This was better than the last few Christopher Moore books we’ve listened to. In this book, we meet Tucker Case, who also appears in Moore’s later book, The Stupidest Angel. Tucker gets himself in a bit of trouble when he takes a drunken joyride in one of his employers jets with a beautiful lady. About $2 million in damages later, Tucker’s lost his pilot’s license. When he’s approached by some supposed missionaries wanting to hire him to pilot their jet back and forth from their Micronesian island and Japan, it’s an offer he can’t refuse (at least, not if he wants to fly again). Unfortunately, when Tuck gets to the island, it doesn’t take long for him to realize that everything isn’t as it seems. People are getting hurt in the name of cash, and Tuck can’t be a part of it. He really has to step outside of himself and take on some major challenges to save these innocent island people. Tuck isn’t a particularly likable character at first (really, he’s a screw-up), but by the end of the book he’s grown into someone who can be proud of himself. Even if he did steal a 747. ( )

The story of Tucker Case, washed up pilot with a weakness for drinking and women, the Sky Priestess, the Sorcerer, and Vincent, a dead American bomber pilot. The front half of the book was slow to the point of tedious, but once the story took hold it became a page turner. Written with the typical Moore wit, this is a good vacation book or book for true Moore fans. If you can only read one Moore book, don't make it this one. ( )

I picked this up because I liked Lamb and heard his other books were really funny. But this one wasn't. I felt like I'm reading a story formed from elements drawn from a hat. The characters were merely walking personality traits without actual personalities, and the plot was contrived beyond the point of amusing silliness. The story appeared to have been written with the belief that random automatically equals funny. It doesn't. ( )

Tucker Case, who becomes the ex-pilot for Mary Jean cosmetics after a late-night sex romp in the cock pit of one of her pink, corporate jets that he was piloting and crashed, ends up with a too-good-to-be-true job flying for a missionary doctor on the beautiful island of Alualu. The natives are cargo cult worshipers--Vincent, a pilot from WWII landed on their island while fighting the Japanese many years ago and is long since dead, but they believe he was and is their God, and the painting of the half naked Sky Priestess on the nose of his B-26 Bomber mysteriously becomes flesh and blood and acts as go-between for Vincent and the native islanders or so they are led to believe. It takes Tucker a while to figure out just what it is he is piloting for the doctor and The Sky Priestess, but once he does, he is determined to save the naive islanders and ultimately saves himself too.

Lots of humor and many twists and turns, this was a fun story and a quick read. ( )

Not as good as Lamb and A Dirty Job, but right up there with Fluke. Christopher Moore is just a twisted, funny guy. ( )