The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove

The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove
by Christopher Moore

In Pine Cove in September, three things happened: the cooling pipe at the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant sprang a tiny leak; Mavis Stand advertised in the Songwriter for a blues singer at her Head of the Stag Salooon; and Bess Leander, wife and mother of two, hung herself. A creature from the bottom of the sea tracks the leaking radiation from the power plant and awakens from his slumbers. He torpedoes toward shore (witnessed by Catfish, the new blues singer), then the beast sees her at the Texaco station: purring and teasing, so he makes his move--on a fuel truck! But his lovemaking sets off the fuel and destroys the truck and the station. Singed, the Monster heads for a nearby creek, thinking, "A simple "No" would have sufficed." Pine Cove's loopy constable Theo Crowe must investigate the murder and the fire. His wife, Molly, takes blue meds: she calls them the Smurfs of Sanity. Then she sees the Monster turning himself into a mobile home and expectorating a wad of newspaper after slurping up the newspaper boy. She spritzes her television screen with Windex. When the droplets hit the screen they look like an Impressionist painting. Eventually, a cult forms around the sea beast. Christopher Moore's humor is not for everyone, but for those who do like it, this will be rewarding. -- recommended by Rianne S. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[ official Lust Lizard page on the official Christopher Moore web site ]

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