Christopher Moore has done it again. He has managed to create a scenario designed to take the best of things and warp them mercilessly. In this case, he manages to dismember and trash small-town America, B-movie goddesses, miracles from angels and even Santa Claus. Is nothing sacred? Well, in Moore's world, no.

In The Stupidest Angel, he returns to little Pine Cove, CA, locale for the incredibly funny Practical Demonkeeping, and managed to create some new hijinks for the town to make it through. This time, however, instead of a small portion of the population, everyone gets to have a good time at the hands of an wayward miracle.

You see, a kid named Josh was walking around when he saw Santa Claus get whacked. Dead Santa means no presents, and no presents means ... well, a pretty crummy Xmas, really. So Josh sets it upon himself to pray for a miracle and have Santa come back from the dead. Unfortunately for all of those involved, the angel set to deliver said miracle is none other than Raziel, the soap-watching, ADD-riddled cherub from Lamb. Given his chance to perform his first Christmas miracle (he's rather more fond of smiting, if truth be told), he sets forth to bring forth holiness. However, a distraction involving a candy bar results in him not QUITE bringing Santa back the way he expected - and I'm pretty sure that Santa isn't supposed to have a legion of brain-eating zombies leading that sled of his.

Meanwhile, the rest of the residents of Pine Cove are just trying to make it through another Christmas. Sheriff Thoephilius Crowe is dealing with the normal duties of being head of small-town policing, all the while fending off the attacks of his sword-wielding wife Molly Minchon, AKA Kendra, Warrior Babe of the Outland, who has neglected her meds to buy hubby a really nice gift. But Molly sans medication is a strange creature whose grasp of reality is skewed, to say the least. And ironically enough, the sheriff has been neglecting some duties as well to get his wife something she'll never forget, something that threatens to shoot him in the foot when FBI pilot Tucker Case shows up (fresh off his adventures in Island of a Sequined Love Nun), trying to woo the lovable but not-so-swift-with-men Lena Marquez. Unfortunately for Tucker, getting to know Lena has some rather sticky strings attached to it - and once again he finds himself staying one step ahead of the law.

Everyone seems to be able to get involved when it all comes to a head on Christmas Eve, with rampaging zombies attacking the townsfolk and threatening to make them all regret that Santa ever came to town.

[ • umm brains ... can i have CRANBERRIES WITH THAT? • ]
Christopher Moore has once again returned to fabled Pine Cove to wreak havoc with the residents there, this time importing characters from some of his other novels to help out with the mayhem. It's kind of like a Kevin Smith "Silent Bob" movie on paper, but with out the ... well, it's almost exactly like that, actually. In addition to Tucker Case, we get to revisit other old hands from previous novels, such as a return visit from Robert and Jenny Masterson, as well as Mavis Sand, bartender to the town from Demonkeeping and Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove. In some ways, it seems that Moore is closing the door on these characters, ready to move on to a new set of hilarious anti-heros, malcontents and supernatural trouble-makers.

Molly is hysterical with her alter-ego, and much of the dialog and wacky intrigue is pretty amusing. As a whole, the book itself has a great premise and some shining moments, along with the usual odd tone and even more odd happenings. My favorites involve Gabe Fenton's dog Skinner, who manages to be hilarious in every scene he's in (I think that Morrison just might have been a Black Lab in a prior life). In this scene, Gabe has been experimenting with shock therapy on rats to make them lose the sexual impulse - his response to his wife leaving him. Theo has shown up to find a lot of dead rats lying in the aftermath of the experiment, but Skinner is excited at the prospects:

Skinner was worried about the Food Guy [Gabe], and he was hoping that maybe Emergency Backup Food Guy [Theo] might give him one of the tasty-smelling white squirrels in the cages on the table, now that it appeared that the Food Guy was finished cooking them. This teasing was as bad as when the kid at the beach used to pretend to thrown the ball, then not throw the ball. Then pretend to throw the ball, but not throw the ball. Skinner HAD to knock the kid down and sit on his face. Boy had he been bad-dogged for that. Nothing hurt like being bad-dogged, but if the Food Guy kept teasing him with the white squirrels, Skinner knew that he was going to have to knock him down and sit on his face, maybe even poop on his shoe. Oh no, I am a bad, bad dog. No, wait, the Emergency Backup Food Guy was scratching his ears. Oh, that felt good. He was fine. Doggie Xanax. Never mind.

The sheer absurdity of the some of the plot twists are what make this amusing - the dead hanging out for 40 years or so, commenting (and lambasting) the living; Archangel Raziel's penchant for Snickers bars, The Narrator in Molly's head, not to mention Roberto the Fruit Bat making an encore performance. The tale takes warped turn after weird twist, ending in a George Romero-meets-Ed Wood finale.

[ • mommy, why is SANTA EATING FLUFFY? • ]
Moore's talents extend beyond the writing to some interesting accessories to the story. The chapter titles themselves are often hilarious, such as Chapter 6: Be of Good Cheer; They Might Have Put a Tree Up Your Bum and Chapter 11: A Slug Trail of Good Cheer, as well as Doc and I's favorite - Your Puny Worm God Weapons are Useless Against My Superior Christmas Kung Fu. Add to that a chapter that has flashback family portraits of the characters, and one whose entirety is "...and so that sucked.", and you get a clue to how More thinks.

But there is something missing, like a joke that's been a little too forced. While the moments are often very funny, there are periods that you can almost hear the laugh-track telling you its time to laugh. I felt this way about Fluke, too, although this is definitely better than that. And it isn't to say that it isn't a funny, well-written book. I'd still take this over 99% of the similar novels out there, and probably read it twice. But it's just not Lamb, which I admit is a lot to live up to.

[ • behold, I come with good tidings and ... OOOH, A SNICKERS... • ]
After finishing The Stupidest Angel, I found myself wanting more, so I grabbed two of his other novels immediately. Both were more what I expected from Moore, although I have to say that I enjoyed this one, as well. It's not my favorite, but it's still an amusing story - moreso if you already have read his others and know the characters. But it almost seems like a conclusion, a final visit to a place where he's overstayed his welcome, a kind of Merry Christmas to All, and to All a Good Night ... and Good Riddance cheer. Maybe he's had his fill of Pine Cove and has something new under his sleeve. Or maybe he's decided to become the next Dr. Phil and write self-help books for Fruit Bats and the People Who Love Them. Who knows ... but I'll be waiting, 'cause the beach is calling and I need a good laugh.

[ • other CHRISTOPHER MOORE • ] (in order of preference)
Lamb »
Jesus and his best friend Biff as teenagers. Absolutely hysterical.
Practical Demonkeeping »
A man and his demon visit a small town in California, looking for some peace and a small struggle for the future of all mankind.
Island of the Sequined Love Nun »
A hopeless geek trapped in a cool guy's body goes on a journey of self-discovery, and finds cannibals, talking bats and a Sky Priestess along the way.
Blood Sucking Fiends » review forthcoming
Jody never asked to become a vampire. But since she is one now, she teams up with a Tommy the Grocery Clerk to discover what this neck-biting business is all about.
Fluke »
Nate Quinn runs into a whale with attitude and a penchant for pastrami on rye - and then things get bizarre.

Recommended: Yes