Location : Cleveland, OH
I saw the in-store promotions for Christopher Moore's novel, You Suck, so many times, that I decided that I would read one of his earlier works to gauge my interest in him.
The novel I chose, A Dirty Job, wasn't one that I would normally pick up, as it is, I suppose, a "horror" novel. But not like one that I have ever read. The book opens with the death of the main characters wife, shortly after she gives birth to their daughter, Sophie. But as the woman expires, Charlie Asher, the main character, sees a tall man, in a green suit, standing by her. The strange thing is that no one else saw the man, not the nurses, the security cameras, no one but Charlie. Soon, Charlie finds out that he is a Death Merchant. And since he saw him, Charlie is now a Death Merchant (and he gets a book: "The Great Big Book Of Death" to teach him the finer points). Death Merchants, and there are several in the San Francisco area, collect items from the recently departed. These items contain the souls of these people, which Charlie then sells, from his secondhand shop. But the people that buy them, only pick a specific item and only one. Thus, the soul of the departed gets transferred to a new, soulless person. But Sophie isn't exactly a normal little girl either. Every pet that Charlie purchases for her ends up dead. Very strange. And to this little macabre family, Moore adds some very nasty creatures of the Underworld, ones who will stop at nothing to rule the Earth.
This was an excellent novel. The writing had me laughing out loud. The way that Charlie handles his new daughter, his place as a Death Merchant, and the realization that he is the only thing standing between the Underworld and humanity had me in stitches. Also, Sophie's baby-sitters are great characters, one a Russian, the other Chinese. They add some real sparkle to the novel, and provide Sophie with some great catch phrases (you know, those impressionable children). The dialogue and the characters pulled me through the book. It is one of those books that I found hard to put down. If you have never read Christopher Moore, this is an excellent introduction. Now, I have another author that I have to follow. :-)
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