The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror

Skinner the dog knows his priorities. Life is good when you are a dog in Pine Cove (or a fruit bat for that matter), but if you are a human resident, Pine Cove is about to get weird again. Again?Theo and Molly are back, and deal with the latest Pine Cove disaster in their own individual ways (he sucking bong, she slinging steel). Use your imagination-I won't spoil it-but the laughs come so hard that Christopher Moore's novel, Lamb, should be served up to the Vatican as serious gospel (and why shouldn't it?).Moore just gets better and better. The Stupidest Angel is hands down the funniest book I have ever read (well, recently anyway). Just in time for Christmas, and with a cute little angel on the cover, many a grandma will feel her garters slipping as she works her way through this book (and grandpa will be saying, "look at the size of that some @#$%^, but grandpa will deny liking the book to keep grandma happy, hint, hint-well an old guy can dream can't he?). Really though, Moore includes a good disclaimer (Author's Warning) in order to prevent grandma any serious harm, so unless she really is interested in a Christmas book containing cusswords, cannibalism, and people in their forties having sex, she should be safe enough. Enough of grandma, feed this book to the kids. When's the movie coming out? C'mon Moore, get busy, get us another book now. NOW!

Christopher Moore has written a Christmas book like no other. Bringing characters from several of his past novels together in Pine Cove, CA, the site of his first hilarious book of terror, "Practical Demonkeeping," he tells a story that will have you rolling on the floor with laughter. When a child who's just seen "Santa" killed meets up with the angel Raziel, last seen in "Lamb," who's been selected to perform a most-important Christmas Eve task, a series of misunderstandings culminate in a hilarious, horrific send-up of your favorite so-bad-they're-good horror movies.Moore's twisted sense of humor shines in the odd pairings he cooks up -- the biologist Gabe and his dog, whose ruminations will have you laughing out loud; the pilot Tucker Case and the talking fruit bat he got as part of his divorce settlement; sheriff and former pot-head Theo Crowe and his wife, Molly Michon, the former scream queen who's gone off her meds and thinks she really is the warrior babe from her movies. The action starts on page one and doesn't let up until the final word on the last page. For devoted fans, this is a long-awaited delight. For those who've not yet experienced one of the Author Guy's hilarious terror trains, prepare to be hooked. There's always a surprise when you least expect it.

My first Moore book and a Christmas miracle story none-the-less. The first chapters of the book had me extremely annoyed - I had picked it up having read a review that read "Christopher Moore deserves acclaim on the Dave Barry/Christopher Buckley level, or even beyond that, for he's better than either of them."Moore couldn't accomplish as neat and clean a twist and tie-out for a thought or story in 200+ pages - while Barry performs such tasks with skill in single paragraphs. Moore is no Barry.Further annoyance came over the writing - which was hyper... frenetic - and the first chapter seemed especially plagued by the author dropping as many clever things as he could mash into the text - tripping over himself with obvious amusement at his own cleverness. And similes.This tone calmed down as the book progressed - and made it possible for me to get to the last page. And to actually - begrudgingly - end up liking a lot of Moore's style and especially his characters and their relationships to and with one another.No smoothies came out of my nose, and while some lines and ideas were smirk-worthy, there was nothing in this book of enough originality or sharp substance to get me howling uncontrollably...So, instead, I will say that it was a bright and cheery read - and some enjoyable characters such as Molly the Warrior Babe, Tucker Case and his sidekick Roberto the Fruit Bat - who may or may not speak English with a slightly Spanish accent.

3 stars??? Do they let people do that here?Seems like nobody ever gives anything but 1 or 5 anymore.But anyway...I'm a big fan of Christopher Moore. Whenever I get a new book of his, I have to be careful where I read it, because I never know when I'll laugh out loud and embarrass myself.Most people who can write a rollicking great tale cannot do a BIT of character development, and the reverse is also true. But Moore does both, and very well. He tells some of the wildest stories you've ever read, and the characters seem very real.Well, until now.In The Stupidest Angel, he resurrects a bunch of characters from almost every one of his earliers books. And whereas they were so beautifully brought to life in their first incarnations, they're now just cardboard-cutout standins. Brought in, unfolded, and stood in place, they have the semblance of their original selves, but they have no life, no anima. And they don't fit together. Many of them are just caricatures of their old selves. In their original books, they were organic pieces of an intricate jigsaw, fitting beuatifully into the worlds for which they were crafted. Now, they're just all jumbled into a story together.And somehow, because we remembered how much we loved them before, we're still supposed to love them? No. I'm really sorry. Really sorry. But I don't think I'm buying it.Other people loved the book, and good for them. I hope a lot of you will disagree with me on this, because I like to see Christopher Moore doing well. But I think a lot of people give him 5 stars here because of how much they liked his other stuff. They're giving Moore 5 stars, not his latest book. Here's a challenge. Do you love Chris Moore? Name two of his books you'd rank lower than this one.Now before you think I actually disliked this book (as I can sorta see you might, reading how much I've just trashed it), let me say this:Doggone it, this is an okay book until you remember what he's capable of! This is the first thing he ever did that was just okay. I actually think most people will read this, finish, and say, "That was pretty good."But they won't look at each other and share the big smile that usually comes from reading one of his books.The reason is unfortunate: he was pressured to write faster. Said so himself during his "Fluke" book tour. He's been asked to crank out one book a year.Man... I love the prospect of getting a new Chris Moore every year. But if it's a choice between getting a new one of THESE every year or one of the old ones every 18-24 months, let me just put in my vote now: Christopher Moore, your best is worth waiting for.Now, I think I'll go back and read Bloodsucking Fiends, a genuinely funny book.

I've been a big fan of Moore's work since "Coyote Blue." If "Lamb" is the first book of his you've picked up, you should know that while a wonderful read, it is a different kind of good from the rest of his body of work.For any self proclaimed Grinches out there, this book is a hoot. Moore pokes shameless fun at the weird things people do around Christmas, from aggressive Salvation Army bell ringers to Xmas Present Amnesty.At first, I was a bit put off by the returning cast of characters from previous books. Theo Crowe and his wife Molly Michon were in "The Lust Lizard of Meloncholy Cove," as were Theo's friend Gabe Fenton and his now ex, Valerie Riordan. The Mastersons and Mavis Sand were in "Lust Lizard" and "Practical Demonkeeping." Tucker Case and Roberto made it to Pine Cove from "Island of the Sequined Love Nun."While the characters are familiar, years have passed since the last time we saw them, and life has moved on. This book isn't a sequel, it's a deliciously funny tale in a familiar setting.Like all of Moore's books, relationships are at the center of the plot. No one wants to be lonely, not at Christmas, so just as quickly as people break up, they seek to pair off, if only through New Year's Day. Misunderstandings occur when Theo and Molly have their own O. Henry "Gift of the Magi" moment. Tucker Case, now divorced, is so desperate for compay he proceeds to successfully hit on a woman who has just defended herself to the death and doesn't know what to do with the corpse.Unfortunatly, the corpse is dressed like Santa, and one little boy who wittnessed the murder is about to be visited by an Angel here to grant him a Christmas wish.There are a lot of predictable places the story could go at that point. I thought I was braced for the right one. I won't give away the end, but I cheerfully admit I snorted strawberry-banana smoothie in shocked laughter. It took all my self control not to call people and read the last few chapters over the phone, just so someone would howl in laughter with me.But that would be cruel.Instead, I'm writng this reveiw, urging you to pick up this short, fast, fun read (only 275 pages on smallish paper). The buildup is fun, but where it goes is a laugh-out-loud, rib cracking good time. Believe me, this one is worth the price of a hardback.