REVIEW: Jane and Dan at the End of the World by Colleen Oakley

In Jane and Dan at the End of the World by Colleen Oakley, For the past nineteen years Jane and Dan’s wedding anniversary celebrations have been low key and typically at Macaroni Grill. While Jane is more than okay with picking a new venue–please, somewhere, anywhere different!–she didn’t expect it to be the seriously pricey La Fin du Monde. But the restaurant is the least of their worries. Just after they begin their first course and Jane confesses to Dan that she wants a divorce, an extremist group barges in with guns in tow to pull off a heist oddly similar to the one in the book she wrote a few years ago. Not that Dan believes her. At first.

‘What she needs is someone to explain to her why the entire opening act of her novel is playing out in front of her eyes, like some fever dream come to life. Or nightmare, more aptly.’

Dan thinks it’s a random situation that they just need to get through as quietly and safely as possible so they can live to celebrate another anniversary. Because he’s not letting go of their marriage quite so easily as Jane seems to be doing. And while he’s not the heroic type, Dan looks for ways to get the cops involved or find a way out for him and his fellow hostages. But as one scene from Jane’s book plays out after another, he has to admit she might be onto something. And their best bet is to work together to get themselves out of harm’s way. Even though they’ve not been seeing eye to eye lately, Dan and Jane turn out to still have what it takes to communicate and get through the tough stuff. Hopefully their marriage will be one of those things that survive the aftermath of the heist.

“Rip that phone out of the wall.”
No! Dan thinks, but it’s Jane who screeches it: “NO!”
He wonders–not for the first time–if the inability to keep one’s mouth shut is actually a bona fide medical condition. If so, he’s certain Jane suffers from it.

JANE AND DAN AT THE END OF THE WORLD was everything I didn’t realize I needed right now: a book-within-a-book, romance in trouble story with hearty laughs and the complicated truths about marriage and parenthood.

‘How well can you really know anybody? Even the person you’ve lived with–slept beside each night–for nearly half your life?’

The majority of the books I’ve read by Colleen Oakley have had me in tears at some point with the heavier subject matters and heartbreaking situations she puts her characters (and her readers) through. But JANE AND DAN AT THE END OF THE WORLD was decidedly different. Yes, there were some serious moments of Jane and Dan’s relationship getting ready to implode as well as the anxiety and second-guessing yourself that comes with being a parent. But this was more of an entertaining, dry-witted story that had me laughing unexpectedly at its cozy mystery type vibe.

So, I have a feeling that readers who go into this book thinking it’s a “traditional” Colleen Oakley novel will be a bit confused. And you might not quite connect with the heroine, Jane, right away. Because this begins right as Jane was getting ready to ask her husband Dan for a divorce after nineteen years of marriage. She was tired of the daily monotony, of not knowing who she was outside of being a mom and a wife. And she was flailing in her writing career. But walking into super fancy La Fin du Monde for their anniversary, Jane and Dan were given a wakeup call about everything they thought they knew about each other–and their family.

I thought having Jane’s one published book being used as the basis for the heist at the restaurant was smart and fun. Okay, so Dan didn’t necessarily believe her at first, leaving her to wonder if he’d ever read her book at all with him not noticing the similarities. But watching the pair work together as a team–sometimes not so well, sometimes completely in sync–was comedic gold. And heartwarming. Because there was still a lot of love and affection between Dan and Jane. And I think that by the ending, after all the shake ups and crazy predicaments, readers will simply *have* to smile at how things all worked out for everyone involved.

QOTD: Do you actively try to figure out mysteries and whodunnits or do you go along for the ride with the characters?

Book Info:

Publication: Published: March 11th, 2025 | by Berkley |

“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.