Practical Demonkeeping (Pine Cove Series, 1) Paperback – May 25, 2004

This was Christopher's Moore 1st book, and it displays most of the traits that would keep him so successful throughout his later books, and also some rookie "jitters."As with most of his wacky novels, the plot is difficult to summarize and almost beside the point. It deals with a demon who is beholden to a man who would VERY MUCH like to shake off his burden (it's a drag being the "master" of a demon when that demon still must quite frequently kill and eat people). The demon and his keeper have been more or less tracked to the town of Pine Cove, CA (Moore's favorite coastal town, full of wacky characters and the main location for other works) by a genie. Don't ask! As I said, Moore's plots twist like crazy, but the real joy with him are the crazy characters, little asides and observations that he and his characters make, and, quite bluntly, the off-the-wall humor. There are lots and lots of strange, messed-up, yet delightful people to meeting PRACTICAL DEMONKEEPING. There are many funny events. There are also lots of biting and observant comments from the author...little metaphors and similes that just make you stop in your tracks with an admiring smile.There are a few laugh-out loud funny moments, but mostly there is just frantic, inventive fun throughout. If you've never read Christopher Moore, this might be a good place to start. It gives an excellent introduction to his wacky sense of humor. If you enjoy it, you might do best to then read his books in the order of release. For example, the next one would be BLOODSUCKING FIENDS, a book with a little less humor but a lot more humanity. As Moore matured, his books juggle the real human feeling with strange and hilarious events with ever more deftness. ISLAND OF THE SEQUINED LOVE NUN and my favorite (so far) COYOTE BLUE show an author with a truly unique voice and vision.The rookie problems with book are mostly centered around a lack of tightness. Moore always has sprawling plots and many plot threads which don't come together until the end. This book is actually a bit more sprawling...with so MANY characters to juggle and keep track of and so many threads to weave together in time for the climax that sometimes I frankly forgot some of the characters. Someone might have been introduced on page 25, for example, and that person didn't reappear for 100 pages, and by then, I had forgotten them altogether. Later, Moore's plots became more outrageous and convoluted (FLUKE), but there were fewer characters to guide us through the machinations. PRACTICAL DEMONKEEPING was just a little big more hard work than I'm used to with Moore. Also, his romances, though charming and wittily observed, never made me CARE what happened. Later, his romantic entanglements become more emotionally resonant. But not yet.But these are fairly modest flaws in a generally excellent book. It's funny...and not many books are genuinely FUNNY and not mean-spirited. It's not "humor" like a Dave Barry book, but it's not tormented, like many works by Kurt Vonnegut, which can make you laugh out-loud, but are also quite searing. Moore just writes inventive, funny, downright crazy stuff. I sense his audience is slowly blossoming with each new release. I'm glad...because I've enjoyed his work so much over the last few years that I want others to enjoy it too.

Quirky and entertaining, which was really all I was looking for. The horror elements are sparse, but the humor is well done.

This book isn't exactly laugh-out-loud funny. Too many people are devoured by the demon for it to be tongue-in-cheek...unless it's the demon's cheek and our tongue we're talking about here. However, "Practical Demonkeeping" is witty, shading into heavy irony. It is blackly humorous as in the scene where the demon coughed, "...and a red spiked heel shot out of his mouth and bounced off the windshield, spattering the glass with hellish spit."You might guess that the red high heel once belonged to a woman, but it's not that kind of novel. As a matter of fact it belonged to a motel night clerk named Billy Winston who was a transvestite from the waist down (the parts that the motel customers can't see below the counter). Most of Moore's characters have some redeeming characteristics, even the scum-bag drug dealers and pool sharks, and I was really sorry when the demon ate Billy.Even the demon whose name is Catch has his likeable moments--usually when he's reading Cookie Monster comic books and in between snacks. He also has a sense of humor, the kind of humor you'd expect from a cat toying with its next meal.Some of the book's real humor comes from a second supernatural creature, the King of the Djinn who has been chasing after Catch ever since the glory days of King Solomon--except for a few thousand year time-out in a lead jar at the bottom of the sea. He expresses himself in phrases such as, "By Aladdin's lamplit scrotum," and "Tell us where the Seal of Solomon is hidden or we will have your genitals in a nine-speed reverse action blender." The true hero of "Practical Demonkeeping," owner of Pine Cove, California's bait, tackle, and fine wines shop thinks the King of the Djinn looks like "a prune in a Carmen Miranda costume." Nevertheless, this unlikely pair teams up to do a bit of demon-hunting.Wickedly funny. That's the term I'm searching for. This book with its winos, pagans, wrinkled-prune Djinn, and hungry demon is wickedly funny.

Fans of Christopher Moore will be familiar with his mix of normal, down to earth people and fantastic monsters, vampires, zombies etc so it will be no surprise to hear that this book is in his usual genre. In this case the fantastical creature is a demon by the name of Catch whose master is a 90 year old man by the name of Travis who looks more like 24. There’s also a Djinn who acts as recruiter for the normal folks who have to trap the demon and send him back to hell.This is Moore’s first visit to Pine Cove, where some of his later books will be set, so we’re treated to some of the town’s history and in particular the origins of the name of the town saloon, the Head Of The Slug. Wisdom comes in the form of bait shop owner Augustus Brine whose somewhat Zen way of life makes him ideal for battling demons, apparently.The book moves at a steady pace. There are no real surprises but some laugh out loud moments from time to time. The characters are well drawn and will be familiar to most of us in some form or other. I enjoyed it but then again I am a Moore fan.

A great concept and, as is usual for Christopher Moore, hilarious in places, but I felt that this wasn't quite up to scratch when compared with some of the others, Lamb, Isle of the Sequinned Love Nun, or Fluke for instance.It was a cracking read most of the way through but I thought the ending was contrived and too quick, it didn't really seem clear what had happened and almost felt as though the author had run out of time.For Moore fans it is a must in the collection, but there are better ones to start on if you are looking for a first time Moore read.

There's not much in here about r practical demonkeeping, but that doesn't really matter. There's an amusing light story to enjoy for an hour or two instead

Christopher Moore's debut novel: a great work of humorous, paranormal imagination concerning the accidental invocation of an ancient demon and all the havoc that goes with it. A good fun read. I'll definitely be looking out for more by this author.

Great story everything comes together I really enjoyed this. Good characters and clever twists.