The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror, Version 2.0

'Twas the night (okay, more like the week) before Christmas, and all through the tiny community of Pine Cove, California, people are busy buying, wrapping, packing, and generally getting into to holiday spirit. But not everybody is feeling the joy. Little Joshua Barker is in desperate need of a holiday miracle. No, he's not on his deathbed: no, his dog is hasn't run away from home. But Joshua is sure that he saw Santa take a shovel to the head, and now the seven-year-old boy has only one prayer: Please, Santa, come back from the dead.

Joshua's prayer is heard and Archangel Raziel's sacred mission of the Christmas Miracle is a misadventure that turns Pine Cove's Lonesome Christmas into deranged, zombie mayhem.

I laughed so hard I cried show more reading this one. I am new to Moore's zany world and I have to say..... I like it! Anyone who has ever lived in a tourist town can appreciate Christmas time in Pine Cove - besides, where else can you find a "Brine's Bait, Tackle, and Fine Wines" shop or a town with one lone lankly constable in charge, who tends to leave his Glock at home when on duty? The residents are a kooky lot, and well worth a visit during the holidays, and a great way to unwind from an otherwise stressful holiday season.

As per the author's warning at the start of the book: 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.

Adding Moore to my "must read" list. show less

I like some of Christopher Moore's works...but I have to be in the mood for them and don't always find them funny. Playful, silly and twisted and goofy... yes...and this one is no exception. Overall the bottom line here is whether or not you consider yourself a "zombie aficionado", The Stupidest Angel is a book worth your time. After all, how could you not enjoy a book that has a zombie Santa Claus doing battle with a domesticated fruitbat?

Raziel, the stupidest angel in heaven, is sent down to Pine Cove, California to perform a Christmas miracle. When a young boy sees “santa” die in an accident, Raziel gives the boy his wish and brings all of the bodies in the church graveyard back to life. Surely everyone living in town will be happy to see their lost loved ones, and the reanimated dead will be happy to eat their loved one’s brains. The only people who can save the day are a stoner cop, a love-sick pilot whose best friend is a bat, the ex-wife of the deceased “santa”, and a former camp sci-fi actress who has gone off her antipsychotic medication.

I had been meaning to get to this book for a long time, and I did wait too long. The jokes have not aged well in the show more two decades (lots of "we make fun of everyone so it's okay" misogyny, fatphobia, ablism, etc., with the r-word thrown in), but Moore’s witty writing is still apparent. It's an interesting concept - throwing a bunch of different characters from his different books together for a kind of "Christmas special", which still manages to stand on its own. I’m glad I read it eventually, though I won’t be returning to it, and I’m also glad I have newer, better Christopher Moore to read. show less

What a fun little book. I have previously read Moore's claim to fame (Lamb) but really fell in love with Fluke (one of the most memorable and fun books I've ever read). This one was also funny and zany, with a simple premise (dumb angel comes down to grant a Christmas wish to a child and, as a result of some unfortunate events, causes quite a bit of havoc). It would appear that this takes place in a universe he's already written about, with characters that have already been introduced elsewhere, but you don't have to have read those other books). I do feel like I could've spent a lot more time with these characters to really get to know them, but it's also a short, self-contained book, so I get why we only kind of skim their surfaces. show more It's not a life-changing novel, but it's a fast, quick, entertaining read- very nice, indeed, for the week leading up to Christmas! show less

Raziel the Angel* has the task of granting a Christmas wish to a young child. The chosen child is Joseph who earlier in the day witnessed a man in a Santa suit being killed near a churchyard. He thinks this is the real Santa Claus and wishes for him to be alive again. Raziel earns the description from the book's title by raising not only the man in the Santa suit, but all the residents of the churchyard. Now the Lonesome Christmas party at the church is a feasting ground for zombies. Merry Christmas.

This is the third book to take place in Pine Cove, CA, featuring a sheriff who smokes pot, a former actress who sometimes forgets she is not the character she regularly played in B movies: Kendra, Warrior Babe of the Outland, and a whole show more town full of eccentric and hilarious characters. You needn't read the Pine Cove books in order. This first time I read this book, I had not read the others and it definitely didn't impede my enjoyment of this book. This edition is the 2.0 Enhanced Edition complete with a bonus chapter which takes places a year after the events of the main story.

I loved this enough to reread it and will probably read it again for Christmases in the future. It's funny and a little naughty and very ridiculous. Treat yourself to "a heartwarming tale of Christmas terror" this holiday season. You won't regret it.

*who previously made an appearance in Lamb, also by Christopher Moore show less

Oh my god! Not only was this ROFL-level funny, but it was beautifully plotted and structured. When the characters were introduced all sorts of inane facts about them came out, and each and every one of those character traits came into play later in the story. Like Chekhov's gun. I am deeply impressed.

It's Christmas and Raziel the angel has been sent down for the first time in two thousand years to perform a Christmas miracle. His mission is to find a child and make their wish come true. Simple, right? But this is Raziel who can screw even the simplest things up. First off he scares the boy and second he takes the boy's words too literally.

The child's upset that Santa has been killed. Josh witnessed Lena accidentally kill her ex-husband Dale who was dressed in a Santa suit. He wasn't the only one who saw it happen. Tuck, a pilot who is currently working for the DEA looking for drugs in the Big Sur from his plane, decides to help Lena by burying Dale and moving his truck to a new location to look as though he had gone fishing and fell show more off a cliff while drunk. Tuck has a pet fruit bat named Rodrigo and has just gotten out of a relationship and is looking for someone to spend Christmas with and believes Lena is that person. It's love at first sight for both of them.

Lena wants to tell her friend Molly, the former actress best known for the Warrior Babe of the Outland movies, but she can't because Molly's husband Theo is a constable. Theo catches a lot of crap from the sheriff's department for not being a "real" cop. He used to smoke a lot of pot, but when he married Molly five years ago the two of them made a deal: he'd stop doing drugs if she'd stay on the drugs she needed for her mental illness. This year, though, in a warped O''Henry's Gift of the Maji way, Molly stopped taking her meds in order to save enough money to buy this really beautiful bong for Theo and Theo has been growing and selling marijuana in order to buy a real sword for Molly. The crazier Molly gets, the rockier their relationship gets.

Molly really doesn't like that Theo is investigating Lena. But Lena isn't fond of the idea of Tuck blackmailing Theo when he gets the chance. Everything comes to a head on Christmas Eve at the Lonesome Christmas Party at the church when Raziel has decided to bring Santa back to life and ends up bringing back to life everyone in the graveyard and now the partygoers have to contend with zombies.

For those familiar with Moore, this takes place in Pine Cove where the books Practical Demon Keeping and Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove are located. Also Raziel from Lamb: The Gospel According To Biff, Christ's Childhood Friend and Tuck and Rodrigo from Island of the Sequined Love Nun are in this one making it quite the festive book. But if you haven't read those books you won't be lost or confused. You might, however, want to pick up the other books and read them. This is a hilarious book filled with a host of bizarre people and happenings. I really loved this book and cannot recommend it enough. show less