A Dirty Job

By: Christopher Moore

Narrated by: Fisher Stevens

Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Charlie Asher is a pretty normal guy. A little hapless, somewhat neurotic, sort of a hypochondriac. He's what's known as a Beta Male: the kind of fellow who makes his way through life by being careful and constant, you know, the one who's always there to pick up the pieces when the girl gets dumped by the bigger/taller/stronger Alpha Male.

But Charlie's been lucky. He owns a building in the heart of San Francisco, and runs a secondhand store with the help of a couple of loyal, if marginally insane, employees. He's married to a bright and pretty woman who actually loves him for his normalcy. And she, Rachel, is about to have their first child.

Yes, Charlie's doing okay for a Beta. That is, until the day his daughter, Sophie, is born. Just as Charlie, exhausted from the birth, turns to go home, he sees a strange man in mint-green golf wear at Rachel's hospital bedside, a man who claims that no one should be able to see him. But see him Charlie does, and from here on out, things get really weird.

People start dropping dead around him, giant ravens perch on his building, and it seems that everywhere he goes, a dark presence whispers to him from under the streets. Strange names start appearing on his nightstand notepad, and before he knows it, those people end up dead, too. Yup, it seems that Charlie Asher has been recruited for a new job, an unpleasant but utterly necessary one: Death. It's a dirty job. But hey, somebody's gotta do it.

©2006 Christopher Moore (P)2006 HarperCollinsPublishers

Critic reviews

• 2006 Quill Award Nominee

"Moore's enthusiasm and skill make it convincing, and his affection for the cast of weirdos gives the book an unexpected poignancy." (Publishers Weekly)

Great Listen!

This book was well written and REALLY well read. Is the narrator Fisher Stevens – the actor? It would make perfect sense – this book is so much fun - and the read was a big factor.
I enjoyed the whole experience and would happily recommend you get this one. It is not often the reader will get me to laugh out loud – ( I wonder what the other drivers on the road with me were thinking?) - This is an interesting and silly take on death and the transition of the human soul. If you have ever been a fan of Piers Anthony, you will surely enjoy this romp through the macabre. This author is a more mature writer. Please Note: This book not intended for anyone but an adult audience, so be sure you are not sharing with the kids. There are a few words the kids can wait to learn – at least until after your mother-in-law comes to visit.

A truly inspired bit of lunacy!

This was my first experience with a Christopher Moore Novel and I can't wait to listen to the next one! Part of the enjoyment was the giddiness with which Fisher Stevens read the book. He was having as good a time narrating as I was listening. The previous reviewer must not have been a Beta male. Alpha males are so full of themselves they'd not recognize brilliant humor if they were hit in the back of the brain stem with it! For us Beta males, understanding that we are flawed and forever trying to come to grips with our failings, only helps us to appreciate the humor with which Moore spins his tale!

I was actually disappointed when I was on the last CD to know it was coming to an end soon. I'll miss Ray and Lilly and Charlie and Sophie, now that they won't be part of my daily drives. They're all such great characters and Fisher Stevens brought live to all of them. Especially the "sewer harpies." His voices for those underworld misfits really captured the essence of who and what they are: "Guns suck, I can tell you that!"

So, if you're a Beta male or a woman who just feels pity for Beta males and goes out with them, only to find they are such terrific guys after all, then this book is for you.

It was one of the best audio books I've ever listened to!

I only hope that Tony Roberts narrates The Stupidest Angel with such a flair for the characters and the brilliant comic talents of Christopher Moore.

Loved it!

This was my third Christopher Moore, and I hope to read many more! Christopher Moore has a wondrous knack for the absurd. He manages to make satire, crude language, and frequent sexual references come across as warm and fuzzy. And funny. Very funny. I reccommend this for anyone who doesn't suffer from the curse of taking things too seriously.

I also loved the narrator. I don't understand the criticisms I've seen in other reviews-- I thought his voices were wonderful. I had no trouble telling them apart. He managed the female voices without the annoying false high-pitch that so many male readers resort to. The only weak spot I saw was having the six-year-old daughter continue to speak like a much younger child, but that was easily forgiveable. I'm looking forward to more!

Just not my cup of tea

Well written and good narrator. Just not exactly my style. I tried very hard to like it, but couldn't wait to be done with it.

very entertaining

I was sorry this was over- I'd grown attached to the characters and the world this author (and the narrator) creates.

Sometimes LOL sometimes bored to tears

It is hard to rate this book because some of the dialogue was laugh out loud funny, and the characters (the human ones) were very endering, but the story went from interesting concept to beyond stupid with ravens that live in the sewer. It is my first Christopher Moore book, so I am going to give him another try because I did enjoy the witty dialouge.

Funny Take On Death

This book is an absurdist tale of how Grim Reapers work. Fisher Stevens does a really fantastic job with the voices. It's fun, very funny in spots, just a really enjoyable story if you're looking for something different.

A Good Job on

Very Surprising, an unexpected joy. It has been quite some time since a book has made me burst out loud in uncontrollable laughter. If you can get by the language (a lot of "F" bombs), then you will certainly enjoy this smart, very entertaining, enjoyable journey into the "darker" side of our world.

Irreverent, absurd tale of death and beta males

For a five dollar audio book, this was a decent listen. Ordinary schmuck Charlie Asher learns he is a death dealer and bumbles through his new reality amidst a cast of cooky characters. The plot takes a long time to get going. In the meantime, it felt like an endless series of comedic bits on the “beta male” or character stereotypes, complete with oddball Laugh-In or Austin Powers style musical interludes (I swear I could picture the painted go go dancers every time the music came... why?!) If you are easily offended by riffs on Asian ladies who can’t pronounce “R” and cook with weird foods, black men who only talk like every Samuel Jackson character, and a guy named Mohammed who is self righteously upset at insults to his religion... then this book is not for you. If you liked Big Trouble in Little China, We’re the Millers, or Horrible Bosses, then you will get the non-PC, so-wrong-it’s-funny style of this book.

As an Asian woman whose grandmother had both the accent and the love of pickled pigs feet (ack!), I laughed along. I also note that for every race, religion, or cultural joke, there was an equally brutal joke at the expense of white men. Perhaps even MORE jokes at the white mans’ expense than any other. Take for instance Ray, the white, balding, retired cop who kept getting catfished in his quest to find love via the net (reminded me of Scully or Hitchcock from Brooklyn Nine Nine TV show). Or the main character himself, the beta male, who reminded me of Dale from the Horrible Bosses movies... forever put upon and rather pathetic, but we the listener get to cruelly laugh at his expense.

And yes, while the humor is at times raw, vulgar, and R rated in weird, creepy, and awkward ways (alley harpy hand job scene ... wtf), I actually enjoyed the crazy variety of characters (takes place in San Francisco after all). Also, I liked the diversity and strength of the female characters. While they were white, Charlie’s sister is a lesbian, his employee Lily is a woke goth teenager completely confident in her relations with men, and there‘s a Russian neighbor who goes thru life finding everything “like bear;” not one of these characters was weak.

The pacing could have been better. The plot holes were frustrating (really, he gets the Book of Death, the literal how-to manual for his new calling, and he leaves it on the shelf in his shop?!). The long, drawn out reveal explaining how everything works and who are the bad guys and why... served no creative purpose. But, I’m not listening for classic masterpieces; I’m listening for entertainment. Spent the week listening during my commute. Smiled, groaned, and eye rolled often enough that my carpool group took note and wanted in on the listen. All in all a worthy, gnarly listen... like bear!

Just not for me!

Increasingly, I feel out of touch with our death-obsessed culture. I find it depressing to be constantly confronted by things like skulls (and not on a jolly roger), zombies, vampires, mass shootings, murder and mayhem. And then there's this book: corpse-eating beasts in the sewers, a little girl who kills people, shadows crossing the land... I mean, to me, things are bad enough in the REAL world without having to wallow about in negativity in my fiction reading.

However, I'm sure there is an audience for this. I think I'm just witnessing another part of the schism bisecting our country. My interests are not here. My moral compass is set to a different star.