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The Stupidest Angel

By Christopher Moore

     "Christopher Moore is a very sick man, in the very best sense of that word," says noted author Carl Hiaasen on the back cover of The Stupidest Angel. This was a Christmas gift to me from my oldest son, who bought the book for me based on that comment.

    The Stupidest Angel takes place in Pine Cove, CA. These are indeed the wackiest characters I have encountered in ages. It all begins with Lena Marques, who is working the Salvation Army buckets in the parking lot of the local supermarket, getting into a confrontation with a real-estate developer when he refuses to make a deposit in the bucket. From there there is no stopping them. Everybody is soon involved, and before you can say "Merry Christmas," Santa Claus is being beaten with a shovel out in the woods at the edge of town, and a very weird stranger (whose constant companion is a fruit bat that used to talk but has lost his verbal abilities) helps her bury the body. The only problem is that a little boy witnesses the whole thing, and he doesn't know quite what to do, as he has just left his best friend, a Jewish boy, who insists that Santa Claus isn't real, anyway.

     Enter the angel, whose only instructions upon being sent back to earth were that he was to perform a miracle on Christmas eve for a child. What child does he encounter and decide to help? None other than the witness to the murder! When he goes to the cemetery, after deciding to try out his "super powers" to resurrect Santa, he sort of overdoes it, and the whole cemetery rises to the occasion, and the local celebration is invaded by the dead, who decide to take matters into their own hands to revenge their deaths on those who caused them. The only problem is, how do you kill a dead man?

     If you want the joys of the holidays to last just a little bit longer, this one is sure to do it. You will be falling off your chair laughing. It does come with this warning by the author, "If you're buying this book as a gift for your grandma or a kid, you should be aware that it contains cusswords as well as tasteful depictions of cannibalism and people in their forties having sex. Don't blame me. I told you."

    Well worth the effort, even after the season.

The Book

William Morrow
2004
Hard cover
0060590254
Mystery/Humor
More at Amazon.com 

Excerpt

NOTE: Some intense language, as well as a bit of violence

The Reviewer

Janet Elaine Smith
Reviewed 2005
NOTE: Janet Elaine Smith is the author of 12 published novels, as well as a well-known magazine writer of over 25 years. Her next Patrick and Grace Mystery, Old Habits Die Hard, should be out this spring.
© 2005 MyShelf.com