I liked John Dies at the End, and the movie adaptation was… different, but also fun!
I liked the book all in all - it just had a lot of flaws, and that made it kind of a slog.
Since this was not just a first novel but a first novel that started out as a webserial, I think it’s safe to assume that his later books are better, so I’ll undoubtedly go back to him some time.
For the rime being though, as a sort of palate cleanser, I was craving something that I could count on to be well-written if nothing else, and Murakami definitely fills that bill.