heard people died because of it.

I was seriously freaked out by the giant caterpillar. Ugh, nothing is more horrifying than crawling insects or spiders and they don't even have to be larger than normal. And these flying things that drill into David's face, ew no thank you.

The strange bullet shows that on soy sauce you can not only hop around in time but you can also change things.
The was only faulty because David distracted someone at the factory, even though he had no idea that that's what he was doing. So can you actively change time or only on accident. Is that why John couldn't make the 100 dollars appear, because he wanted to?

I think my favourite part of this chapter was David's thoughts about death. I honestly enjoy this book's humour most of the time, but it's nice to see that David Wong can also write serious prose.
David told Arnie that he makes up stupid stuff when he'd nervous, apparently he should be sad much more often, he's much more pleasant then.
I like how this shows how hard it is for David to deal with the situation: his friend just died, but is apparently alive somewhere, he is attacked by monsters, a cop is after him, he got shot and he probably as confused about everything as the readers are.

Now they have to get to Las Vegas, where they will hopefully get John back into his body (because the book is still not over and a I doubt John is going to spent the rest of it in the body of a dog, though that would be funny.)
I can't imagine Vegas is going to be a nice experience, I mean the place is weird enough without mind/reality altering stuff.

Oh, I misremembered that part then, it was something like "I lived in fear of Jim beating me up and I would have deserved it" right?
Still, he seemed sorry for what he'd put the girl through and he didn't even need someone to punch him to learn his lesson, even better. ;)

I liked this chapter so much more than the previous two. The language was less problematic, the story a bit easier to follow and the overall tone was more detailed and meaningful than joke after joke.
David seems to regret everything that happened that day and he narrates in such a sad way that shows how awful his life has become since.

I don't know what the "sauce" does exactly but it looks like it enables you to see very scary things and probably even time travel. (or see the future or send messages to the future, I don't know)

David's relationship with John is fascinating; it looks like he has experience with his friends drug habit and he clearly isn't happy about it. Still he'd rather be called by John in the middle of the night, than have him experience a very bad trip on his own.
Also we learn that both of them have problems with money and keeping a steady job. Which makes me wonder: Do they get paid for the ghost busting/demon exorcism later on?

My favourite part was David talking about him bullying a girl in school, then getting beat up by the girl's brother and knowing he totally deserved it. He is not a very likable character but I like that he is aware of his flaws and mistakes.

What the hell is wrong with that dog? Did she follow David because her previous owner died?
Do the cops think John and David killed him? Are the cops real or are they monsters?
This book is so different from what I thought it would be, but I#m starting to like it.

Isn't John Cheese the one who usually writes the "self-help" articles (about horrible mistakes in parenting and about being poor)?
Maybe this is how he was as a teenager and he just grew up to be a bit more likeable.