Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Review: Secondhand Souls by Christopher Moore

Christopher Moore is pretty much crazy and unrepentant. Forget being a fly on the wall, I'd love to spend the day inhabiting his brain because I don't think there's ever a boring minute in it. I first started reading Moore's novels many years ago now when my book club was looking for a non-sentimental Christmas read (hello The Stupidest Angel). Intrigued by his wonderfully warped view on things, we later moved on to his hilariously irreverent novel Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. I've since moved so I have no idea if that book club continues to periodically visit the weird that is Moore's creative output, but I do. Secondhand Souls, the sequel to A Dirty Job, is his latest entry into the wacky and bizarre world he has conjured up and it is as quirky, funny, and insane as I've come to expect from Moore.

At the end of A Dirty Job, the world was saved (if you haven't read it and think this is a spoiler, get your knickers out of a twist and get over yourself) but that doesn't mean it had to stay that way. The cast of characters from the first novel notices that things seem to be heading a little (a lot) off kilter again. And when a banshee comes to warn them of the impending doom coming their way, a doom unlike that which they've seen before, they will have to come together to fight the forces of darkness again. This time there are ghosts congregating at the Golden Gate Bridge, the meat puppets have something slightly sinister going on amongst themselves, the remaining Death Merchants are so far behind on their soul collections they'll never catch up, and the Morrigan have a smooth talking, dangerous supernatural companion on their side.  How Charlie, Sophie, Minty Fresh, Inspector Rivera, Lily, and Audrey will face all of this makes for a completely madcap read.

As downright zany and convoluted as this sounds (and it is), Moore is a master at weaving his strange plot threads together to form a coherent and entertaining story. There is humor here as well as chaos and hijinks. The story and some of the situations are twisted (encouraging a person to commit suicide for the greater good?!) but everything works so well in the service of the story that even the questionable is forgiven. As a sequel, this is best read after A Dirty Job, otherwise some of the characters and their current situations take some adjusting to but for people who already appreciate Moore's offbeat mythology, this is a welcome addition to his canon. Even though there's absolutely nothing about a Moore novel that fits into my regular reading preferences (no to fantasy, no to paranormal, and a huge no to Death), they are like crack; once you've read one, you can't wait for the next hit and I appreciated Secondhand Souls for the rollicking and fast ride it was.

For more information about Christopher Moore, take a look at his web page, like him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter. Check out the book's Good Reads page, follow the rest of the blog tour, or look at the amazon reviews for others' thoughts and opinions on the book.

Thanks to Trish from TLC Book Tours and the publisher for sending me a copy of this book to review.

1 comment:

  1. I haven't read Moore before but I've heard such amazing things about his creativity and irreverence. Which book would you recommend starting with?

    Thanks for being part of the tour!

    ReplyDelete

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