I can’t help but love a little bit of dark humour now and then. Don’t get me wrong–I definitely enjoy the fluffy and sweet side of novels, too. But sometimes, you just need to read a little something that makes a joke out of the more difficult things in life.
Luckily, we have authors like Christopher Moore. His novels haven’t shied away from dark humour. And his debut novel, Practical Demonkeeping, was no exception.
When Travis set Catch free, he never expected his life to change as much as it has. Suddenly, Travis is responsible for keeping the demon under control, for fear Catch will destroy everyone in his path. All Travis wants to do is rid himself of the demon, but a new woman in his life may end up costing him that prize.
Practical Demonkeeping had plenty of the elements that I liked in Moore’s other novels. There’s the dark humour, of course, but there’s also the way he combines fantastical story ideas with our own world. It’s a balance that can be difficult to pull of, but Moore does it quite well.
And speaking of balance, he also did a great job of balancing the multiple points of view that he utilized. I admit, I lost track of exactly how many there were, but I enjoyed every one of them.
All in all, Practical Demonkeeping left me wanting more. And I don’t think you can ask for much else.
—
Goodreads summary
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.
Miranda Burski 
Leave a Reply