Editorial Review
Charlie Asher is a pretty normal guy. A little hapless, somewhat neurotic, sort of a hypochondriac. He's what's known as a Beta Male: the kind of fellow who makes his way through life by being careful and constant -- you know, the one who's always there to pick up the pieces when the girl gets dumped by the bigger/taller/stronger Alpha Male.
But Charlie's been lucky. He owns a building in the heart of San Francisco, and runs a secondhand store with the help of a couple of loyal, if marginally insane, employees. He's married to a bright and pretty woman who actually loves him for his normalcy. And she, Rachel, is about to have their first child.
Yes, Charlie's doing okay for a Beta. That is, until the day his daughter, Sophie, is born. Just as Charlie -- exhausted from the birth -- turns to go home, he sees a strange man in mint-green golf wear at Rachel's hospital bedside, a man who claims that no one should be able to see him. But see him Charlie does, and from here on out, things get really weird. . . .
People start dropping dead around him, giant ravens perch on his building, and it seems that everywhere he goes, a dark presence whispers to him from under the streets. Strange names start appearing on his nightstand notepad, and before he knows it, those people end up dead, too. Yup, it seems that Charlie Asher has been recruited for a new job, an unpleasant but utterly necessary one: Death. It's a dirty job. But hey, somebody's gotta do it.
Christopher Moore, the man whose Lamb served up Jesus' "missing years" (with the funny parts left in), and whose Fluke found the deep humor in whale researchers' lives, now shines his comic light on the undiscovered country we all eventually explore -- death and dying -- and the results are hilarious, heartwarming, and a hell of a lot of fun.
Cached date: AWS Called=true
Customer Reviews
His Best Work Ever! 
2008-09-17
I love Christopher Moore and have read everything he's ever written, but this one tops my list. If you have a dark sense of humor, this is classic Mr. Moore in all the best ways!
Try Moore if you haven't...you will either love or hate him 
2008-08-07
I will spare you the plot summary, as you can read excellent ones in other reviews, much better than I could deliver.
This was my 3rd Christopher Moore book, and I have really enjoyed them all. His books are light, extremely funny, and completely off-the-wall, but still have some more serious underlying themes; in this case dealing with death. The characters, (in this book Charlie) are likable, flawed, and real, even in the most over-the-top situations. In A Dirty Job, Moore brings humanism to 14 inch tall, Frankenstein-esq creatures put together with various rodent parts and dressed in period costumes; that about says it all. One way this book made me laugh over and over is through the dialog. Moore uses ominous descriptions and sets up frightening scenes with massive, dark creatures, but when they talk, they sound just as normal and flawed as anyone else (and say some classic lines). Excuse the clumsy description, you need to read the book to know what I mean.
The Moore books I've read so far have all included what I call the 'beer commercial' effect, where the extremely average, flawed, male protagonist attracts hot women who's personalities are not nearly as well developed; just like in beer commercials where the guys are average and the women are all extremely attractive. Not sure how women react to this, but as a guy, I enjoy the male perspective.
My only criticism, and this is the first Moore book where I've noticed it, is a couple plugs about current politics. He did it twice in A Dirty Job, and in both cases the comments seemed forced, almost as if Moore is pandering to someone or trying to show his peers that he is on their bandwagon. I could have certainly done without the comments, and I think they will also date this book pretty quickly.
In any case, this review is more of an overall recommendation to try Moore's work. If you like wacky romps that make you laugh, these books are, in my opinion, a fresh approach from the tired, used up wacky Florida detective stories that everyone seems to have ripped off from Hiassen in the past decade.
BTW - To those of you that like Moore, send him an e-mail. I did, and he responded within a day...very cool.
Fun Book - Like Bear! 2008-07-07
What are the guys that aren't Alpha Males? Why they are Beta Males of course! Charlie Asher is the quintessential Beta Male... amazed and terrified by women, passive aggressive, and perpetually panicking over his hyperactive imagination. Poor Charlie loses his wife during childbirth and is left a single dad to raise Sophie. Unfortunately for Charlie, he also acquired a new profession as his wife passed away. Charlie has become death, no not the death with the big D, more like the Santa's Elves of Death... he, along with a few other San Francisco residents collect soul vessels after people pass on and get them to their proper places. But poor Charlie doesn't get it... and to make matters worse he has quite the assortment of odd neighbors, employees, family, and random passersby to make his quest even more difficult. And if he doesn't succeed? Well then the Sewer Harpies will come out and plunge the world in Darkness.
Much like Moore's other books, the greatest amount of humor comes from the supporting cast. Lilly, the of kilter goth girl who works for Charlie (you may recognize her from You Suck - She is Abby's best friend) Ray, who is Charlie's other employee at the antique shop, another Beta Male who is always looking for love on foreign bride sites. Then you have the foreign neighbors Ms. Korjev and Ms. Ling who help to raise Sophie while Charlie is trying to figure the Death thing out. And of course with this being in San Francisco you have the Emperor and his two sidekicks as well as a minor unidentified appearance from Jody (from Bloodsucking Fiends).
I found this book to be both hilarious and sweet. Charlie as a single dad is touching... panicking over everything that could happen to his new infant daughter, while having to deal with the loss of his wife and a new found concept of death. One can only assume (not only from the content of the book, but also from the acknowledgements) that this book was written after a painful loss on the part of the author. There is a little more soul searching than one is used to in a Moore book, but that doesn't keep the laughs from coming. I actually found the slightly more serious aspect to be refreshing and a great counterbalance to the humor that Moore is so famous for. By far my favorite characters are the two foreign neighbors, the scene with the dead hamsters is one of the funniest things I've read in a while, and the Hell Hounds were a wonderful addition... especially everyone's reactions to them.
True, many of the characters here are a bit stereotypical, but rather than detracting from the story, these stereotypes are molded into entirely new creations and made into characters that you can't help but to love. There is a plot here, and it is true that the ending is a bit weak, and not what the reader wants... but we don't read Moore for the plot, we read Moore for the wonderful people who inhabit his world. Because in the end, we all know someone just like them. I highly recommend this book, but would suggest reading it after "Bloodsucking Fiends" and "You Suck" because you will have a better appreciation for Rivera and the Emperor. That and since they all three take place in the same literary world, you might as well read them in order. Happy Reading!
Humorous & not what I expected 2008-05-08
Being that this was my first Christopher Moore book, I was not sure what to expect, but some friends whose opinions I highly value said they read it and enjoyed it, so I decided to give it a go.
This book left me very pleasantly surprised from the opening paragraphs to the conclusion. The characters are well developed, so you do care about what happens to them throughout the well done romp. The story itself is written in such a style that it suspends your disbelief well and immerses you in the covers.
If you are looking for something a little off the beaten path and have stumble upon this novel, I would highly recommend this! Happy reading!
Superb Supernatural San Francisco 2008-04-03
This is a great book! Moore revisits some of his previously-introduced characters and expands on them in wonderful ways. What I love is the vivid sense of place in Moore's writing; he gets San Francisco exactly right. I found myself laughing out loud many times while reading this book, was moved, and impressed by his cleverness. I think this is his best San Francisco-based book. A very satisfying read!
funny 2008-03-20
Charlie Asher is a pretty normal guy. A little hapless, somewhat neurotic, sort of a hypochondriac. He's what's known as a Beta Male: the kind of fellow who makes his way through life by being careful and constant -- you know, the one who's always there to pick up the pieces when the girl gets dumped by the bigger/taller/stronger Alpha Male.
But Charlie's been lucky. He owns a building in the heart of San Francisco, and runs a secondhand store with the help of a couple of loyal, if marginally insane, employees. He's married to a bright and pretty woman who actually loves him for his normalcy. And she, Rachel, is about to have their first child.
Yes, Charlie's doing okay for a Beta. That is, until the day his daughter, Sophie, is born. Just as Charlie -- exhausted from the birth -- turns to go home, he sees a strange man in mint-green golf wear at Rachel's hospital bedside, a man who claims that no one should be able to see him. But see him Charlie does, and from here on out, things get really weird. . . .
People start dropping dead around him, giant ravens perch on his building, and it seems that everywhere he goes, a dark presence whispers to him from under the streets. Strange names start appearing on his nightstand notepad, and before he knows it, those people end up dead, too. Yup, it seems that Charlie Asher has been recruited for a new job, an unpleasant but utterly necessary one: Death. It's a dirty job. But hey, somebody's gotta do it.
Christopher Moore, the man whose Lamb served up Jesus' "missing years" (with the funny parts left in), and whose Fluke found the deep humor in whale researchers' lives, now shines his comic light on the undiscovered country we all eventually explore -- death and dying -- and the results are hilarious, heartwarming, and a hell of a lot of fun.
The Harvester of Souls 2008-01-26
Christopher Moore has been called many things; the quips on the backs of his books highlight his comedic genius and inventive storylines. All of this praise is proved to be true in "A Dirty Job", a book about death and dying that is so laugh-out-loud funny that readers may question why so many fear death after all.
Charlie Asher was a very normal, seemingly happy-go-lucky guy - married to a woman out of his league, worried about what impending fatherhood would entail - when his whole world was quickly turned upside down. For his wife dies shortly after giving birth to their daughter, and Charlie is certain he saw an impossibly tall black man in her room at the time of her death that the security cameras did not pick up. Everyone around him assumes that Charlie is going off the deep end due to grief, but weird things continue to happen to Charlie, all of which are explained when he learns that he is death. Not "the" Death, but a death merchant, responsible for collecting the soul vessels of the recently dead, and placing them in his secondhand store for the right customer to come along.
Charlie takes to his job with relish, never feeling so alive as he has now that he is death, but life becomes even more complicated. His baby daughter suddenly gains the companionship of two enormous and mysterious hellhounds who never leave her side. Strange shadows and voices from the sewers begin to plague Charlie as he goes about his job. And he learns that right there in San Francisco, the forces of evil will rise and darkness will take over if he messes up at his job.
"A Dirty Job" is a wildly funny and inventive story, realistic in all of its lunacy, the required suspension of disbelief easily gained by readers who follow Charlie's exploits and mishaps as he comes to terms with life and death. Moore's writing is full of sarcastic wit, aptly using humor to explore and very dark and fearsome subject, making "A Dirty Job" a devilishly good read.
Fisher Stevens as narrator 2007-12-01
Fisher Stevens is such a great choice for the reader of this book. Just the right voice for the dry,dark humor of the novel.
Dirty Job, Great Read 2007-11-28
I saw the in-store promotions for Christopher Moore's novel, You Suck, so many times, that I decided that I would read one of his earlier works to gauge my interest in him.
The novel I chose, A Dirty Job, wasn't one that I would normally pick up, as it is, I suppose, a "horror" novel. But not like one that I have ever read. The book opens with the death of the main characters wife, shortly after she gives birth to their daughter, Sophie. But as the woman expires, Charlie Asher, the main character, sees a tall man, in a green suit, standing by her. The strange thing is that no one else saw the man, not the nurses, the security cameras, no one but Charlie. Soon, Charlie finds out that he is a Death Merchant. And since he saw him, Charlie is now a Death Merchant (and he gets a book: "The Great Big Book Of Death" to teach him the finer points). Death Merchants, and there are several in the San Francisco area, collect items from the recently departed. These items contain the souls of these people, which Charlie then sells, from his secondhand shop. But the people that buy them, only pick a specific item and only one. Thus, the soul of the departed gets transferred to a new, soulless person. But Sophie isn't exactly a normal little girl either. Every pet that Charlie purchases for her ends up dead. Very strange. And to this little macabre family, Moore adds some very nasty creatures of the Underworld, ones who will stop at nothing to rule the Earth.
This was an excellent novel. The writing had me laughing out loud. The way that Charlie handles his new daughter, his place as a Death Merchant, and the realization that he is the only thing standing between the Underworld and humanity had me in stitches. Also, Sophie's baby-sitters are great characters, one a Russian, the other Chinese. They add some real sparkle to the novel, and provide Sophie with some great catch phrases (you know, those impressionable children). The dialogue and the characters pulled me through the book. It is one of those books that I found hard to put down. If you have never read Christopher Moore, this is an excellent introduction. Now, I have another author that I have to follow. :-)
It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it 2007-11-24
This is my first Christopher Moore book and I loved it. A friend of mine from work was reading "You Suck" and I thought I'd check him out. I was soon hooked and am looking forward to reading more of his books.
The story:
Beta male Charlie runs a secondhand shop and he's just lost his wife just after she gave birth to thier daughter. Charlies swears there was a man in a mint green suit there in her recovery room, but no one else sees him. Charlie soon finds out he's got a new job and it is collecting souls before the Dark forces get them as well as protect his daughter and friends.
I really did enjoy this book.
