First of all, the delivery of this story as a combination of interviews? Genius. I loved being able to get each band member's perspective and feel the tonal changes depending on who was speaking. Seeing them through each other's point of view was also a riot. The humor in this was top-notch and cut through the horror with perfect balance.
One thing I did not expect going into this was to feel so many dang emotions. Why did it all hit so hard? This is definitely one I'll be pushing at people whenever possible.

4 of 5 stars
https://lynns-books.com/2025/07/31/review-my-ex-the-antichrist-by-craig-dilouie/
My Five Word TL:DR Review: Punk Rock, Horror and Blood

I enjoyed My Ex, it was very easy to read and I particularly liked the story telling format which comes across like a series of interviews for a documentary where the band members are recalling incidents from the past.

As the story begins we meet Lily and Drake. Lily has had a strict upbringing but longs to break free so when she meets a handsome and charismatic young man called Drake she follows him willingly with thoughts of fame and recognition. The two of them are about to set up a band – The Shivers – and make music history together. Along the way, they gather other band members and with Drake’s vision and Lily’s beauty they seem to hold everyone in their sway. As the band begins to find their feet and secure some gigs all hell seems to break loose, Drake’s playing seems to drive people into a frenzy, an almost hypnotised trance state where all their inhibitions fall away.

Now, there’s much more to the story than that, there’s a little bit of religion (not preachy but necessary given that the antichrist is making an appearance), a lot of rock and roll, the apocalypse looms on the horizon, and the rest of the band have no idea what they’re unleashing – until their eyes are opened in the most dramatic fashion.

What I really liked about this.

Obviously the writing is great and I love the format. DiLouie makes an excellent job of keeping everyone’s voice different and really bringing the band to life. It’s easy to get on board with the characters, I found myself liking them and in particular Lily. Even Drake, who, let’s be honest, you know is about to destroy the world, he doesn’t come across as evil – more, he has a vision and is following his destiny – and he really wants Lily to be at his side (although she’s not quite as happy with the whole ‘end of the world’ scenario).

This is such a unique story that it really hooked me and wound me in quite effortlessly. I thought at first that I might struggle a bit with all the ‘rock and roll’ elements but I really didn’t, everything fed into the story so well and all the threads came together in a very satisfactory way and more than that everything felt very tongue in cheek – even when the odds are ratcheted up and the body parts begin to fly it all feels so wildly campy.

And, I love the fact that the whole book is building up to a grand finale – a rock and roll competition known as Armageddon – where Drake is literally going to send the crowd into a frenzy.

This is such an unusual story, I felt a little unsure going in and I will say that the early chapters took a little getting used to as quite a few people are introduced in short order, but, this book won me over no problem. Very entertaining.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks, the above is my own opinion.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. An absolutely wild ride from start to finish. I finished it in a day, and raced through it to find out what would happen. I really felt deeply connected with the characters in this story. I felt Lily’s love, Ramona’s anger, Eric’s insecurity, and Malcolm’s stress. Craig DiLouie really wrote a phenomenal and unique novel with My Ex, The Antichrist.

I really liked how it was set up interview style, instead of as standard chapters. I felt like the switching between different characters really helped to break up the otherwise very long chapters. It felt very much like the transcript to a documentary, and I love a documentary. I also really enjoyed the philosophical and religious debates that come up frequently in this book. I really felt like it made me think and challenged patterns of thinking I might have held

I definitely recommend this book to fans of punk rock, documentaries, philosophical debates, and horror.

**4.5-stars**

My Ex, the Antichrist is quite literally a dream book for me. Putting it simply, I would describe this one as Daisy Jones and the Six for Horror Readers. If you're like me, and love the Horror genre above all others, and you possibly read Daisy Jones and the Six, and loved it too, but thought, 'where's the murder? Where's the chaos?' This book is for you!

In this book, we follow the rise and fall of a fictional punk band called The Shivers. Lily and her boyfriend, Drake, are the founding members of the group, then pulling in Ramona, Eric and Malcolm. The entire novel reads like a Behind the Music episode on steroids, and much like Daisy Jones, I highly recommend the audiobook format for maximum impact.

We know that at the end of their run, Lily had confessed to murder. All was steeped in mystery, as the band refused to talk to anyone about what had happened, leading up to Lily taking such drastic action. A decade later, Lily has agreed to an interview, and the rest of the band members follow suit. This book is comprised of those interviews, perfectly placed to allow the whole history of the band to play out.

This was such a great time. As mentioned above, 1,000,000% recommend the audiobook format if you're going to pick this one up. I can't stress this enough, because of how well the audio production is done. I'm not sure I would have enjoyed it half as much if I had just read a physical copy.
More than just the story of the band, I also loved the themes explored, and tend to enjoy epistolary format anyway, so this was a complete treat. I had no idea that's how this story was going to be told.

It did feel a little stretched out in certain areas, but overall, it was a hella entertaining read. It reads super quickly, and is my favorite Craig DiLouie to date. It may have you walking away thinking, maybe your ex isn't so terrible after all...

Thank you to the publisher, Orbit Books and Hachette Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review. This was a complete surprise!

3.5 ⭐️ rounded down to 3 ⭐️ – Super fun premise, just needed a little more oomph

My Ex the Antichrist had such a unique and entertaining concept—I mean, the title alone had me instantly curious. The story was definitely imaginative and delivered on the weird/fun front, and I appreciated how different it felt from anything I’ve read lately.

That said, I never really felt emotionally connected to the characters, which made it hard to stay fully invested. I kept waiting for a deeper emotional hook or character arc to pull me in, but it never quite landed. It was fun, but I just wanted… more.

If you love bizarre, genre-bending stories and don’t mind a little emotional distance, this will likely be a great fit!!

This was really good. I appreciate DiLouie’s storytelling through interviews. This was a bit heavy on the theology but it wasn’t terrible.

Going into this, I think I expected something more like Grady Hendrix's We Sold Our Souls, at least in the storytelling style. What we get, in almost, if not the whole book, in interview style, which wasn't bad, but did take me a bit of time to get into the flow of.

I found the beginning of this a bit on the slower side, where we are getting a lot of the background of the band and how they met and got together, and what led to Drake Morgan breaking away from them. Once we got to that point, things began to pick up, and I felt it got more interesting. There was action, horror, tense and emotional moments, all leading up to an ending that I didn't see coming. I think really the only thing I thought I was going to get from this that I didn't was more humor.

All in all, I quite enjoyed this and look forward to reading what Craig DiLouie comes out with next

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a gifted copy of this novel!

This book’s format is comprised entirely of interviews, similar to a documentary style, which I immediately was a fan of. The premise behind this one is interesting! I wasn’t sure what to expect going into it, but quickly started to be invested in the band’s success. I will say that at times, however, the pacing seemed to be mismatched - I felt as though there was a lot going on, but not necessarily anything that furthered the plot for me. I’m not sure if that’s due to the documentary-style of the writing or parts that were more character development-heavy than others. To me this was a bit of a “lighter” horror novel, but I generally enjoyed reading it!

I wanted so much more horror from this book. It was 90% about music in the 90s or the bands' interpersonal relationships (which weren't very interesting because everyone was one big happy family and always got along) and 10% horror. If that would have been flipped my rating would have been much higher. I liked the writing well enough and when we got to the horror bits I had a fine time.

My Ex, the Antichrist was a new take on an old story. Mixing religious apocalypse with rock and roll brought the story of Revelations close to home and into a modern territory. As a thriller, it was a new area of that genre that I had never experienced, and Craig DiLouie hit the mark. In this, we follow the pop punk band the Shivers and how they were involved with (and dated) the Antichrist as described in biblical stories of old, with yet another modern twist.

The writing style was unique and worked exceptionally well in this novel. The style was an interview format of all those involved. The author did an amazing job of making the story flow with ease, and each person contributed just the right amount at just the right time, and everything was cohesive and let you dive into each character. It gave multiple POV's without having to completely jump from one to another in different chapters or even halfway through a chapter, but still getting just as much insight and knowledge from each one. It was seamless. I loved how there was enough closure to the book to stand on its own, but enough open to know the characters still had places to go and room to grow. It ended beautifully in that you see where they ended up, but perhaps their story wasn't completely over. *Chef's Kiss
The characters were flushed out and you grew attached in a way to each one, even the Antichrist! You became emotionally invested in each one for different reasons, and it allowed each character to shine just a little bit.

This was my first book by this author, and I know that I will definitely be looking for his past works to read now, and his future reads to grab as soon as they come. I 100 percent recommend this book, even for those that are not huge fans of thrillers/horrors, as I feel it had enough subtlety to please readers who enjoy many genres.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers/authors for this ARC. I give this review voluntarily

This was such a fun read. The story is told through snippets of interviews with members of the band, The Shivers, along with others involved with the band's early days and later music career. I loved the way the story was structured and told. There were some creepy parts and gore, but the relationships and the journey were where this shined.

Thank you to NetGalley and Run For It for the eARC. My Ex, the Antichrist is available now. If you like your horror with a little camp, the apocalypse, love, and ROCK & ROLL, this is definitely for you.

This book was okay. There were moments that were interesting and shocking but I did not click with any of the characters like I hoped.

Okay, I REALLY wanted to love this one but...I just couldn't get into it. I thought it would be like Daisy Jones x horror but it turned out to have a lot more religious undertones than expected.

I'm sure there will be a target audience for it, but that is not me.

Thanks to Netgalley for my arc!

I had to read this book as soon as I saw the title. The premise also sounded intriguing. This ended up being a pretty entertaining read.

This story is written in an interview style, which I liked. This is a longer book, but it read pretty fast.

The story felt like Daisy Jones and the Six meets The Omen. 👹😳 I loved the mix of horror and rock n’ roll! I could relate to some of it. I was in a garage band in the late nineties (we never actually performed anywhere though) and I’m convinced several of my exes could be the Antichrist. 😂

This was a wild story, but it did drag in parts, especially towards the end. I don’t really know how I feel about the ending.

I read this on my kindle, but I think this would make a great audiobook.

I would recommend this book to horror lovers, especially fans of rock horror or music horror.

3.5⭐️

Thank you Netgalley, Hachette Audio, Orbit Books, and Craig DiLouie for the ARC!

Okay so I think I would've loved this a little more if I was Christian and I liked rock music, BUT I will say that even though I am neither of those things, I still really enjoyed it. I think DiLouie did an excellent job with the different povs, interview styles, and other ways they wrote the story. I really did love the musical aspect and how much songs had to play with the story.

If you are a major fan of horror and rock music, maybe pick this up?

Thanks to Hachette audio & Orbit Books for a gifted copy of My Ex, The Antichrist.

I don’t read synopsis very often but the synopsis for this book got my attention immediately. My Ex, The Antichrist tells the story of the fictional band The Shivers and trying to save the world from the Antichrist.

My Ex, The Antichrist was different than most of the books I’ve read. I really enjoyed the story and was intrigued the entire time. It is supposed to be horror but I didn’t find it at all scary or graphic. It does obviously talk about the devil and antichrist.

The audio was fantastic and I definitely recommend listening to it. It has a full cast narration and it definitely works for the interview format that the story had. It reminded me of a darker version of Daisy Jones and the Six (darker in a very loose way).

I am not a fan of books written in interview form. This type of format just doesn't work for me. I enjoyed the synopsis but didn't care for the way it was performed.

This is the third book I've read by this author and although the first one, Episode Thirteen, wasn't a fave, Suffer the Children and now this one both sucked me in and wouldn't let go!

First of all, I have to not the formatting of My Ex, the Antichrist. It is told completely in interview format. This worked so well for me, and it was hard to believe I wasn't reading an actual factional account of a punk band called The Shivers. Lily meets Drake around the time she is trying to escape from her parents' thumbs and create her own path. Lily wants to be a musician and Drake, a magnetic and hypnotic guitarist and singer, does everything he can to encourage her dreams. There's just one thing, Drake may have TOO much of a presence.

The two find additional musicians and form The Shivers. However, when the play public forums, the crowds break out in violence, sexual gratification and sometimes murder. Lily starts to learn new things about Drake and when he finally quits the band, her involvement with his continues and her fears continue to grow. What is exactly going on with Drake and could he actually be the Antichrist.

I can't say enough glowing things about this book and have already recommended it to several people. There is quite a bit of religious horror, but I figure whoever decides to pick it up can tell that from the title. DeLouie is quickly solidifying himself as an auto-read author for me.

Fun & frightening with some moments just as electrifying as Drake Morgan on the mic. This is definitely a slow burn which seems to be DiLouie’s strength as it was the same with Episode Thirteen which I previously read by him — basically, this is a story where if the hook doesn’t compel you (unknowingly building a band with the antichrist, wherein most of the book consists of the “building a band” part), this will not be for you. I do think I enjoyed his previous work a little more, but this has some excellent gory moments and is a bucketload of bloody fun.

My Ex, The Antichrist by Craig DiLouie is a full cast audiobook that is brilliantly produced! Written as a documentary (think Daisy Jones and The Favorites) about a punk rock band & in 1999, the voice actors bring the characters to life while the production (including some singing) makes you feel like you're watching a live show.
Messy drama, the devil, and some horror in the mix have made this an easy binge listen!