Title: Jane and Dan at the End of the World
Author: Colleen Oakley
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: March 11, 2025
Length: 368 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:
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.
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.
Author Colleen Oakley has quickly become a go-to author for me, and it’s engaging stories like Jane and Dan at the End of the World that keep me coming back.
When Jane and Dan head out to dinner for their 19th anniversary (which he seems to think is their 20th), rather than go to their stand-by date night restaurant, they instead go to the ultra-exclusive, ultra-expensive La Fin du Monde — a chic place located at the top of an isolated cliff along the Pacific coast. (Dan got a gift card… although he’s shocked to learn that the card only covers the cost of the reservation itself, not the thousand-something-dollar meal.)
The couple seems bored and jaded. Jane has heard every joke already. Dan has grown used to Jane’s need to double-check whether she’s unplugged her curling iron every single time they leave the house. But to Dan, it’s all fine. Jane, however, has had enough. She’s discovered texts between Dan and some unknown woman, and this proof of cheating is the final straw. In between their fancy courses, she informs Dan that she wants a divorce.
They don’t get to continue the conversation; a group of masked people with guns bursts in and zipties the guests and restaurant staff. The apparent leader is quickly infuriated to learn that the billionaire he’s been targeting isn’t actually present — instead, his wife and daughter are having dinner alone. What follow is a tense (but also very funny) countdown to a major confrontation, as the disorganized terrorists, frightened and frustrated restaurant guests, and local law enforcement interact, make generally bad decisions, and deal with circumstances none of them could have seen coming.
Well, maybe Jane could. As events unfold, she realizes that they’re strangely similar to the events of her heist novel — which practically no one read, not even Dan (or so she thinks). But as the evening progresses and more and more details line up with her book, Jane has a feeling she knows what’s coming… and knows she needs to get herself and Dan out of there before the big finale.
“For the love of God, [spoiler]’s never read your book,” Dan hisses, confirming Jane’s own thoughts. “No one’s read your book, Jane! This can’t be like your book because no one has read it.”
Meanwhile, right alongside the heist/adventure elements, this is really a story about marriage and family and parenthood. As Jane and Dan think back over their years together, certain truths and observations become clear. I don’t want to go into spoiler territory, so without revealing how these details connect, I’ll just say that Jane’s thoughts about motherhood, raising children and seeing them become their own people, and devoting oneself to family feel absolutely true and honest and real.
Jane often thinks all of the difficulty with parenting can be summed up by one sentence: Am I overreacting? And how 99 percent of the time, the answer is yes, but how is one to know when it’s the 1 percent of the time worrying is warranted?
Plus, the writing is funny! You might not think a hostage situation in a fancy restaurant would provide moments of humor, but in Colleen Oakley’s talented hands, unexpected bursts of laughter creep in when least expected.
Watching someone get shot was nothing like Jane thought it would be. Or nothing like the movies, which were Jane’s only point of reference. (Then again, having sex for the first time was disappointingly nothing like Dirty Dancing had led her to believed it would be, so she’s not sure why she’s surprised.)
Jane and Dan at the End of the World is fast-paced and engaging, and I raced through each chapter, unable to put the book down. Ultimately, while the heist elements are entertaining and really well-done, it’s the characters and their personal stories that drew me in.
Putting it simply: I love this book. With unexpected twists, down-to-earth truths, and a terrific main character to cheer for, it’s joyful and fun and full of life. Don’t miss it!
For more books by this author, check out my reviews of:
Bookshelf Fantasies 
This sounds very quirky and I could see myself loving it too! Awesome review.
It’s funny, I completely misread the synopsis when I first requested, so I was expecting a different approach… but once I realized that my expectations were incorrect, I just settled in and tore through the book. Loved it!!
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