Secondhand Souls: A Novel

By Christopher Moore

In San Francisco, the souls of the dead are mysteriously disappearing—and you know that can’t be good—in New York Times bestselling author Christopher Moore’s delightfully funny sequel to A Dirty Job.

Something really strange is happening in the City by the Bay. People are dying, but their souls are not being collected. Someone—or something—is stealing them and no one knows where they are going, or why, but it has something to do with that big orange bridge. Death Merchant Charlie Asher is just as flummoxed as everyone else. He’s trapped in the body of a fourteen-inch-tall “meat puppet” waiting for his Buddhist nun girlfriend, Audrey, to find him a suitable new body to play host.

To get to the bottom of this abomination, a motley crew of heroes will band together: the seven-foot-tall death merchant Minty Fresh; retired policeman turned bookseller Alphonse Rivera; the Emperor of San Francisco and his dogs, Bummer and Lazarus; and Lily, the former Goth girl. Now if only they can get little Sophie to stop babbling about the coming battle for the very soul of humankind . . .

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Aug 25, 2015
• ISBN: 9780062355348

Christopher Moore

Christopher Moore is the author of seventeen previous novels, including Shakespeare for Squirrels, Noir, Secondhand Souls, Sacré Bleu, Fool, and Lamb. He lives in San Francisco, California.

Reviews for Secondhand Souls

[voodooyeager · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A great follow-up to A Dirty Job. The one thing I love about Moore's books is the feeling of dread and urgency that he very clearly conveys. I feel if I put the book down, hell will literally break loose.

[librarycin · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Charlie Asher used to collect souls. There has been a gap, when many souls that should have been collected, weren’t. Somehow this is all related to the Golden Gate Bridge. This is the sequel to “A Dirty Job”, which was one of my favourites by Moore. Unfortunately, this one fell quite a bit short for me. I’m rating it ok at 3 stars, which might be a bit generous. It was nice to revisit some characters and I was interested as some events were happening, but I often missed connections on why something was happening (hence the sketchy summary in my first paragraph!). I listened to the audio, and I did think the narrator did a good job – he particularly did well with various accents.

[irregularreader · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fair Warning: From here on out, there will be MAJOR SPOILERS for the first book in this series, A Dirty Job. If you haven’t read A Dirty Job yet, you should really be reading that instead of this review.So it’s been a year since the events of A Dirty Job; the apocalypse was averted, the underworld defeated, and Charlie Asher’s soul has been bound into a 14-inch high body made from animal parts and lunchmeat (and a 10-inch penis, naturally). This particular form being unsuited for parenting, his 7 year old daughter Sophie (Death with a big ‘D’) is being raised by his sister and her wife.Then the keening (and insistent, especially where a taser is involved) wailing of a banshee warns that maybe the apocalypse wasn’t as averted as originally thought. It seems that thousands of spirits are being trapped by the Golden Gate Bridge, that the Morrigan are clawing their way back into the world, and that a new, smooth, death wannabe is wreaking havoc on the established order of things. Oh, and it seems that Sophie’s hellhounds have gone missing and her mojo might be on the wane.I’ve been a huge fan of Christopher Moore ever since Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal. Moore’s books are one of my go-tos when I need a comfort read. Secondhand Souls certainly follows in the Moore tradition, with the irreverent and (I mean this in the best possible way) juvenile humor that makes him so much fun. Now, I will say that this is not his strongest work, but maybe that is because A Dirty Job was easily one of his best. Without the pathos of single-dad Charlie Asher trying to figure out how to raise his death-incarnate daughter to be a well-rounded human being, the story is a bit flat. Nonetheless, I found myself laughing out loud and enjoying myself, so I feel the book was a success. Fans of Moore, Dave Barry, or A. Lee Martinez should absolutely pick up this book.I won a copy of this book in a giveaway by William Morrow Pubishing.

[kaethe_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It was okay, but not what I wanted. I didn't want to read about Charlie, I wanted to read about Sophie, but instead she was mostly kept offstage.

Library copy

[whitreidtan · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

hristopher Moore is pretty much crazy and unrepentant. Forget being a fly on the wall, I'd love to spend the day inhabiting his brain because I don't think there's ever a boring minute in it. I first started reading Moore's novels many years ago now when my book club was looking for a non-sentimental Christmas read (hello The Stupidest Angel). Intrigued by his wonderfully warped view on things, we later moved on to his hilariously irreverent novel Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. I've since moved so I have no idea if that book club continues to periodically visit the weird that is Moore's creative output, but I do. Secondhand Souls, the sequel to A Dirty Job, is his latest entry into the wacky and bizarre world he has conjured up and it is as quirky, funny, and insane as I've come to expect from Moore.At the end of A Dirty Job, the world was saved (if you haven't read it and think this is a spoiler, get your knickers out of a twist and get over yourself) but that doesn't mean it had to stay that way. The cast of characters from the first novel notices that things seem to be heading a little (a lot) off kilter again. And when a banshee comes to warn them of the impending doom coming their way, a doom unlike that which they've seen before, they will have to come together to fight the forces of darkness again. This time there are ghosts congregating at the Golden Gate Bridge, the meat puppets have something slightly sinister going on amongst themselves, the remaining Death Merchants are so far behind on their soul collections they'll never catch up, and the Morrigan have a smooth talking, dangerous supernatural companion on their side. How Charlie, Sophie, Minty Fresh, Inspector Rivera, Lily, and Audrey will face all of this makes for a completely madcap read.As downright zany and convoluted as this sounds (and it is), Moore is a master at weaving his strange plot threads together to form a coherent and entertaining story. There is humor here as well as chaos and hijinks. The story and some of the situations are twisted (encouraging a person to commit suicide for the greater good?!) but everything works so well in the service of the story that even the questionable is forgiven. As a sequel, this is best read after A Dirty Job, otherwise some of the characters and their current situations take some adjusting to but for people who already appreciate Moore's offbeat mythology, this is a welcome addition to his canon. Even though there's absolutely nothing about a Moore novel that fits into my regular reading preferences (no to fantasy, no to paranormal, and a huge no to Death), they are like crack; once you've read one, you can't wait for the next hit and I appreciated Secondhand Souls for the rollicking and fast ride it was.

[jessiqa_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the sequel to 2006's A Dirty Job. The whole gang is back, more or less in one piece. However, once again some Death Merchants have failed to collect souls as The Big Book of Death instructs, so the Underworld is about to take over. Again. Like all Christopher Moore books, this is a really funny and enjoyable read. The diverse cast provides the reader with a glimpse into San Francisco life (albeit one that is dealing with the imminent end of the world as they know it). While I enjoyed this quite a lot, I don't feel it was as strong as A Dirty Job, but I'm really glad the thing I thought might happen at the end did not happen after all. Also, this book kept me guessing as to who the real villain was and whether they were truly villainous. I love that.

[readafew · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

We start finding out the main character from the last book, Charlie Asher, who ‘died’, has spent the last year living in a 14” tall meat puppet with a small crocodile skull and a 10” slong he wears as a cumberbund. And when he gets aroused, he passes out. This gives some idea of the type of book you are getting into. A bit crass, at times vulgar and entirely funny.Charlie Asher and his buddhist nun girlfriend Audrey, have spent the last year trying to figure out how to get Asher a new body to inhabit that wasn’t 14” tall and made of lunch meat, his daughter Sophie is death incarnate with a mouth like a sailor, and her protective hellhounds of gone missing. Leaving her relatively defenseless. This increases Charlie's need to find a new body rather urgently. Minty Fresh had gone back to business as usual, and Inspector Alphonse Rivera, retired opened a bookstore to be a Death Merchant and didn’t actually do his job. And Lilly got a job on with the suicide help hotline.First the Emperor of San Francisco shows up in Rivera’s book shop with a quest to write down all the names of the dead, then a banshee shows up and starts screaming about impending doom, it doesn’t look like things are going to be quiet for much longer. Rivera goes to meet Minty, the only other Death Merchant he knows is still alive to discuss these developments. All the these people start sharing information and the picture it is painting is not good. For anyone, living or dead still on Earth.So they need to find someone willing to give up their body, preferably a healthy male body, so Charlie can help the group stop the apocalypse. Oh and Audrey’s little friends, the squirrel people are going beyond expectations and have a little revolt of their own. Adding just that much more chaos into the mix.This book was funny and well written, even with the vulgarity thrown in. I enjoyed reading it and for those who like Terry Pratchett but with a bit more sex and dirty words I think you’d like it too. For those easily offended I might suggest finding something else. I will certainly be trying more of Christopher Moore’s writing in the future.

[david_david_katzman · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

DO NOT READ THIS UNLESS YOU READ BOOK 1 FIRST...like i didn't. (Good luck deciphering that triple negative.)Kind of dumb, I grabbed this at the bookstore when it came out because I love Christopher Moore but didn't realize it was the second book in a series. So while there are many hilarious moments in this book, there is also a lot of convoluted backstory that would have been much easier to follow had I read A Dirty Job.Even so, I quite enjoyed it. No one can do paranormal comedy like Moore. His humor tends to be character based (snarky females are a forte) and through the juxtaposition of the supernatural with the mundane (a banshee with a taser). In a word: camp.The plot involves some eating of souls, reincarnated baddies, demon dogs, a 14" tall alligator-headed duck-foot meat creature with a foot long dong, and assorted other absurd characters. It's a blast. If you read the first one, even better. I'm sure. I'll know better next time.

[dlmorrese · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Fantasy stories are always a bit weird. That's part of the definition of the genre, right? This one's weirder than most. It's a contemporary fantasy, not an epic one, set in modern San Francisco with a cast of extremely odd characters...odd even for California. They include a hot Buddhist nun, several people who collect souls of the recently departed, a couple incarnations of Egyptian gods, and a guy who is currently living as a racoon-sized patchwork creation with a crocodile head and...other outsize body parts best left unmentioned in polite reviews. His seven-year-old daughter may be Death (with a big D). Oh, and there are ghosts and sundry others. Like I said, odd characters. Obviously, this is comic fantasy. It's crude but not obscene; silly but not stupid. Approached in the right state of mind, it's quite funny.

[kaitanya64 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Poor Charlie Asher may be not dead (exact,y) but he's finding life in a makeshift body leaves a lot to be desired. His daughter doesn't know he's alive and his soulmate finds his little "squirrel person" body repugnant. Besides, hi claws keep catching in the carpet. But worse things are in store as trouble is brewing in the underworld and the problems Charlie, Minty Fresh and their friends had laid to rest seem to be reawakening. A hilarious sequel.

[auntie0nanuuq · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Sequel to "A Dirty Job": Charlie Asher was a collector of souls, his baby daughter, Sophie, Death, when the underworld decided it wanted to take over and change the balance of things... Charlie's soul was transferred into that of a 14 inch body made of lunch meat & spare animal parts.

The Morrigan have returned with the Destroyer, Lemon, Minty's cousin.

Charlie is given a new body and is working with his friends: Audrey, Detective Rivera, Minty Fresh, Lily, The Emperor, M. Baptiste, and the Banshee in order to defeat the Morrigan and the Destroyer so to reestablish order in the world.

I missed the humor in this sequel... The characters were rather obnoxious, dull, out of touch, or a combination of the three...

What I was more interested in were the stories of the souls of the bridge, although the one that was of a former Giants baseball player was long, involved, boring, and senseless..... Just filler....

We NEVER find out what happens to Sophie, so I'm thinking Moore has another installment planned which hopefully will not be as dull as this one!

[chellebearss · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was an excellent audiobook, Fisher Stevens did a great job with all the characters. I found this to be hilarious and I kept trying to mark down times for all the quotes I wanted to remember. Awesome and I can't wait to find more from Moore.

[becky_mckenna-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

After staring at the wall for thirty minutes, I still don't know how to approach this review. I'm just winging it so be patient with me. The story is pretty straightforward and the pace is quick, but not rushed. The crazy characters from Dirty Jobs are back along with Moore's unique comedy style...which is so bizarre that I just can't wrap the logical part of my brain around it. Maybe that's my problem. Logical comedy. Is comedy logical? Probably not. Christopher Moore is either a genius or an escaped mental patient. Your guess is as good as mine. All I know is that I laughed all day and this book blew my mind. Seriously, I think I hurt something. My advice to you should you pick up this series: Definitely listen to the audiobook. Absolutely fabulous narration! Also, I blushed more than once over the language, body humor, etc., so be aware if you're sensitive to that sort of thing. Enjoy!

[reconditereader · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is wacky and zany. Sometimes it was so surreal that it was a bit hard to follow in the middle, but all that got straightened out in the last third as the book barreled along towards its very sweet ending. (Confession: I skipped the entire story of the ghost who played baseball, why is that there?) If you liked the first book (A Dirty Job), this followup is for you. Reading this book, you could ponder what it means to be human, to be alive, to have family... or you could bust a gut chuckling.

[bookappeal · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I read A Dirty Job and longed for a sequel. Totally worth the wait. Moore's sense of humor is definitely not for everyone - sometimes juvenile and crude and liberally sprinkled with profanity - but for those who appreciate it, laugh out loud moments await, especially with the audiobook's colorful and entertaining narration. From Minty Fresh's jive talk to the lilting yet scratchy dialogue of 3 ancient Celtic witches (sort of), the narrator provides a spectrum of voices, bringing the story vividly to life. Goofy humor, mystery and detection, and fantastical adventures make an irresistible brew.

[lisalangford_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A follow-up to Moore's A Dirty Job, Secondhand Souls continues to follow Charlie Asher, Minty Fresh, Lily, and Sophie as they try to figure out how to deal with the whole death and soul vessel retrieval thing. When we left Charlie Asher in A Dirty Job, Audrey had put his soul into one of the squirrel people, meat puppets she'd cobbled together from spare parts of other animals. Secondhand Souls opens a year later, our motley crew discovering that people are dying, but their souls are not being collected. This can't be good. They try to figure out how to stop the impending doom, racing against time.This is a great continuation of A Dirty Job...so fun!I was lucky enough to receive a copy of Secondhand Souls through librarything.com's Early Reviewers program. Thank you, librarything!

[jcmontgomery · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Christopher Moore is one of the most popular authors at the bookstore where I worked, and for a good reason. This sequel to A Dirty Job does not disappoint. Although not as good as the first, the story and the story teller are a joy to read. Definitely a keeper!!

[alaskabookworm · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Christopher Moore does it again. With wit, charm, and one of the most colorful imaginations writing today, "Secondhand Souls" is a playful diverting read. This sequel to "A Dirty Job" re-introduces the characters from that book. A year has passed since the world almost ended, and just when the characters' lives are settling back into some sequence of normality, the world is under threat again. Ghosts are amassing at the Golden Gate Bridge, the Morrigan have reappeared along with a new malevolent deity, the hellhounds have left Sophie's protection, and the Squirrel People are revolting. It's up to Charlie, Lily, Minty Fresh, and the others to figure out what is happening and how to stop it. Readers will absolutely have to read "A Dirty Job" first to make any sense of this story. Moore's writing is distinct and quirky, and perhaps not universally appealing. But to me, reading Moore is always a pleasure.

[angee1011 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Having only read one of his books before, I knew what to expect from Christopher Moore. Hilarity, humor and wouldn't you guess, even more laugh-til-you-weep prose. This is definitely worth the read. I haven't read the first book in this series, so I guess I'm a little ahead. Oh well! Happy reading!

[billiebook · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It was still a funny Christopher Moore romp, but I've gotten spoiled by his takes on Shakespeare and Impressionism and Jesus. The San Francisco tales are delightful, but less meaty and I miss the depth of his "historical" tales.

[caittilynn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This sequel to A Dirty Job was exactly what you would expect from Christopher Moore: a funny, quirky well written romp. You will definitely need to read the first book before reading this one, but it is a great read!

[jennyo_587543 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

First, a disclaimer. I love Chris Moore unreservedly, so my reviews of his books are always biased.This book is a sequel to A Dirty Job, so if you haven't read that one yet, read it first. I can't say for sure, but I feel like this book would be confusing for folks who haven't read A Dirty Job already.Chris's books are always funny. He has the sense of humor of a 12 year old boy, but my kids say I do too, so maybe that's why I enjoy him so much. Chris has a knack for combining the profane and the profound. This book might have a bit more emphasis on the profane...Chris really has an ear for dialogue too. Again, often profane, but always hilarious. And you get the feeling he really loves his characters.If you haven't read a Moore book before, if you like humor and aren't easily offended, please pick one up. Start with Practical Demonkeeping or Coyote Blue. Or even A Dirty Job. Yeah. That one. Then you can read this one. And your neighbors will probably ask you to stop laughing so loudly.

[dirac_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Admittedly, I was quite nervous with reading a sequel. I do not believe Mr. Moore has followed up on any of his books and after the ending of A Dirty Job, I was curious as to how this would be done taking into consideration the manner in which the first book concluded.This books was pure entertainment. Sure, there were times when characters behaved to an extreme that seemed annoying and a few questions of why characters did Y as opposed to X which was more logical and easier but those issues were quickly forgotten in this tale. As with several of his previous books, I laughed out loud. I still find this an amazing feat but he succeed without anything but words on a page to make me laugh. I am always stunned and impressed when writing can do that to me.The characters are great to the point where I got quite stressed when I believed something bad might happen. Good writing.

[bakabaka84 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A decent follow up to Dirty Job that has some funny moments but just didn't have me chuckling as much as the first book. While the the plot had some interesting ideas I just felt that they didn't mesh together as well as they could. In addition while the ghost story parts were kind of interesting they felt more like filler as they really didn't add anything to the story. Also some of the subplot kind of just fizzled out with not much happening. Overall its a decent read if you like Christopher Moore but i don't think its one of his best works

[jwood652 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A Bright Pink book catches my eye on the library Lucky Day Shelf. How could I resist a brand new Christopher Moore? I snatched up yet another crazy tale from the imagination of Christoper Moore, one of my favs! Out of his mind pops a tale of 400 pound hellhounds, rivals Lemon who always wears yellow and Minty fresh always adorned in green, a little girl who can kill by saying a simple usually innocuous word, little critters cobbled together from various animal parts to collect human souls, ghosts attached indefinitely to the Golden Gate Bridge and many more!! And since this book is a sequel to "A Dirty Job", I have a dirty job to do, too! I sure hope the asylum attendants keep supplying Mr. Moore with plenty of paper and crayons. To help save my insanity, I always crave more Moore!!!

[hhornblower_3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

All Christopher Moore books are entertaining, some more so than other. This falls in the latter category. I enjoyed it, I liked coming back to the characters, but I didn't enjoy it as much as Dirty Job. It feels like it was written either because Mr. Moore needed a new car, or (more likely) to get his more rabid fans off his back about writing a sequel to Dirty Job.

[btuckertx · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was in an airport many years ago, and saw the cover of Island of the Sequined Love Nun. How could a person not buy it? I've read quite a few of his books since then, and I've noticed a trend. He writes a book, set in a particular location, with a cast of characters. I buy it. He comes out with a sequel. I buy it, and discover it's mainly a diluted rehash of the first book in the series and tends to reach waaay too far for laughs. He even did it with Lamb, probably my favorite Moore book. So I've stopped buying his sequels.But I won Secondhand Souls from Early Reviewers. I noticed after I'd won that it was a sequel. So I bought the first book, A Dirty Job, and read it while I waited on Secondhand Souls. A Dirty Job brought back some of the quirky characters from previous San Francisco-based novels (e.g., The Emperor of San Francisco and his canine pals) and was a fun read.Secondhand Souls is a typical Moore sequel. Generally an entertaining ride, but about as fluffy as cotton candy. On the plus side, it glows in the dark!

[thedivineoomba · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really wished I remembered more of the first book in the series - It has been awhile since I read it, and trying to place all the characters and their roles took a bit of time.First, this book an excellent follow up to the first book, a Dirty Job. Moore manages to keep the Sophie, the child incarnate of death, to nothing but a cute, but profanity riddled child, who may, or may not, have lost her powers. Something strange is happening in San Francisco - souls aren't being collected and it is attracting the attention of ... something. Its up to Minty Fresh, newly appointed soul collector Rodriquez, and Charlie Asher (who's soul is in a 14" meat puppet/freak taxidermy project) to save the day. This book has everything - the homeless "Emperor" and his doggie men. A Buddhist Nun who has the original book of the dead - a pair of grandma's, a Russian and Chinese lady who are stubborn, suspicious, and not to be taking likely. And a Charlie's Lesbian sister and her partner, who are young Sophie's guardians. Throw in three Sister Gods of the Celtic War Pantheon, a few gods from the Egyptian world - and you get a book that sits perfectly at the edge of too absurd, vs too dark. Its an excellent read, and I highly recommend it, but make sure to read the first book in the series before reading this one.

[amanda4242_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read Secondhand Souls immediately after rereading A Dirty Job and found myself a little disappointed with the sequel. Oh, it's no less funny than the first book, but the rules of the world that had been established were mostly tossed out for no apparent reason. Still, Secondhand Souls is a good read as long as you don't think to hard about it.

[jechtshot · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

First things first, I would recommend reading A Dirty Job first. This is clearly a sequel that relies on a significant amount of backstory. The author does a pretty good job bringing you up to speed on past events, but I didn’t heed this advice and spent the first quarter of the novel with a “huh” expression on my faceIn Secondhand Souls, Christopher Moore places an ensemble of absurd characters together to determine what is happening to the departed souls of San Francisco. However, the story is secondary to the characters. For example, you have Charlie Asher, a former soul collector who died and his soul was transferred into an amalgamation of lunch meat, alligator and other spare animal parts with an added bonus of having a disproportionately large male member. On top of that, former Charlie’s daughter Sophie is capital D death… and she is a 7-year with two hell hounds and the mouth of a sailor. You get the idea.Moore’s writing is not for everyone, but if you like to giggle at sophomoric humor and enjoy a cast of absurd characters put into even more absurd situations, this book is for you!