Practical Demonkeeping

Christopher Moore

May 2004 · Harper Collins

About this ebook

In Christopher Moore's ingenious debut novel, we meet one of the most memorably mismatched pairs in the annals of literature. The good-looking one is one-hundred-year-old ex-seminarian and "roads" scholar Travis O'Hearn. The green one is Catch, a demon with a nasty habit of eating most of the people he meets. Behind the fake Tudor façade of Pine Cove, California, Catch sees a four-star buffet. Travis, on the other hand, thinks he sees a way of ridding himself of his toothy traveling companion. The winos, neo-pagans, and deadbeat Lotharios of Pine Cove, meanwhile, have other ideas. And none of them is quite prepared when all hell breaks loose.

Ratings and reviews

I've been a fan of Moore's for a while now, having read Bloodsucking Fiends, The Stupidest Angel and, my favorite, Lamb. While I was in the States, I noticed that his earlier books had been reprinted in new editions, so I thought I'd pick up the one that started it all - Practical Demonkeeping. This is where Moore introduced his recurring locale of Pine Cove, a small tourist trap on the Southern California coast. And a place where, from time to time, weird things happen. In this case, it is the appearance of a disgraced Djinn, who is looking to stop a millennia-old demon from wreaking havok, which is what demons love to do. In this case, though, the demon has a companion - a hundred year-old would-be priest who really isn't happy about their little relationship. He the is the master of the Demon, and would love to find a way to send it back to the hell that spawned it. And his quest, naturally, brings ihs to Pine Cove. Moore has a very strange sense of humor, one that works very well with me. One minute you're snickering and having a great time with the absurdity of the story, and then WHAM - you're hit with someone's parents being devoured, or an abusive husband, or the loss of a beloved husband. Moore blends the serious and the ridiculous very easily. My only complaint about Moore - which has held pretty true through all the books I've read so far - is that I don't really like his endings. They tend to come way too fast, spoiling what was otherwise a well-paced narrative. I also picked up his newest book, A Dirty Job - let's see how he's improved....

Funny & scary at the same time. Im a Christopher Moore fan since i read this book and the other, the main characters of all books are kinda conected in way or another.

I really enjoyed this book. Found it very hard to put down. I can't wait to read more from Moore!!!!

About the author

Christopher Moore is the author of twelve previous novels: Practical Demonkeeping, Coyote Blue, Bloodsucking Fiends, Island of the Sequined Love Nun, The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, Lamb, Fluke, The Stupidest Angel, A Dirty Job, You Suck, Fool, and Bite Me. He lives in San Francisco, California.