4.75 Hoots

Charlie Asher was your average beta male (his words) who lucked out and was having a great average life. He owns his own business, has a beautiful wife, and they just had a baby girl! All good things…until people start to die around him. I mean that shouldn’t be surprising for someone once they join the ranks of being “death” but Charlie didn’t get that memo.

A Dirty Job follows Charlie around getting used to being a death merchant and trying to stop forces of evil trying to destroy the world. It kind of sounds epic, but there were a lot of missteps. Poor Charlie was a hot mess. For example, when his daughter was born he kept counting 21 fingers and toes (she had 20) annnnd he was convinced that he saw a tail in the ultrasound and wanted the hospital to give it back! Yes he was an anxious and funny man. I laughed out loud more times than I could count. This book had a lot of one liners!

So like I said Charlie is “death”, but he is just one of several death merchants. His job is to collect soul vessels and then help them to find their next human. But it gets a little complicated when the sewer harpies are trying to also get the soul vessels so that they can gain power and rule the world. Let’s just say the was a lot of drama and an evil back alley handjob (told you this book is not for the faint of heart). Oh and when his daughter points at someone and says the word “kitty” the person drops dead. Fun stuff! Oh oh oh and there was the zombie squirrel creature army but they appear later on. When I tell you there is lots of craziness going on, just trust me 🙂

Overall, this book was incredibly fun. It was a lot different than the normal books I read but I really enjoyed it. There was quite a bit of dirty humor, dark humor, and plenty of cursing (again not my usual read) but it all kind of just worked. Add to that this world where souls can transfer to a coat or a cd and well, you have a very interesting world. Moore slowly revealed the rules of his world and with every revelation I just wanted more! Who decides who becomes a death merchant? Who sent the hell hounds? Who/what is the Luminatus? And why the word “Kitty”? Did all of these questions get answered? No but that is okay because the important questions were actually answered. Another wonderful aspect of the book is how real the characters feel! Each character is so unique brought their own magic to the book…Lily is by far my favorite. She really growths through the years….yes years are covered in this book but it is executed perfectly.

If you are looking for a comedy with a bit of a darker edge this is the book for you! and as a bonus, there is a sequel to this book! Which makes me happy because I kind of need a little more of Charlie and Lily. Full disclosure I was (and still am) a huge fan of the show Dead Like Me so I do have a special spot in my heard for quirky grim reaper like characters. So if you are looking for a dark comedy and cursing/ off color language doesn’t bother you check this book out!