Product Description

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. 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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #119963 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-18
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

About the Author
Christopher Moore began writing at the age six and became the oldest known child prodigy when, in his early thirties, he published his first novel. Chris enjoys cheese crackers, acid jazz, and otter scrubbing and lives in an inaccessible island fortress in the Pacific.

Customer Reviews

Everyone needs a little Christopher Moore in his life!
If you’ve never read a Christopher Moore novel, you just won’t believe it--and that’s the point! His wacky plots, gonzo characters, ebullient sexuality, and off-the-wall humor will perk up even the most jaded appetite. This novel stars the Lust Lizard, a huge sea creature, awakened from the deep by a slow leak in a nuclear power plant and drawn to shore, where he gobbles up depressed and nasty people (and an oil tanker and a few cars) and has an affair with Molly, aka Kendra, a human female warrior from old B movies. A town full of people whose anti-psychotic drugs have been replaced by placebos, a druggist who is in love with a dolphin, a sheriff who is running a drug processing plant, a constable hooked on pot, a schlock artist in search of new subject matter, and a cult of salvation seekers all contribute to the hyperactive insanity of this plot. This is a no-holds-barred, let-it-all-hang-out free-for-all which gives a whole new meaning to "the willing suspension of disbelief." Mary Whipple

Good introduction for me, will read more Moore
This was my first Chris Moore, and I read it while travelling 3 airports and 2 planes, which is unusual for me. It was enjoyable and made me want to get through it.

Having finished it, I'm not sure it told me anything particularly enlightening about the human condition, but never mind. After reading other reviews here, I will definitely get another of his books and give it a go.

As someone else said, he's no Terry Pratchett, but then I find Pratchett isn't either these days. Moore is well worth the effort

Another terrific book from Christopher Moore
It was a difficult decision, do I read the book in one sitting or read it slowly and enjoy every chapter. The small town of Pine Cove has more than its share of interesting characters - Theo Crowe, the pot-smoking constable; Molly Michon, the town's crazy who was the star of B movies; Mavis Sand - the owner of the Head of the Slug Saloon; Catfish Jefferson, a Blues singer; Valerie Riordan, the town shrink who heavily medicates a good portion of the town's population; and Gabe Fenton, an animal bioloist. Add a sea monster named Steve who terrorizes the community, causing an outbreak of horniness among the residents, and you have a rollicking adventure.