I've read several other books by Moore including LAMB, FLUKE, and ISLAND OF THE SEQUINED LOVE NUN. I found all of these to be very amusing and over-the-top with some very unusual workings of Moore's mind. A DIRTY JOB was even more out there than the other novels I have read! The protagonist, Charlie Asher, is leading a pretty normal life, happily married and running a second-hand store in San Francisco. Then when his wife has a baby, she unexpectedly dies and Asher becomes the newest dealer of lost souls or a "Death Merchant." He must find the souls of the recently deceased which somehow get captured in their favorite inanimate objects and pass these souls on to others who for some reason don't already have one. When his wife dies, another death merchant is present named Minty Fresh who also sends Asher a book detailing (very sparsely) his new duties. His newborn daughter, Sophie, also is empowered and is able to kill animals by looking at them and saying "kitty." As the years go by, Asher finds that the underworld is trying to take over and he is attacked several times by what he calls "sewer sirens" who live underground and are also after lost souls. And then there is Lily, the goth girl who works in Asher's shop, and finally Audrey who is also trying to save souls by putting them in small reconstructed "squirrel people" made from animal skeletons and body parts. So will Asher be able to save the world and eliminate the forces of evil?
Like I said this was way over-the-top and a very "squirrelly" tale of the darker side of dying. Of course, it was filled with Moore's humor and a lot of lol moments. But for me, this one was just a little too much. Moore wrote a sequel to this called SECONDHAND SOULS that I will probably pass on. However, I'm sure I'll be reading some of his others that I have missed. I did find interesting that in the acknowledgements to the book, Moore says that the "squirrel people" were inspired by the artwork of Monique Motil who actually uses animal skeletons and parts to make works of art dressed in high fashion.
Like I said this was way over-the-top and a very "squirrelly" tale of the darker side of dying. Of course, it was filled with Moore's humor and a lot of lol moments. But for me, this one was just a little too much. Moore wrote a sequel to this called SECONDHAND SOULS that I will probably pass on. However, I'm sure I'll be reading some of his others that I have missed. I did find interesting that in the acknowledgements to the book, Moore says that the "squirrel people" were inspired by the artwork of Monique Motil who actually uses animal skeletons and parts to make works of art dressed in high fashion.
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