USA TODAY ____________________ Search SUBSCRIBE NOWto get home delivery * USA TODAY * News * Sports * Life * Money * Tech * Travel * Opinion * Weather Icon + Humidity + Precip. + Winds Open settings Settings Enter City, State or Zip ____________________ Cancel Set Close settings Full Forecast * Crosswords * Elections 2016 * Investigations * Video * Stocks * Apps * Best-Selling Books * Classifieds * College * Corrections * Interactives * Newsletters * Photo Galleries * Portfolio Tracker * Scores * Newsstand * Audio * More + News + Sports + Life + Money + Tech + Travel + Opinion + Weather + Crosswords + Elections 2016 + Investigations + Video + Stocks + Apps + Best-Selling Books + Classifieds + College + Corrections + Interactives + Newsletters + Photo Galleries + Portfolio Tracker + Scores + Newsstand + Audio * * Search * Firefly Hi Already a subscriber? Sign In Subscribe today to additional USAToday products. Subscribe Now Already a print edition subscriber, but don't have a login? Activate your digital access. Manage your account settings. My Account Log Out Get the news Log In or Subscribe to skip Sign in with FacebookSign in with GoogleSign in FAQ 2971 Share This Story! Let friends in your social network know what you are reading about FacebookEmailTwitterGoogle+LinkedInPinterest Secondhand Souls In San Francisco the souls of the dead are mysteriously disappearing and a motley crew of heroes investigate; sequel to "A Dirty Job" Loading… Post to Facebook ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ Secondhand Souls ___________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ In San Francisco the souls of the dead are mysteriously dis ____________________________________________________________ Check out this story on USATODAY.com: http://usat.ly/1EtTEk {# IFRAME: http://api.recaptcha.net/noscript?k=6Lf7fuESAAAAAJ3_KMIDbkQySsEE0vMkLXU kq4eY #} CancelSend Sent! A link has been sent to your friend's email address. Posted! A link has been posted to your Facebook feed. 5 Join the Nation's Conversation To find out more about Facebook commenting please read the Conversation Guidelines and FAQs Christopher Moore back with zany 'Souls' Don Oldenburg , Special for USA TODAY 2:02 p.m. EDT August 30, 2015 Secondhand Souls Secondhand Souls by Christopher Moore (William Morrow) in General fiction Buy Now * Buy Now * Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Google Play * iBooks * Indiebound * Kobo * Zola USA TODAY BEST-SELLING BOOKS # 39 this week # - last week 1 weeks listed # 39 best week Debuted: September 03 2015 USA TODAY Rating Deep into Christopher Moore’s fantastically bizarre new novel, Secondhand Souls, Audrey, one of the main characters, explains to a hospital nurse why she must stand vigil by the body of a murdered comrade. She confides that she’s a Buddhist nun working undercover for the San Francisco cops. “I would watch that show,” says the skeptical nurse. “I wouldn’t believe it, but I would watch it.” The nurse’s deadpan reply is one of the novel’s countless great lines. It also sums up how you go about reading this wickedly entertaining tale of kinda-ordinary, anti-hero weirdoes fending off Evil Incarnate from the underworld as the Golden Gate City teeters on the brink of the apocalypse. Know up front that suspension of disbelief is the height requirement for this rollicking ride. The sequel to A Dirty Job, Moore’s 2006 madcap mythic apocalyptic novel, Secondhand Souls is populated with some of the same unforgettably wacky characters. Having rescued San Francisco from the Dark Forces by sacrificing his life, sweet, clueless, “beta male” Charlie Asher is back. His girlfriend Audrey (see above) uses a Buddhist p'howa consciousness transfer to project his soul into a living, talking, knee-high, crocodile-headed “meat puppet” she stitched together from road kill and cold cuts. She’s done it before, creating a whole herd of looney Squirrel People. Like Charlie, other good-guy Death Merchants are supposed to be following “Great Big Book of Death” directives, culling souls from the newly dead and storing them for safe keeping until needed. But nasty Celtic war goddesses, The Morrigan, are wiping out the Death Merchants. Still standing, among a few others, are retired SFPD homicide detective Alphonse Rivera, a procedural asset in this adventure, and 7-foot-tall, 275-pound record-store owner Minty Fresh, who exudes courageous cool. Author Christopher Moore, and friends. Author Christopher Moore, and friends. (Photo: Charlee Moore) That’s barely a dent in this zany cast, though. A likeable screeching Banshee packing a Taser appears often. The “deeply creepy” Lily is brilliant on the suicide crisis center phones. And 7-year-old Sophie, Charlie’s cute daughter, is precociously smart and jarringly foul-mouthed. Sophie also happens to be the Luminatus —or Big Death — empowered to kill by uttering a single word. She’s the primary obstacle preventing Evil Darkness from overtaking the universe. Early in the story, Minty Fresh asks incredulously, “And the only thing keeping the Forces of Darkness at bay has been demoted to, what, a first grader?” “Second,” said Charlie. “But she’s in the advanced reading group.” While character-driven and super fueled by witty, understated dialogue, the plot is brimming in this absurdist view of hip San Fran taking on End Time. This novel has lots of moving parts, not the least of which is the subplot of the unsettled ghosts on the Golden Gate Bridge. That gets so good it could’ve been a compelling stand-alone novel, but ghost-whisperer, bridge-painter Mike Sullivan, and his ethereal soulmate Concepción, are crucial to the outcome. The author of 14 other novels, Moore has emerged with a cult-like following by writing offbeat narratives saturated with heart and humor. If you close your eyes and read him, for all the colorful characters, verbal mischief and crazy wisdom you might think it’s Tom Robbins; or for the dark satire and intelligent mirth, Kurt Vonnegut. But Moore has brings his own game and creates a novel that pulses with its own glowing soul start to finish, if you can imagine. And you can’t, until you read it. Secondhand Souls By Christopher Moore William Morrow, 335 pp. 3.5 out of 4 stars Goodreads reviews for Secondhand Souls IFRAME: http://www.goodreads.com/api/reviews_widget_iframe?did=5005&format=html &header_text=Goodreads+reviews+for+Secondhand%20Souls&isbn=978006177978 7&links=0AF&review_back=fff&stars=149CEE&stylesheet=http://www.gannett- cdn.com/static/usat-web-static-1804.0/css/bundles/books.min.css?v=1804. 0&text=000 USA Today's Best-Selling Books List * 1 The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up Marie Kondo * 2 The Choice Nicholas Sparks * 3 Spark Joy Marie Kondo * 4 The Girl on the Train Paula Hawkins USA TODAY Review * 5 January: Calendar Girl Book 1 Audrey Carlan USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books List