A Dirty Job - Christopher Moore

I love Christopher Moore. My favourite book of his that I've read (I've still got three to go) is Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. While A Dirty Job doesn't rate that high (third on the Moore oeuvre if you must know - behind The Stupidest Angel), it is still damn good.

If you like Terry Pratchett, you'll like Chris Moore.

A Dirty Job is a story about Charlie Asher, Beta Male. Charlie's life changes for the twisted when his daughter is born. That same night his wife dies and Charlie becomes a Death Merchant.

Not Death, you understand. Charlie likes to use the Salvation Army Santas as part of his analogy. He's like a Santa's helper. But for Death.

The cast of characters include his daughter Sophie, her two hellhounds - Mohammed and Alvin - his sister Jane, his staff Ray and Lily, and his tenants Mrs Korjev and Mrs Ling.

"Don't fuck with me Asher. If you keep talking like that I'll get another piercing, take X until I'm dehydrated like a mummy, talk on my cell phone until the battery is dead, then find some skinny, pale guy and suck him until he cries."

"So, it will be like a Friday?"

Six years down the track and he's come to grips with his second "job". But Death is a very temperamental thing and suddenly, things seem to be taking a turn for the worse. Not just for him, but for San Francisco. And it seems Charlie is smack-bang in the middle of the whole mess.

I would have liked to have seen more Sophie in the book. One of the funniest bits was when she was staying at Jane's place and Cassie (Jane's partner) wouldn't let her take the dogs into the bath. She declared that Cassie was an "anti-Semite sympathiser" and that "you can't trust the goyim". Her response when Charlie pointed out he was a goyim? "Oh my God, they're everywhere, like pod people!" She's six.

If you do choose to read Moore's books, when you read the ones set in Pine Cove, it may be an idea to read them in order. I didn't, and it didn't totally spoil it for me, but knowing how some things are going to end up, reduced some of the humour for me. Overall though, I highly recommend Moore's books.

Crossposted here