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highly recommended |
The town psychiatrist has decided to switch everybody in Pine Cove, California, from their normal antidepressants to placebos, so naturally -- well, to be accurate, artificially -- business is booming at the local blues bar. Trouble is, those lonely slide-guitar notes have also attracted a colossal sea beast named Steve with, shall we say, a thing for explosive oil tanker trucks. Suddenly, morose Pine Cove turns libidinous and is hit by a mysterious crime wave, and a beleaguered constable has to fight off his own gonzo appetites to find out what's wrong and what, if anything, to do about it.
Steve! 
Moore's 5th novel takes us back to the town and surrounding area where his career kicked off, Pine Cove. A few of the main characters from Practical Demonkeeping return but the main stars of this one are fresh, eccentric and very enjoyable to read about. A stand alone novel, not a sequel to his first novel, reading this book before that one won't spoil anything!
It's the off season tourist wise in Pine Cove but a leaking pipe from a Californian Power Plant attracts a tourist even bigger than your normal American human one. When a fuel truck gets angry with him he must take refuge in trailer park to recover and wonder why she couldn't just have told him no! Meanwhile a psychiatrist decides to switch all her patients' drugs with placebos resulting in hilarious consequences for the town but great business for the Slug (town bar). The town rent a cop is addicted to pot. A former B grade movie star existing as a crazy woman is getting attached to her new neighbour in more ways than one. Throw in a nerdy guy obsessed with finding out why his microchiped rats fled town and the whole town suddenly getting their libido back and you've got one hilarious tale. You've got to get all of his books!
If you like the surreal eccentric character comedy novels also check out the authors Bill Fitzhugh (Pest Control's a great place to start), Carl Hiassen (Stormy Weather's as good as any other), Dave Barry (Tricky Business) and Max Barry (Syrup).
Christopher Moore
The author hasn't written a bad book yet. Completely amusing and the characters are well developed as normal everyday people. Very relatable. If a regular person ended up in the situations the characters do, they would react the same. Lust Lizard is one of my favorites.
You did WHAT with the weedwhacker? 
Madness... this novel is complete and total madness from beginning to end. Returning once again to Pine Cove we can only call this a sequel to "Practical Demonkeeping" in that it takes place in Pine Cove several years after Catch has been taken care of. The Demon is referenced once and several of the town's folk are back, specifically Mavis, owner of the "Head of the Slug" tavern, Jenny - Still working as a waitress, and HP, who is still recovering from Pine Cove's last battle with the bizarre.
Theo is the town constable of Pine Cove and boy does he have a rough week ahead of him. Starting with a suicide and ending with a random sea beast named Steve terrorizing and consuming the weaker minded people of Pine Cove, as Theo says - I didn't get training for this. The maddening series of events that drives this novel to its completely insane and fun filled ending includes the town shrink replacing everyone's meds with placebos, a mad biologist studying rats and chasing them all over town, A washed up and completely insane B-Movie queen tearing about town wielding a sword and wearing only her barbarian bikini, Theo's boss - The sheriff who has a few secrets of his own and Catfish - a blues singer who has seen Steve the Sea Beast before.
Moore manages to hit a level of comedic insanity in this book, without ever losing control of it, which is amazing in itself. As always his characters are strange, wacky, and entirely loveable. The plot, though insane, is always fun, and his dialogue is spot on. All Moore fans have their favorite book, this is rarely listed, the reason being that many of his others (Bloodsucking Fiends, Biff, and Dirty Jobs) have much stronger plotlines while retaining the completely mad characters that everyone falls in love with. This is stronger than his first novel "Practical Demonkeeping" but not as strong as some of his others. If you are an avid Moore fan, I would suggest reading this after Demonkeeping, if you have never read Moore before, I would suggest starting with either "Bloodsucking Fiends" or "The Gospel According to Biff." Still I highly recommend this to Moore fans, it's a fun ride and you will find yourself giggling throughout.
Parent note - Moore's books are NOT okay for kids. There is foul language, bizarre sex scenes, and often a few gross death scenes.
Move over Saphira, here comes Steve!
I love dragons. Christopher Paolini's Saphira is one of my favorite of the modern day variety. Now Steve has become my second favorite.
I am currently working my way through Christopher Moore's books after a friend of mine called him to my attention. I started with "A Dirty Job" (about death), just finished "Lust Lizard", and am currently reading my annual Christmas book, "The Stupidest Angel."
All I can say about Christopher Moore is he's funny. Laugh out loud funny. And to me, reading is a real pleasure. So any time I can combine a good book with good belly laughs, what's not to like?
Let's see, you have picturesque Pine Cove, California, the Head of the Slug saloon, a melancholy blues man from the Mississippi Delta, a colossal sea beast drawn to the sound of the slide guitar, a gonzo policeman with a cannabis habit, Molly Michon (the resident crazy lady who used to be Kendra Warrior Babe of the Outland), and a psychiatrist dispensing antidepressants like they were tic-tacs. In other words, your typical Christopher Moore book.
Chris's characters are loony and loveable and he has the knack of taking something really fantastic and over the top and making it seem real. That is an amazing gift. Do yourself the favor of giving yourself one of Moore's books as a gift. You won't be sorry.
fun silly summer read 
This was a fun, silly summer read. Some good lines and imagery. Not quite as fun as some of his other books.
reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
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VHS: Caught (1996)
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based on 108 reviews
