Reviews
Actual Praise for The Day God Got Amnesia
“Readers are in for a wild ride in Winkelstein’s hands.”
— BookLife Reviews, Editor’s Pick
“Laugh-out-loud funny.”
— Kirkus Reviews, ✓GET IT
“An elaborate work of dark humor.”
— Foreword Clarion Reviews
BookLife — Editor’s Pick
An electric—and eclectic—cast animates the battle between Heaven and Hell in Winkelstein’s comedic adult fiction debut. The novel immediately establishes its tone, opening with God knocked into a coma by a giant box of cereal. From there, readers bounce between Heaven, Hell, and Boulder, Colorado, as this otherworldly mystery unfolds. Aimless and looking “for a reset,” the main protagonist is Slinger, an atheist, coffee-slinging Jew who knows that “whatever he was looking for, he wouldn’t find it in his parents’ religion.” What he is searching for is life’s purpose—and maybe a boyfriend. But when a sixth Flatiron pops up in Boulder, the town is thrown into chaos, and all hell breaks loose.
Readers are in for a wild ride in Winkelstein’s hands. A ragtag group of demons—headed by the “bull-headed, muscle-bound” Moloch—invade Boulder while God is unconscious, leaving it up to the town’s eccentrics to mount a defense. Those unlikely saviors include Slinger, his conspiracy theorist co-worker Bobcat (who regales Slinger with “the finer points of a zombie apocalypse orchestrated by mountain-dwelling undead”), a trio of unemployed coffee shop regulars, hot hippie Zara, government employee Sarah and her dog Beasley, and a slew of other quirky characters. Meanwhile, in Heaven, God’s four-faced, no-nonsense arch-secretary Dabria, the “Just Plain Angel” Mike, and teenaged former mortal Kevin—who’s been in Heaven for just a few days—are on a mission to keep everything from going to pieces up above.
The humor stays witty, alternating between deadpan and outright silly to keep the narration fresh, and though the sheer size of the cast can make it hard to follow the plot, Winkelstein ensures his characters are charming enough to compensate. This is a story full of sharp observations about what people value in their lives and why, and readers will be vastly entertained by Winkelstein’s funhouse reflections of their own oddities.
Takeaway: Irreverent, sharply funny comedy of Heaven, Hell, and a God in a coma.
Great for fans of: Thomas D. Lee’s Perilous Times, C.K. McDonnell’s The Stranger Times.
Kirkus Reviews – ✓GET IT
In Winkelstein’s comic novel, an atheistic barista and his buddies struggle to prevent the apocalypse while angels try to figure out who has attacked God.
In Heaven, God has been found unconscious after being conked on the head with a giant box of frosted cornflakes. Angels rush him to a divine hospital, where his care is presided over by none other than Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the real-life euthanasia advocate also known as Dr. Death. While this situation puts some of the angels on edge, greater problems soon appear: The demons of Hell have opened a gateway to begin the apocalypse, and they’re marching on Boulder, Colorado. Back on Earth, what begins as a fairly normal day for Slinger, a barista with wanderlust and a crush on a dad who comes into the cafe, quickly devolves into supernatural terror as the minions of Hell invade. After accidentally kidnapping and imprisoning one demon with the help of an overcaffeinated group of unemployed cafe regulars, Slinger and his pals run into the rest of the Hell-spawn at an end-of-the-world party (“it might be more literal than metaphorical”), where their mere presence is enough to incite apocalyptic levels of lust and gluttony in every human around them. Winkelstein’s antic romp—featuring a worrying Jewish mother, a rabbi who seems to know more than he’s letting on, and a Saint Peter who is sick of his station at the Pearly Gates—lampoons most of the religious stereotypes out there. Unfortunately, it ends much too soon; coming in at just 144 pages, the book is really only half a novel, and it doesn’t even get around to confirming that God has amnesia. The unwelcome “To be continued…” on the last page clues readers in that there’s a Part Two coming, but considering how short this first installment is, a single, regular-length novel would certainly have been more welcome. Still, the laugh-out-loud funny narrative will leave readers eagerly anticipating the follow-up.
A fun if frustratingly truncated addition to the pantheon of religious comedy.
“An elaborate work of dark humor.”
— Foreword Clarion Reviews
“A fun satirical novel.”
— Foreword Clarion Reviews
“The book’s humor is a strong driving force.”
— Foreword Clarion Reviews
“Witty, hilarious, and downright chaotic.”
Witty, hilarious, and downright chaotic. And can we talk about the whimsical chapter header graphics that tie in with each chapter?! This book honestly is my exact brand of humor and I found myself chuckling as I read. It’s so eloquently done with just the right level of quirky in a read-in-one-sitting, bite-sized-story format. I need another installment ASAP!
Be sure to grab a copy when it’s released on October 13, 2026!
— Genny ★★★★★
“I need book 2 stat.”
Bizarre mix of normal and impossible
Who knew heaven has 1st world problems, like the cost of sunglasses! This is the first in series, it’s very funny, with small details randomly thrown in that are gems, like how dishwasher safe a heavenly coffee grinder might be. I was very disappointed with the end, it just stops. I need book 2 stat.
— Robbo ★★★★★
“This book had me chuckling constantly.”
This book had me chuckling constantly. It was fast paced and my kind of humour. i kind find that jumped around a lot with many different povs and I lowkey hated how the ending just stopped. I need to know what happens. I need part two. Can't wait
— Katy ★★★★★
“The quirkiness was reminiscent of Pratchett, Adams, and Moore.”
As a silly boy who loves writing silly stories, I have a pretty high standard for humor. I won't crack a smile or guffaw for any humdrum run-of-the-mill comedy movie or show. It's even harder to get me to chuckle while reading a book. So, high marks to Winkelstein for getting me to crack a few smiles and light laughs while reading this. The quirkiness was reminiscent of Pratchett, Adams, and Moore.
The colorful cast of characters from Earth and the afterlife kept me entertained and engaged. Slinger was a memorable lead and the afterlife EMTs were a delightfully bumbling pair. It was also fun to see some historical figures pop up on the Heaven side of things. At 144 pages, I blew through this wacky novella pretty quickly.