This was my second Christopher Moore adventure via audiobook (the first being Sacre Bleu), and for the most part I was pleased. The things I loved about the other Moore book were all here – witty banter, random deep thoughts, gratuitous vulgarities. But then again, there were parts that I was not in love with.
Our main character is Charlie Asher, the Beta Male proprietor of Asher’s Second Hand, a second-hand shop in San Francisco. But that is not his only job. Shortly after the opening of the book, after his wife tragically dies after giving birth to their daughter Sophie (did I mention this book was about death?), Charlie gains a second job, one he didn’t apply for. He is now a Death Merchant, with the ability to see souls in inanimate objects, retrieve them, and pass them off to their next residency.
So far, so good. The cast of characters in this tale are quirky and fabulous. We have Lily, the young Goth employee of Charlie’s who is totally bummed that a lame guy like Charlie is a Death Merchant. Ray, Charlie’s other employee, is a retired cop who seems to be looking for love in all the wrong places. Mr. Fresh, a fellow Death Merchant with an interesting sense of style. Charlie’s adorable daughter Sophie, who has some interesting pets and habits. (I could list all of the characters, but that would get excessive. Just know that they are awesome.) Even the villains are kind of fabulous (even though we don’t really see the Big Bad all that often). Everyone is cool, and things are making sense, until a squirrel in a ball gown. Then Moore started losing me.
Things were fine and made sense to me – Death Merchants, check; hellhounds as pets – check; sewer harpies – check. Even if it had just been the one squirrel in a ball gown randomly scampering about, that would have been fine – we are set in San Francisco, after all! But no, the plot took an unexpected turn, and things got weird…er. I don’t know why, but there was something about that plot line that didn’t sit well with me. It didn’t mesh with the rest of the story, in my opinion. That story line was fine on its own, but somehow it felt a little off, like maybe Moore had this bit of plot hanging around and wanted to put it somewhere and decided that this place was as good as any. Or maybe it wasn’t strong enough to have its own book, so he added it to this one. It’s fully ingrained in the main plot, don’t get me wrong, but well…
And maybe it was an effect of the audiobook, but the ending seemed a bit abrupt to me. I was more than halfway through the last disc, and we were nowhere near any resolutions.
Be that as it may, I thoroughly enjoyed the first ¾ of the book. The characters were engaging, the dialogue entertaining, and the “deep thought” sections intriguing. And who knows, maybe next time you’re drawn to a particular object in a second-hand store, perhaps you should get it. You never know what might happen.
