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Grim Reaper #2
Secondhand Souls
In San Francisco, the souls of the dead are mysteriously disappearing—and you know that can’t be good—in New York Times bestselling author Christopher Moore’s delightfully funny sequel to A Dirty Job.
Something really strange is happening in the City by the Bay. People are dying, but their souls are not being collected. Someone—or something—is stealing them and no one knows where they are going, or why, but it has something to do with that big orange bridge. Death Merchant Charlie Asher is just as flummoxed as everyone else. He’s trapped in the body of a fourteen-inch-tall “meat puppet” waiting for his Buddhist nun girlfriend, Audrey, to find him a suitable new body to play host.
To get to the bottom of this abomination, a motley crew of heroes will band together: the seven-foot-tall death merchant Minty Fresh; retired policeman turned bookseller Alphonse Rivera; the Emperor of San Francisco and his dogs, Bummer and Lazarus; and Lily, the former Goth girl. Now if only they can get little Sophie to stop babbling about the coming battle for the very soul of humankind . . .
337 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 25, 2015
About the author
Christopher Moore
97 books90.8k followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Christopher Moore is an American writer of absurdist fiction. He grew up in Mansfield, OH, and attended Ohio State University and Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, CA.
Moore's novels typically involve conflicted everyman characters suddenly struggling through supernatural or extraordinary circumstances. Inheriting a humanism from his love of John Steinbeck and a sense of the absurd from Kurt Vonnegut, Moore is a best-selling author with major cult status.
Christopher Moore is an American writer of absurdist fiction. He grew up in Mansfield, OH, and attended Ohio State University and Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, CA.
Moore's novels typically involve conflicted everyman characters suddenly struggling through supernatural or extraordinary circumstances. Inheriting a humanism from his love of John Steinbeck and a sense of the absurd from Kurt Vonnegut, Moore is a best-selling author with major cult status.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,947 reviews
January 31, 2024
A bridge full of unclaimed souls, and a powerful Lemon threatening the world.
Absurdity at its finest. A few years after Charlie's noble sacrifice, and the death of many other death merchants, uncollected souls keep pilling up, unable to re-enter the cycle of life. These lost souls unbalance an already precarious death and life order, and new dark powers emerge to restore balance, by any means necessary. The Morrigan threatening to strike again, and an almighty Lemon leading the way.
A worthy sequel. Some very good moments and a few laughs here and there. Humorous, yet not so much as to be hilarious. Although Charlie Asher still holds the spotlight, for me the Lily and Wiggly Charlie bits were the best of the book. And Sophie's fierce directness was something beyond adorable.
An entertaining funny read, and a nice ending to this weird duology. At least for now~!
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PERSONAL NOTE : [2015] [335p] [Comic Mystery] [Humorous] [Totally Absurd] [Adorable Sophie] [Awesome Lily] [Includes Wiggly Charlie]
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★★★☆☆ 1. A Dirty Job [3.5]
★★★☆☆ 2. Secondhand Souls
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Un puente lleno de almas no reclamadas, y un poderoso Limón amenazando el mundo.
Absurdidad a su máxima. Algunos años después del nobre sacrificio de Charlie, y de la muerte de muchos comerciantes de la muerte, almas sin recolectar siguen juntándose, no pudiendo reingresar al ciclo de la vida. Estas almas perdidas desbalancean un ya precario orden de la vida y la muerte, y nuevos oscuros poderes emergen para restaurar el equilibrio, por cualquier medio necesario. Las Morrigan amenazando con volver a atacar, y un todopoderoso Limón liderando el camino.
Una valiosa secuela. Algunos momentos muy buenos y algunas risas aquí y allá. Humorosa, pero no tanto como para ser hilarante. Aunque Charlie sigue manteniendo el estrellato, para mí las partes de Lily y Wiggly Charlie fueron lo mejor del libro. Y la feroz franqueza de Sophie fue algo más allá de adorable.
Una lectura entretenida y graciosa, con un lindo final para esta duología tan extraña. Al menos por ahora~!
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NOTA PERSONAL : [2015] [335p] [Misterio Cómico] [Humorosa] [Totalmente Absurda] [Adorable Sophie] [Genial Lily] [Incluye Wiggly Charlie]
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Absurdity at its finest. A few years after Charlie's noble sacrifice, and the death of many other death merchants, uncollected souls keep pilling up, unable to re-enter the cycle of life. These lost souls unbalance an already precarious death and life order, and new dark powers emerge to restore balance, by any means necessary. The Morrigan threatening to strike again, and an almighty Lemon leading the way.
A worthy sequel. Some very good moments and a few laughs here and there. Humorous, yet not so much as to be hilarious. Although Charlie Asher still holds the spotlight, for me the Lily and Wiggly Charlie bits were the best of the book. And Sophie's fierce directness was something beyond adorable.
An entertaining funny read, and a nice ending to this weird duology. At least for now~!
-----------------------------------------------
PERSONAL NOTE : [2015] [335p] [Comic Mystery] [Humorous] [Totally Absurd] [Adorable Sophie] [Awesome Lily] [Includes Wiggly Charlie]
-----------------------------------------------
★★★☆☆ 1. A Dirty Job [3.5]
★★★☆☆ 2. Secondhand Souls
-----------------------------------------------
Un puente lleno de almas no reclamadas, y un poderoso Limón amenazando el mundo.
Absurdidad a su máxima. Algunos años después del nobre sacrificio de Charlie, y de la muerte de muchos comerciantes de la muerte, almas sin recolectar siguen juntándose, no pudiendo reingresar al ciclo de la vida. Estas almas perdidas desbalancean un ya precario orden de la vida y la muerte, y nuevos oscuros poderes emergen para restaurar el equilibrio, por cualquier medio necesario. Las Morrigan amenazando con volver a atacar, y un todopoderoso Limón liderando el camino.
Una valiosa secuela. Algunos momentos muy buenos y algunas risas aquí y allá. Humorosa, pero no tanto como para ser hilarante. Aunque Charlie sigue manteniendo el estrellato, para mí las partes de Lily y Wiggly Charlie fueron lo mejor del libro. Y la feroz franqueza de Sophie fue algo más allá de adorable.
Una lectura entretenida y graciosa, con un lindo final para esta duología tan extraña. Al menos por ahora~!
-----------------------------------------------
NOTA PERSONAL : [2015] [335p] [Misterio Cómico] [Humorosa] [Totalmente Absurda] [Adorable Sophie] [Genial Lily] [Incluye Wiggly Charlie]
-----------------------------------------------
February 19, 2017
I guess I am a Christopher Moore junky, I am compelled to read his books. I must.
I’ve read them all so when his latest came out, I was like a kid counting out spare change on the counter of the beer store for a six pack of Milwaukee’s Best. I needed to read.
But I got this way for a reason – Moore can write, and his is an imagination that is twisted just right, like a Hunter S. Thompson goldilocks figuring out which pillbox of Mexican jumping beans holds just the RIGHT bean.
Moore’s latest, Secondhand Souls, is a gem - a return to his haunts in San Francisco and the motley crew from his 2006 novel A Dirty Job, which is hands down one of his best (behind Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal.)
Readers find our old friends Minty Fresh, Inspector Rivera and Lily and the gang uncovering more paranormal hijinks and supernatural ins, outs and what have yous. Moore, despite his penchant for profanity, irreverence and lowbrow humor is an erudite practitioner and his prose is crisp and moves along well. Fantasy readers will also enjoy his inclusion of occult and mythological elements as well as a more than passing knowledge of eastern philosophy.
Good fun from a writer who knows all about writing entertaining books.
I’ve read them all so when his latest came out, I was like a kid counting out spare change on the counter of the beer store for a six pack of Milwaukee’s Best. I needed to read.
But I got this way for a reason – Moore can write, and his is an imagination that is twisted just right, like a Hunter S. Thompson goldilocks figuring out which pillbox of Mexican jumping beans holds just the RIGHT bean.
Moore’s latest, Secondhand Souls, is a gem - a return to his haunts in San Francisco and the motley crew from his 2006 novel A Dirty Job, which is hands down one of his best (behind Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal.)
Readers find our old friends Minty Fresh, Inspector Rivera and Lily and the gang uncovering more paranormal hijinks and supernatural ins, outs and what have yous. Moore, despite his penchant for profanity, irreverence and lowbrow humor is an erudite practitioner and his prose is crisp and moves along well. Fantasy readers will also enjoy his inclusion of occult and mythological elements as well as a more than passing knowledge of eastern philosophy.
Good fun from a writer who knows all about writing entertaining books.
November 20, 2015
I'm not feeling a long review for this audiobook, but I do feel that I should say something , so here it goes:
1. Fisher Stevens is an excellent narrator and this audio performance is no exception. He did all the voices so well and with such gusto-I love this guy.
2. Christopher Moore is hilarious. Sometimes juvenile, but that's okay with me. With characters like Minty Fresh and Lemon Fresh and phrases like "Shy Dookie" (that was a pet name for someone who could only poop at home), how can you not succumb to laughter, even if it is a bit silly?
This audio book was a lot of fun and I recommend it to fans of this kind of humor!
1. Fisher Stevens is an excellent narrator and this audio performance is no exception. He did all the voices so well and with such gusto-I love this guy.
2. Christopher Moore is hilarious. Sometimes juvenile, but that's okay with me. With characters like Minty Fresh and Lemon Fresh and phrases like "Shy Dookie" (that was a pet name for someone who could only poop at home), how can you not succumb to laughter, even if it is a bit silly?
This audio book was a lot of fun and I recommend it to fans of this kind of humor!
June 22, 2015
Since I became a widow five years ago, death has been no laughing matter...unless I'm reading Christopher Moore's take on it and then I snicker, giggle, laugh out loud and snort once or twice. If you have a sense of humor, or even if you don't, Secondhand Souls is a marvelous read that is the best of Moore. Along with King, Hiassen, Tim Dorsey, I sometimes worry about Moore's mental state but as long as he writes hilarious books like this one (it's also a good meditation on death), I'll read them and hope the shrinks keep their paws off his brain matter.
November 21, 2021
3.5 stars
This comic novel is the sequel to "A Dirty Job." As the story opens Charlie Asher - enemy of the forces of darkness who was killed in the last book - now inhabits a makeshift foot-high body made of mismatched animal parts and luncheon meats.
Charlie and the other 'Death Merchants' of San Francisco, whose job is to collect souls from the dying and pass them on to new bodies, have been shirking their responsibilities. Thus there are thousands of loose souls in the city, a situation that opens a door to the Underworld and allows weird and murderous creatures to come through.
These deadly creatures include a banshee - who warns of trouble and swipes a stun gun;
The Morrigan - a trio of women demons who eat souls to become solid;
And Lemon Fresh - an Underworld honcho who favors yellow suits and a yellow car.
The Underworld eruption means that Charlie and his family/friends must once again fight wicked forces that threaten to destroy the world. The first order of business is to get Charlie a human body, which turns out to be Mike Sullivan - a well-built, nice-looking fellow whose job is to paint the Golden Gate Bridge.
For various reasons Mike was planning to jump off the bridge anyway....so why not? Other members of Charlie's team include a Buddhist nun, a retired cop, a crisis-center counselor, a homeless man, a book store owner, and others.
Also on hand is Charlie's seven year old potty-mouthed daughter Sophie (who happens to be the 'Great Death' who can kill with a word) and Sophie's two goggies (enormous black hellhounds).
Sophie and the 'aunties' and 'grannies' who take care of her are some of the funniest characters in the story. Other entertaining characters are ghosts at the Golden Gate Bridge who have stories to tell and the 'squirrel people' (made of animal parts) that live under the Buddhist center.
All kinds of kooky (and sometimes deadly) occurrences eventually lead to the story's climax, where Charlie's team goes head to head with the Underworld creatures.
Though the story is a sequel it can be read as a standalone. I thought the book was fun and entertaining and I'd highly recommend it to readers who who like off-beat humor and out-of-the-box characters.
You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot....
July 8, 2017
Want Banshees?
Want rodent people possessed by the souls of the dead?
Want a list of heroes including a goth chick, a Buddhist monk, a police detective, a two foot tall alligator-mutant with a foot long . . . well . . . you know, and a guy straight out of 70s blaxsploitation films named Minty Fresh?
Moore is always so wonderfully wired and wacky. This book (and the dualogy that it is part of) are so nonsensical, but so perfect at the same time. Sometimes when I read authors that are "out there", I quickly loose interest, but Moore just usually does it right.
Be sure to read A Dirty Job before this one or you will be totally lost.
Want rodent people possessed by the souls of the dead?
Want a list of heroes including a goth chick, a Buddhist monk, a police detective, a two foot tall alligator-mutant with a foot long . . . well . . . you know, and a guy straight out of 70s blaxsploitation films named Minty Fresh?
Moore is always so wonderfully wired and wacky. This book (and the dualogy that it is part of) are so nonsensical, but so perfect at the same time. Sometimes when I read authors that are "out there", I quickly loose interest, but Moore just usually does it right.
Be sure to read A Dirty Job before this one or you will be totally lost.
August 17, 2015
I got into Christopher Moore years ago after picking up a copy of Lamb at my old job, and I loved it. I quickly devoured the rest of his books that we regularly got in, and while there were some gross missteps in those spurts of binge reading (Fluke, The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove), I generally thought that his books were funny, irreverent, and with a lot of heart. (I actually would tell people to go read both Lamb and Good Omens because despite their different senses of humor, I thought that they compliment each other well.) And then I picked up The Griff, and it didn’t sit well with me, and then I read Sacre Bleu and The Serpent of Venice, which I liked the latter (with major issues) but not so much the former. But while I was reading Secondhand Souls, the follow-up to A Dirty Job (which I loved on my initial reading) that it finally struck me why I was having so many issues with Moore’s work in the last few years.
Moore classifies his heroes as “beta males,” but let’s call them for what they really are: Nice Guys. They’re unassuming, not particularly handsome, weak-willed men who are attracted to gorgeous “strong” women and build that relationship on how much they regularly like to “boink.” It’s an archetype that I wasn’t particularly aware of how negative it really is when I first started reading Moore’s books, but now even a few years later¸ it’s left a bad taste for me.
As I mentioned, I had loved A Dirty Job when I first read it, and I still think that there are some good elements to the idea of that story—specifically, the idea of dealing with and gradually accepting death by encountering it on a daily basis. (I am a sucker for “Death is not evil” stories, there’s a reason why the Death books are tied with the Lancre Witches as my favorite Discworld books.) But as I got more away from that first book, there was a lot of it—specifically the characters and how they’re treated in the text—that didn’t sit well with me. (I haven’t read A Dirty Job in a few years, and I am debating on going back and reading it.)
The thing is that Moore teeters on the line of having fairly intelligent humor alongside the sophomoric, but he regularly goes to the sophomoric to the point where it feels like he’s beating you over the head with “Tee hee they said a quasi-dirty word.” (As I said when I read Sacre Bleu, “boink” as euphemism for “fuck” stops being funny after the twentieth time you use it.) A seven-year-old former Death who regularly curses is funny the first few times. When she starts dropping curse words in nearly every scene with her speaking, it’s not as funny as you think it is, it’s just drawn out and doesn’t add that much to an already pretty thin character. More troubling is the incredibly casual racial “humor” that gets thrown around on the regular—for a book with a supporting cast of mainly POCs, there’s at least one race joke relating to them and only increases on how little they impact the plot. For example, Inspector Rivera gets at least one “He’s coming to rob me!” joke but he’s a main player so it’s laughed off. Mrs. Ling, in comparison, gets horribly racist dialogue and jokes at her expense because she’s Chinese! She’s superstitious and can’t pronounce “L’s!” So funny! Or how about we have the aforementioned seven-year-old refer to the black villain as “dookie face”— but it’s okay, because he calls himself a “magical Negro.” (I’m not joking, Lemon Fresh calls himself that at least twice.) The problem is that there’s an undercurrent of using “Oh, but it’s satirical!” excuse without completely grasping that no, these are terrible stereotypes that really add nothing to the story outside of “Oh, look a POC, let’s establish them as a POC by using “ignorance” as the humor.” No, it doesn’t work that way, and it’s really not needed. At all. Especially with Sophie referring to Lemon Fresh as she does and the entire existence of Mrs. Ling.
(I should mention that I was switching between this and Go Set a Watchman for a little bit. Not the best idea in hindsight.)
Not to mention that I just didn’t like the book’s plot overall. For a book that’s fairly stuffed with a lot of plot, it felt like nothing really happened in it. We have Mike Sullivan and the Ghosts of the Golden Gate Bridge and the mysterious Ghost Thief, the sudden disappearance of Sophie’s powers and her hellhounds, why Lemon Fresh is in town, and the appearance of a banshee and the subsequent return of the Morrigan. (Okay, banshee who steals a Taser from Inspector Rivera and keeps it because she likes to use the “Wee box o’lightning” for dramatic effect? THAT’S funny.) But the main focus seems to keep coming back to Charlie and Audrey having relationship issues, because Charlie’s soul has been stuck inside of a stuffed crocodile with a comically large penis for three years, and he and Audrey haven’t had sex since his last night in a human body. (Did I mention that Charlie has a massive dong now? Because it should be stressed that Charlie has a ten-inch weiner for an incredibly tiny body. It’s very important to emphasize the size of Charlie’s dick because it’s important to his relationship development.)
The thing is that there is a really interesting idea that Moore develops for most of the book before shoving it aside for a literal deus ex machine between the natural cycle of a person’s soul, the duty of Death Merchants, and what Audrey had been doing with the Squirrel People. (The less we talk about Audrey being a Buddhist nun, the better, because going back to my above headwalling, there’s so many problems with that concept, and it’s not because she’s been stuffing people’s souls into taxidermied animals without their consent.) I actually found the idea of “secondhand souls” (to borrow the title) as illustrated through Mike and Concepion to be really interesting, and I actually found their story to be touching and sweet, especially considering how Mike really had nothing special in his life and that he was so willing to let Charlie have a second chance at his life so that Mike could be happy with Concepion. (There’s more to do with actual suicide and depression, particularly given that Lily works at a crisis hotline that is again, badly mishandled that the discussion of suicide is given the same “Satire!” treatment. Also, it would help more if Charlie and Audrey were more concerned with asking a man to kill himself before the last moment or if someone—like, say, Charlie’s sister— actually managed to call them out on it in detail.) I liked the whole mystery of the Ghost Thief and how it could tie into the disappearance of Sophie’s powers and Lemon Fresh’s plans.
(Let’s talk about Lily’s depression and how it’s framed as her being a sad, failed Goth instead of the fact that she’s just gone through a bad break-up with Minty but still has feelings for him, and has had to struggle with her boss and one of her closest friends apparently died but has been living in a stuffed crocodile for three years and she’s just found it, and she’s been working for a crisis hotline. Except she treats her callers terribly, belittling them and acting flippant towards suicidal people, but oh, she gets the results so it’s okay! And it’s funny, because she’s not a sad fat Goth anymore who used to cut because it was cool. Satire!)
And that’s why I think the problem I have with Christopher Moore now is that he suggests these really interesting ideas but doesn’t do anything with or fully grasp the situation he’s put these characters into. I know he’s done it in the past—LambFool and Serpent of Venice work really well with sophomore humor because it’s Shakespeare.) But there’s a lot of his books that I’ve read where his writing is such a gross misstep that completely circle around back to the kind of “humor” he’s apparently making fun of. (Or just stuff that’s really gross, like the “lesbians” in Fluke and Lust Lizard because sexuality does not work that way.) And it’s becoming incredibly stale at this point. There’s interesting ideas and plots at work here, but it’s a bigger disappointment that there’s nothing done with them in the end.
Moore classifies his heroes as “beta males,” but let’s call them for what they really are: Nice Guys. They’re unassuming, not particularly handsome, weak-willed men who are attracted to gorgeous “strong” women and build that relationship on how much they regularly like to “boink.” It’s an archetype that I wasn’t particularly aware of how negative it really is when I first started reading Moore’s books, but now even a few years later¸ it’s left a bad taste for me.
As I mentioned, I had loved A Dirty Job when I first read it, and I still think that there are some good elements to the idea of that story—specifically, the idea of dealing with and gradually accepting death by encountering it on a daily basis. (I am a sucker for “Death is not evil” stories, there’s a reason why the Death books are tied with the Lancre Witches as my favorite Discworld books.) But as I got more away from that first book, there was a lot of it—specifically the characters and how they’re treated in the text—that didn’t sit well with me. (I haven’t read A Dirty Job in a few years, and I am debating on going back and reading it.)
The thing is that Moore teeters on the line of having fairly intelligent humor alongside the sophomoric, but he regularly goes to the sophomoric to the point where it feels like he’s beating you over the head with “Tee hee they said a quasi-dirty word.” (As I said when I read Sacre Bleu, “boink” as euphemism for “fuck” stops being funny after the twentieth time you use it.) A seven-year-old former Death who regularly curses is funny the first few times. When she starts dropping curse words in nearly every scene with her speaking, it’s not as funny as you think it is, it’s just drawn out and doesn’t add that much to an already pretty thin character. More troubling is the incredibly casual racial “humor” that gets thrown around on the regular—for a book with a supporting cast of mainly POCs, there’s at least one race joke relating to them and only increases on how little they impact the plot. For example, Inspector Rivera gets at least one “He’s coming to rob me!” joke but he’s a main player so it’s laughed off. Mrs. Ling, in comparison, gets horribly racist dialogue and jokes at her expense because she’s Chinese! She’s superstitious and can’t pronounce “L’s!” So funny! Or how about we have the aforementioned seven-year-old refer to the black villain as “dookie face”— but it’s okay, because he calls himself a “magical Negro.” (I’m not joking, Lemon Fresh calls himself that at least twice.) The problem is that there’s an undercurrent of using “Oh, but it’s satirical!” excuse without completely grasping that no, these are terrible stereotypes that really add nothing to the story outside of “Oh, look a POC, let’s establish them as a POC by using “ignorance” as the humor.” No, it doesn’t work that way, and it’s really not needed. At all. Especially with Sophie referring to Lemon Fresh as she does and the entire existence of Mrs. Ling.
(I should mention that I was switching between this and Go Set a Watchman for a little bit. Not the best idea in hindsight.)
Not to mention that I just didn’t like the book’s plot overall. For a book that’s fairly stuffed with a lot of plot, it felt like nothing really happened in it. We have Mike Sullivan and the Ghosts of the Golden Gate Bridge and the mysterious Ghost Thief, the sudden disappearance of Sophie’s powers and her hellhounds, why Lemon Fresh is in town, and the appearance of a banshee and the subsequent return of the Morrigan. (Okay, banshee who steals a Taser from Inspector Rivera and keeps it because she likes to use the “Wee box o’lightning” for dramatic effect? THAT’S funny.) But the main focus seems to keep coming back to Charlie and Audrey having relationship issues, because Charlie’s soul has been stuck inside of a stuffed crocodile with a comically large penis for three years, and he and Audrey haven’t had sex since his last night in a human body. (Did I mention that Charlie has a massive dong now? Because it should be stressed that Charlie has a ten-inch weiner for an incredibly tiny body. It’s very important to emphasize the size of Charlie’s dick because it’s important to his relationship development.)
The thing is that there is a really interesting idea that Moore develops for most of the book before shoving it aside for a literal deus ex machine between the natural cycle of a person’s soul, the duty of Death Merchants, and what Audrey had been doing with the Squirrel People. (The less we talk about Audrey being a Buddhist nun, the better, because going back to my above headwalling, there’s so many problems with that concept, and it’s not because she’s been stuffing people’s souls into taxidermied animals without their consent.) I actually found the idea of “secondhand souls” (to borrow the title) as illustrated through Mike and Concepion to be really interesting, and I actually found their story to be touching and sweet, especially considering how Mike really had nothing special in his life and that he was so willing to let Charlie have a second chance at his life so that Mike could be happy with Concepion. (There’s more to do with actual suicide and depression, particularly given that Lily works at a crisis hotline that is again, badly mishandled that the discussion of suicide is given the same “Satire!” treatment. Also, it would help more if Charlie and Audrey were more concerned with asking a man to kill himself before the last moment or if someone—like, say, Charlie’s sister— actually managed to call them out on it in detail.) I liked the whole mystery of the Ghost Thief and how it could tie into the disappearance of Sophie’s powers and Lemon Fresh’s plans.
(Let’s talk about Lily’s depression and how it’s framed as her being a sad, failed Goth instead of the fact that she’s just gone through a bad break-up with Minty but still has feelings for him, and has had to struggle with her boss and one of her closest friends apparently died but has been living in a stuffed crocodile for three years and she’s just found it, and she’s been working for a crisis hotline. Except she treats her callers terribly, belittling them and acting flippant towards suicidal people, but oh, she gets the results so it’s okay! And it’s funny, because she’s not a sad fat Goth anymore who used to cut because it was cool. Satire!)
And that’s why I think the problem I have with Christopher Moore now is that he suggests these really interesting ideas but doesn’t do anything with or fully grasp the situation he’s put these characters into. I know he’s done it in the past—LambFool and Serpent of Venice work really well with sophomore humor because it’s Shakespeare.) But there’s a lot of his books that I’ve read where his writing is such a gross misstep that completely circle around back to the kind of “humor” he’s apparently making fun of. (Or just stuff that’s really gross, like the “lesbians” in Fluke and Lust Lizard because sexuality does not work that way.) And it’s becoming incredibly stale at this point. There’s interesting ideas and plots at work here, but it’s a bigger disappointment that there’s nothing done with them in the end.
October 3, 2015
A Dirty Job was one of my first Moore books, and also my favorite, so I was excited to find out there was a sequel in the works, and when I saw my library had it, I just had to get it.
So it's with some level of disappointment that I must report that I didn't really like it all that much.
One of the big disappointments was that Sophie, who you would expect to be a pretty main character in this story, is pretty much relegated to second-tier player, again, and doesn't really do all that much - because reasons.
As to the story itself, there is both too much going on, and not enough. There are several subplots which all tie in together, but none of which felt actually developed or all that interesting.
I mean, the first half of the book barely even had the bad guys. It's mostly just Charlie and Co sitting around and talking about stuff going to happen, and waiting for things to happen. (And I didn't like Lily. Lily is no substitution for Abby. I barely even remembered Lily from before. I did, however, enjoy Wriggly Charlie.)
Oh, speaking of before, this books reminds us of what happened in the last book - which is good, because it's been awhile and I'd forgotten some details - but the problem is it keeps reminding us. It's almost like a bunch of old friends sitting around, drinking a beer, and remembering their glory days... because they know that these days? These days are not the glory days.
Anyway -
Lastly, the humor. Moore has always been a mixture of wry one-liners and potty-humor. I tend to prefer the former, but Fool had a good deal of the latter, and I still enjoyed that, a bit, in its context.
But this book just didn't have any laugh-out-loud moments, and only a handful of chuckle-worthy moments. I mean, the highlight of the humor seemed to be that
Womp womp.
Overall - just not impressed and ultimately disappointed that this was to follow up to 'Dirty Jobs'.
So it's with some level of disappointment that I must report that I didn't really like it all that much.
One of the big disappointments was that Sophie, who you would expect to be a pretty main character in this story, is pretty much relegated to second-tier player, again, and doesn't really do all that much - because reasons.
As to the story itself, there is both too much going on, and not enough. There are several subplots which all tie in together, but none of which felt actually developed or all that interesting.
I mean, the first half of the book barely even had the bad guys. It's mostly just Charlie and Co sitting around and talking about stuff going to happen, and waiting for things to happen. (And I didn't like Lily. Lily is no substitution for Abby. I barely even remembered Lily from before. I did, however, enjoy Wriggly Charlie.)
Oh, speaking of before, this books reminds us of what happened in the last book - which is good, because it's been awhile and I'd forgotten some details - but the problem is it keeps reminding us. It's almost like a bunch of old friends sitting around, drinking a beer, and remembering their glory days... because they know that these days? These days are not the glory days.
Anyway -
Lastly, the humor. Moore has always been a mixture of wry one-liners and potty-humor. I tend to prefer the former, but Fool had a good deal of the latter, and I still enjoyed that, a bit, in its context.
But this book just didn't have any laugh-out-loud moments, and only a handful of chuckle-worthy moments. I mean, the highlight of the humor seemed to be that
Womp womp.
Overall - just not impressed and ultimately disappointed that this was to follow up to 'Dirty Jobs'.
October 27, 2019
Temper expectations and Secondhand Souls then becomes a great second half to the Grim Reaper saga.
This novel feels as if A Dirty job was Vol. 1 of a two part story. Secondhand Souls serves as that concluding Vol. 2. It pays off on all the unanswered questions from the first book. The transition between books is seamless. It is also consistent in narrative tone, humor and the characters spirit.
If you loved the A Dirty Job and want to know how the story ends, then youll love this sequel. If you disliked it however, then youll likely be dissapointed to find more of the same.
This novel feels as if A Dirty job was Vol. 1 of a two part story. Secondhand Souls serves as that concluding Vol. 2. It pays off on all the unanswered questions from the first book. The transition between books is seamless. It is also consistent in narrative tone, humor and the characters spirit.
If you loved the A Dirty Job and want to know how the story ends, then youll love this sequel. If you disliked it however, then youll likely be dissapointed to find more of the same.
July 5, 2021
For some reason, I wasn’t as into this book as I was the first book. It certainly did seem longer than it needed to be. I see where the author was trying to go with the storyline, but I’m not sure it was smoothly and fully pulled off.
May 19, 2022
While I don't think this was quite as funny as the first book, A Dirty Job, I did still have a lot of fun with it.
Charlie is still around, folks. Kinda around. I mean, when he doesn't have a boner, he's around. Later on, that little problem gets fixed. And in the meantime, he's not doing his REAL job. You know, collecting souls that get sucked up into objects. That little negligence will never come to bite him in the ass... no. Definitely not.
I had a good time. I'm totally down for reading all his works, now.
And for those of you who know what I mean, I definitely think that method of suicide prevention has a lot of promise.
Charlie is still around, folks. Kinda around. I mean, when he doesn't have a boner, he's around. Later on, that little problem gets fixed. And in the meantime, he's not doing his REAL job. You know, collecting souls that get sucked up into objects. That little negligence will never come to bite him in the ass... no. Definitely not.
I had a good time. I'm totally down for reading all his works, now.
And for those of you who know what I mean, I definitely think that method of suicide prevention has a lot of promise.
June 5, 2016
Eh. I liked it. I didn't love it. Maybe I had way too high of expectations, since I loved A Dirty Job so much (and Lamb, and You Suck, etc.). Secondhand Souls had some clever moments and some funny moments, and it was nice getting to hang out with Charlie and Minty Fresh again...but... I thought some of it fell flat. Like Christopher Moore was phoning it in. Granted, his phoning it in is still amusing. But you get what I'm saying, right? Read it if you love Moore and A Dirty Job and need a quick read. Skip it if you haven't read A Dirty Job, and if you have 8 billion other books waiting for you.
August 6, 2015
Christopher Moore and the Grim Reaper gang are back. A lot of things have changed since the battle with The Morrigan. Beta male Charlie Asher’s soul is stuck in one of his Buddhist girlfriends “meat puppets”, his daughter Sophie aka Death who is now being raised by his sister and her foul mouthed wife has seemingly lost all her powers and Inspector Rivera has taken a break from duty, any everything else for that matter, to get used to his role as the cities newest death merchant. Minty Fresh, while dealing with a broken heart as a result from dating sarcastic goth Lily seems to be the only one not letting personal issues get in the way of duty and thats a big problem. Souls are not being collected and the forces of darkness are once again making their move on the streets of San Francisco. Breaking the rules in the Big Book of Death once again, the gang band together to set things right.
I loved A Dirty Job and was excited to see a sequel to a book I thought would remain a stand alone. As usual Christopher Moore’s writing is filled with heart and laughter but I was left somewhat disappointed. I was so happy to find what had become of the gang and spend time with those characters again but it felt kinda lazy to have the baddies the same as the first novel. I think it would have been much more interesting to have read of them battling a whole different kind of evil.
I strongly suggest that anyone who hasn’t read A Dirty Job do so before reading this one. Half the fun comes from knowing the history of these characters and seeing where they’ve ended up, not to mention the fact that almost every aspect ties into things we’ve learned about in the first.
3.5/5
*Thank you William Morrow and Edelweiss for this review copy*
I loved A Dirty Job and was excited to see a sequel to a book I thought would remain a stand alone. As usual Christopher Moore’s writing is filled with heart and laughter but I was left somewhat disappointed. I was so happy to find what had become of the gang and spend time with those characters again but it felt kinda lazy to have the baddies the same as the first novel. I think it would have been much more interesting to have read of them battling a whole different kind of evil.
I strongly suggest that anyone who hasn’t read A Dirty Job do so before reading this one. Half the fun comes from knowing the history of these characters and seeing where they’ve ended up, not to mention the fact that almost every aspect ties into things we’ve learned about in the first.
3.5/5
*Thank you William Morrow and Edelweiss for this review copy*
May 19, 2022
In this second installment dark pandemonium of disorder looms once again!
It's been a year since the end of the previous book and a lot of things have changed since Charlie died.
His store was first changed into some weird version of a pizza place and then had to be closed for good. Charlie's former employees have scattered - Ray is living with a woman now (I know!), Lilly is working at a suicide hotline and Inspectior Riviera is now retired and running a bookstore.
Did I say that Charlie died? Well, kinda. Actually, he isn't dead. His soul was transferred into ... a different body. Yeah, let's call it that. Now, he needs a permanent human body to reside in because it seems that little Sophie has lost her powers and her hellhounds have left!
Add to that the fact that there are thousands of souls gathering at the Golden Gate Bridge, that people are dying but their souls aren't being collected, the Morrigans have returned, and someone "new" is trying to become the Big Bad. Oh, and then there is something VERY peculiar going on with the squirrel people.
Admittedly, this was not as hilarious as the first installment. However, from the fact that now we not only have a Minty Fresh but also a Lemon Fresh and who he is to the My Little Ponies of the Apocalypse to WC - there were a number of really funny scenes. Still, it there were just not as many as in the previous book and they usually weren't as hilarious either.
Nevertheless, the story was engaging and I chuckled a number of times so this was still well worth my time and I can wholeheartedly recommend both books.
It's been a year since the end of the previous book and a lot of things have changed since Charlie died.
His store was first changed into some weird version of a pizza place and then had to be closed for good. Charlie's former employees have scattered - Ray is living with a woman now (I know!), Lilly is working at a suicide hotline and Inspectior Riviera is now retired and running a bookstore.
Did I say that Charlie died? Well, kinda. Actually, he isn't dead. His soul was transferred into ... a different body. Yeah, let's call it that. Now, he needs a permanent human body to reside in because it seems that little Sophie has lost her powers and her hellhounds have left!
Add to that the fact that there are thousands of souls gathering at the Golden Gate Bridge, that people are dying but their souls aren't being collected, the Morrigans have returned, and someone "new" is trying to become the Big Bad. Oh, and then there is something VERY peculiar going on with the squirrel people.
Admittedly, this was not as hilarious as the first installment. However, from the fact that now we not only have a Minty Fresh but also a Lemon Fresh and who he is to the My Little Ponies of the Apocalypse to WC - there were a number of really funny scenes. Still, it there were just not as many as in the previous book and they usually weren't as hilarious either.
Nevertheless, the story was engaging and I chuckled a number of times so this was still well worth my time and I can wholeheartedly recommend both books.
June 14, 2017
Christopher Moore always makes me laugh. This is an entertaining read with some of his stock characters. Read A Dirty Job before reading this one.
October 28, 2015
You know how it is when you finish a book and you actually wish it was an additional two hundred pages? This is that. The latest installment of Moore's Grim Reaper series gave me an awesome amount of pleasure, as my favorite San Francisco Death Merchants reappear (along with their entourage) and gird their loins to take on another menace to humanity. Everyone plays a part, and there are naughty hi-jinks galore. Yes, Moore has a delightfully prurient mind, and no doubt would rattle the morality code; wouldn't be surprised if his publisher has warned him to tone it down (or would they?). Moore is basically the horny fifteen-year-old jester who sat in the back of class in junior high and lets his wry yet funny witticisms delight sniggering classmates and frustrate humorless teachers (who secretly enjoy them even if they can't show it). He just hasn't grown up, and we the readers are beneficiaries of his humor. We're not talking Shakespeare or Cormac McCarthy, no. But we are expecting a fun frolic, and would have to say this is one of his better efforts, as I chortled at something on just about every page. Loved the characters, from the regular crew to the Squirrel People. There also was a completeness to this volume, although I hope that doesn't mean he will end this story line (as he usually does these in threes, though I wouldn't mind him tacking on new volumes to his other mini-series). He is one of a handful of writers I find myself recommending to friends and acquaintances the most. The only sad thing about finishing this book is that now I have to go back into a holding pattern for about a year for the next one (unless he is well along on a new book---we can only hope).
June 15, 2016
Christopher Moore is a nut, he has such a twisted story telling ability that it is like a train wreck, you just can't not watch/read. The characters in this book are off the hook weird and funny. IMHO Dirty Deeds was a little more laugh out loud funny but this one had a great story and is a good Segway to the next in the series.
November 21, 2019
Сан-Франсиско и вообще Калифорния Криса Мура - всегда как возвращение домой. Неизменное отдохновение. Нехило бы, конечно, добавить "Подержанные души" и "Койота" (с которым эта книжка связана так же, как и с "Грязной работой" и книжками про Хвойную бухту) ко всему калифорнийскому канону.
И вдобавок это самый буддистский эпизод в этом прекрасном сериале из всех сан-франсисско-хвойно-бухтовых романов Криса: практически ожившая модель целого ряда ключевых для буддизма представлений, и этого гораздо больше, чем в первой книге. А материал для елевидения здесь настолько благодатен, что сериал на несколько сезонов получился бы идеальный, но у буратин шоу-бизнеса, видать, иные представления о счастье. А наше в том, что мы можем это читать, смотреть это кино у себя в голове и - да, переводить.
И вдобавок это самый буддистский эпизод в этом прекрасном сериале из всех сан-франсисско-хвойно-бухтовых романов Криса: практически ожившая модель целого ряда ключевых для буддизма представлений, и этого гораздо больше, чем в первой книге. А материал для елевидения здесь настолько благодатен, что сериал на несколько сезонов получился бы идеальный, но у буратин шоу-бизнеса, видать, иные представления о счастье. А наше в том, что мы можем это читать, смотреть это кино у себя в голове и - да, переводить.
October 5, 2015
No. Just... no.
Look, I worship at the altar of Christopher Moore just as much as the next hilarious-yet-irreverent-fiction fan, but this just did not work for me. A Dirty Job was already one of my less favorite of the Moore canon, so I guess I shouldn't have expected much from the sequel. But this literally read like a bad Christopher Moore fan-fiction written by a team of stoned college sophomores.
I laughed at the patented Moore-isms. I thought the dynamic duo of Mrs. Ling and Mrs. Korchev was deployed to excellent comedic effect. I was mildly intrigued at the plot link back to Coyote Blue. I was impressed at the breadth of dong jokes. It was nice to see Abby Normal and Lilly in action together. I guess it was better than not having a new Christopher Moore book to read... actually that's not true. I would definitely have preferred this one didn't exist than that I felt compelled to read it. Other than that there's nothing much positive to say.
What the hell happened here? A Dirty Job was already seriously reaching for a coherent set of rules to hold together it's fantasy world plot. But this one... the plot was torturously nonsensical and convoluted. "Unnecessary" is probably the meanest thing I can say about it.
Lest I beat a dead horse I'll wrap this up. Let it never be said that I can't find fault with one of my favorite authors.
Look, I worship at the altar of Christopher Moore just as much as the next hilarious-yet-irreverent-fiction fan, but this just did not work for me. A Dirty Job was already one of my less favorite of the Moore canon, so I guess I shouldn't have expected much from the sequel. But this literally read like a bad Christopher Moore fan-fiction written by a team of stoned college sophomores.
I laughed at the patented Moore-isms. I thought the dynamic duo of Mrs. Ling and Mrs. Korchev was deployed to excellent comedic effect. I was mildly intrigued at the plot link back to Coyote Blue. I was impressed at the breadth of dong jokes. It was nice to see Abby Normal and Lilly in action together. I guess it was better than not having a new Christopher Moore book to read... actually that's not true. I would definitely have preferred this one didn't exist than that I felt compelled to read it. Other than that there's nothing much positive to say.
What the hell happened here? A Dirty Job was already seriously reaching for a coherent set of rules to hold together it's fantasy world plot. But this one... the plot was torturously nonsensical and convoluted. "Unnecessary" is probably the meanest thing I can say about it.
Lest I beat a dead horse I'll wrap this up. Let it never be said that I can't find fault with one of my favorite authors.
August 3, 2015
Love this book! I got it as an advanced reader copy and couldn't put it down! I need more Sophie; she is easily my favorite character! The way she mouths off like a sailor but infinitely more creative than just the constant f-bombs and the wide eyed innocence only a 7 yr old can pull off, what's funnier than a mouthy kid or grandma if you're not the one having to discipline them? I'm not sure if my favorite part was from her interaction with the drag nuns, or telling a strange man that she named the pony she was coloring Sparkle Darkle Glitter-tits just to get a reaction. There was also a bit much fun with Wiggly Charlie, the affection name for Squirrel People Charlie, the poor over-compensated meat bag holding human Charlie's soul. The rest of the cast was great support, but I'm really hoping this is followed up with teenage Sophie threatening to sic the "goggies" on everyone if she doesn't get chocolate and a date with a cute boy, or heaven forbid, "kitty" anyone fool enough to challenge her at the wrong time.
August 29, 2015
It's a sequel to a favorite book of mine, by a favorite author, with some of my favorite characters of his, set in a city I adore. It's full of snark, and irreverence, and humor, and completely whacko situations, and a touch of philosophy. You expected I wouldn't like it?
Thank you so much to library thing and the publishers for sending this one my way. It came while I was ill, and everyone knows laughter is the best medicine.
Thank you so much to library thing and the publishers for sending this one my way. It came while I was ill, and everyone knows laughter is the best medicine.
July 29, 2016
Christopher Moore's novels are additive. Besides the info in the "book description", it's a lot of fun reading the book! The story is fascinating with out of the world imagination,
which I got a total kick out of. His writing is good and dialogs are humorous. Highly recommend.
which I got a total kick out of. His writing is good and dialogs are humorous. Highly recommend.
December 11, 2019
It's been too long since I read A Dirty Job, but this was an enjoyable sequel anyway. The humor is fairly juvenile & ridiculous, perfect for me. Still, it went on too long. I would have enjoyed it far more if it had been quite a bit shorter. Like its predecessor, it's fairly forgettable. It's just a funny-once kind of read.
Very well narrated. I don't think I would have enjoyed it nearly as much in print. The narrator really captured the characters.
Very well narrated. I don't think I would have enjoyed it nearly as much in print. The narrator really captured the characters.
November 24, 2015
Sophie seems to have lost her mojo at the same time that some freaky stuff starts going down again in San Francisco. The Squirrel People are restless, ghosts are swarming the Golden Gate Bridge, and there's a man in a yellow suit drifting around stirring up trouble. What's going on this time?
2.5 Starsbut I'm feeling generous but I'm not feeling generous after getting my thoughts down.
What this feels like is a contractual obligation. My guess is that Christopher Moore signed a deal for a follow-up to A Dirty Job, time was up, so he knocked this out. I wasn't impressed.
I laughed/cried/snorted my way through A Dirty Job. Seriously. I may have chuckled once or twice this go 'round. Charlie's new body was funny at the end of the first book but once it's sustained for a while and some obvious drawbacks are pointed out, it just got disturbing. Like, I-wish-I-could-scrub-this-image-from-my-mind disturbing. And, yes, thank you, I do actually have an overdeveloped sense of potty humor. But too far is actually too far.
The characters were just kind of more of the same. That should be good since I loved them before, but everybody changes at least a little bit over a year or so. Not these characters. The bad guy(s) are back. Well, there's a different, surprising, leader but the rest is the same. I think we got all the laughs we could out of beating these villains up the first time. I miss Mrs. Ling and Mrs. Korchev. They got a scene or two and they were amusing but that was it. There was a lot more of Lily this time around, and she was funny. Abby Normal shows up for a couple of pages in a throwaway scene. I could go on, but I guess I'll sum this up with "Same characters, only slightly different story."
The ghosts on the bridge confused me. I was probably jet-lagged while I read this, so maybe I just missed it. But they tell these long stories, some funny, some sad, some just random, for no apparent reason. Padding the page count? I don't know. I saw absolutely no purpose.
Somehow, A Dirty Job was funny and crass in a way that I liked but it still had heart. Charlie was doing his best despite being overwhelmingly unprepared for the job. The Emperor is trying to save his city. Death is more than a punchline, and hospice workers are angels on earth. I found that all to be missing now.
I have loved Christopher Moore in the past, and luckily I still have quite a few books from his back catalog left to read, because I think I may be done with him now. I haven't really enjoyed any of his work since 2007. Wow. Except for Bite Me. I do love Abby Normal.
As I write this, the average rating on GoodReads is almost 4.0, so I'm obviously in the minority, but there you go. This one just wasn't for me. Christopher Moore fans will obviously read it. I do highly recommend A Dirty Job but I personally wish I had stopped there.
2.5 Stars
What this feels like is a contractual obligation. My guess is that Christopher Moore signed a deal for a follow-up to A Dirty Job, time was up, so he knocked this out. I wasn't impressed.
I laughed/cried/snorted my way through A Dirty Job. Seriously. I may have chuckled once or twice this go 'round. Charlie's new body was funny at the end of the first book but once it's sustained for a while and some obvious drawbacks are pointed out, it just got disturbing. Like, I-wish-I-could-scrub-this-image-from-my-mind disturbing. And, yes, thank you, I do actually have an overdeveloped sense of potty humor. But too far is actually too far.
The characters were just kind of more of the same. That should be good since I loved them before, but everybody changes at least a little bit over a year or so. Not these characters. The bad guy(s) are back. Well, there's a different, surprising, leader but the rest is the same. I think we got all the laughs we could out of beating these villains up the first time. I miss Mrs. Ling and Mrs. Korchev. They got a scene or two and they were amusing but that was it. There was a lot more of Lily this time around, and she was funny. Abby Normal shows up for a couple of pages in a throwaway scene. I could go on, but I guess I'll sum this up with "Same characters, only slightly different story."
The ghosts on the bridge confused me. I was probably jet-lagged while I read this, so maybe I just missed it. But they tell these long stories, some funny, some sad, some just random, for no apparent reason. Padding the page count? I don't know. I saw absolutely no purpose.
Somehow, A Dirty Job was funny and crass in a way that I liked but it still had heart. Charlie was doing his best despite being overwhelmingly unprepared for the job. The Emperor is trying to save his city. Death is more than a punchline, and hospice workers are angels on earth. I found that all to be missing now.
I have loved Christopher Moore in the past, and luckily I still have quite a few books from his back catalog left to read, because I think I may be done with him now. I haven't really enjoyed any of his work since 2007. Wow. Except for Bite Me. I do love Abby Normal.
As I write this, the average rating on GoodReads is almost 4.0, so I'm obviously in the minority, but there you go. This one just wasn't for me. Christopher Moore fans will obviously read it. I do highly recommend A Dirty Job but I personally wish I had stopped there.
Want to read
June 8, 2016Why does this have to be so expensive?!
October 11, 2015
Point of embarkation:
Christopher Moore isn't for everyone!
Indeed, when a student first convinced me that I would enjoy The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove 15 years ago, I admit I was concerned what my students thought of me and what kind of role model I was (or was failing to be). But Moore made me laugh, and that's good. His stuff is weird and, let's be frank, skates along the fine edge of just plain stupid, but, when he hits his stride, he's really funny. Frankly, I've always thought his finest hour was the heretical, irreverent Lamb, but he's at his best (to my mind) when he's combining the supernatural with the just plain silly, demonstrating that nothing, absolutely nothing, is off limits. And one of the joys that Moore offers derives from his willingness to recycle his characters and mix and match his mini-series/genres (most recently transitioning from vampires to soul collectors/death merchants).
Literature - this is not! Thought-provoking, not so much. But, if, for example, you find John Scalzi's Red Shirts too buttoned up, or if you liked reading Dav Pilkey's Captain Underpants to your kids (or whether you read it in the bookstore for personal pleasure when no one was looking), you're probably the target audience for this kind of, um, low brow, off beat, pretty much "out there" entertainment.
You won't find this on your child's high school or college reading list any time soon, but 350 pages of fast-paced escapist entertainment, innumerable chuckles, and at least a dozen burst-out belly laughs is well worth my time. It is what it is.
Literature - this is not! Thought-provoking, not so much. But, if, for example, you find John Scalzi's Red Shirts too buttoned up, or if you liked reading Dav Pilkey's Captain Underpants to your kids (or whether you read it in the bookstore for personal pleasure when no one was looking), you're probably the target audience for this kind of, um, low brow, off beat, pretty much "out there" entertainment.
You won't find this on your child's high school or college reading list any time soon, but 350 pages of fast-paced escapist entertainment, innumerable chuckles, and at least a dozen burst-out belly laughs is well worth my time. It is what it is.
September 3, 2015
I'll just say it: Christopher Moore can pretty much do no wrong. Enormous lizards? Artificial whales? Stupid angels and Jesus? Shakespeare, Impressionist painters... you get the drift. For ultra-weird but extremely funny (and even touching) stories, you really can't beat the Author Guy's books.
Secondhand Souls is a sequel to A Dirty Job, which is just an awesomely funny, entertaining, vulgar, crazy tale -- and Secondhand Souls lives up to it, not quite perfectly, but awfully darn close. The characters we love are back, in different places in their lives (and even in different bodies), but still themselves. Plus, there are some memorable new characters, including a Golden Gate Bridge painter named Mike, a mysterious man dressed all in yellow, and a banshee, among others.
San Francisco itself is a star, and seeing such a crazy adventure unfold in our beloved city is at least half the fun.
Who am I kidding? It's all fun. The logic of the story gets a little thin at times, but it doesn't really matter. If you're a Christopher Moore fan, you need to read this. And if you've never had the pleasure, I'd say put this one on hold and read (at least) A Dirty Job -- and possibly a few others -- before picking up Secondhand Souls.
Secondhand Souls is a sequel to A Dirty Job, which is just an awesomely funny, entertaining, vulgar, crazy tale -- and Secondhand Souls lives up to it, not quite perfectly, but awfully darn close. The characters we love are back, in different places in their lives (and even in different bodies), but still themselves. Plus, there are some memorable new characters, including a Golden Gate Bridge painter named Mike, a mysterious man dressed all in yellow, and a banshee, among others.
San Francisco itself is a star, and seeing such a crazy adventure unfold in our beloved city is at least half the fun.
Who am I kidding? It's all fun. The logic of the story gets a little thin at times, but it doesn't really matter. If you're a Christopher Moore fan, you need to read this. And if you've never had the pleasure, I'd say put this one on hold and read (at least) A Dirty Job -- and possibly a few others -- before picking up Secondhand Souls.
August 10, 2016
DO NOT READ THIS UNLESS YOU READ BOOK 1 FIRST...like i didn't. (Good luck deciphering that triple negative.)
Kind of dumb, I grabbed this at the bookstore when it came out because I love Christopher Moore but didn't realize it was the second book in a series. So while there are many hilarious moments in this book, there is also a lot of convoluted backstory that would have been much easier to follow had I read A Dirty Job.
Even so, I quite enjoyed it. No one can do paranormal comedy like Moore. His humor tends to be character based (snarky females are a forte) and through the juxtaposition of the supernatural with the mundane (a banshee with a taser). In a word: camp.
The plot involves some eating of souls, reincarnated baddies, demon dogs, a 14" tall alligator-headed duck-foot meat creature with a foot long dong, and assorted other absurd characters. It's a blast. If you read the first one, even better. I'm sure. I'll know better next time.
Kind of dumb, I grabbed this at the bookstore when it came out because I love Christopher Moore but didn't realize it was the second book in a series. So while there are many hilarious moments in this book, there is also a lot of convoluted backstory that would have been much easier to follow had I read A Dirty Job.
Even so, I quite enjoyed it. No one can do paranormal comedy like Moore. His humor tends to be character based (snarky females are a forte) and through the juxtaposition of the supernatural with the mundane (a banshee with a taser). In a word: camp.
The plot involves some eating of souls, reincarnated baddies, demon dogs, a 14" tall alligator-headed duck-foot meat creature with a foot long dong, and assorted other absurd characters. It's a blast. If you read the first one, even better. I'm sure. I'll know better next time.
June 30, 2015
The follow-up to Moore's A Dirty Job - possibly my favorite of all his books - is even wilder and wackier than that book. So many twists! Only in Christopher Moore land could such things happen. And of course it is all delivered with a singular sense of humor. Moore may have equaled A Dirty Job with this book, no easy task.
Also, a fun fact about this book: the advance copy I have, and one would assume the finished copy due out in about 8 weeks, glows in the dark! The combination of the white bits glowing in conjunction with the mostly hot pink cover creates the effect of a dull red glow - practically making the book appear to be a "soul vessel" just like in the book!
Also, a fun fact about this book: the advance copy I have, and one would assume the finished copy due out in about 8 weeks, glows in the dark! The combination of the white bits glowing in conjunction with the mostly hot pink cover creates the effect of a dull red glow - practically making the book appear to be a "soul vessel" just like in the book!
September 7, 2015
It's not just the genius with which Moore creates his strikingly unique characters and imbues them with distinct speech, or the brilliance of how he builds the symphony of increasingly outrageous events to a crescendo, it's...well, it's every one of those things and much more.
Constructing readable prose is hard. Constructing prose that surprises with hidden meaning and marvelous metaphors takes a master. Christopher Moore never falls to the pedestrian usage of a phrase. He raises it a notch, then another, until his writing constantly delights.
Secondhand Souls lays the Charlie Asher story to rest in a most satisfying way. Read it if you like funny, zany, twistedly wicked humor.
Constructing readable prose is hard. Constructing prose that surprises with hidden meaning and marvelous metaphors takes a master. Christopher Moore never falls to the pedestrian usage of a phrase. He raises it a notch, then another, until his writing constantly delights.
Secondhand Souls lays the Charlie Asher story to rest in a most satisfying way. Read it if you like funny, zany, twistedly wicked humor.
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