You Suck: A Love Story by Christopher Moore

photo of 5 yellow stars on a pink and blue background

A Dirty Job (paid link) was my first Moore novel because I bought the e-book on sale.

That novel inspired one of the short stories in my thesis, Electric Angels.

It taught me that even if there are rules and your characters are the only ones who know how it works, it all works together.

book cover for You Suck: A Love Story
book cover for You Suck: A Love Story

I love the irreverent tone in this novel that is classic Moore.

Having soaked up what I could at the TCM Presents the Master of Suspense: 50 Years of Hitchcock class, it’s that these are ordinary, everyday people thrown into extraordinary situations.

I love the embrace of the absurd that his characters get into here.

Not once did I feel like they weren’t the same decisions I would make, at least based on the situation.

All his characters feel like people you’d meet at the grocery store (or working the night shift at Safeway, as it were).

I enjoyed the unapologetic world-building.

Moore’s fantastical world takes place in San Francisco.

After attending school there for two years, I could see these people roaming around the City.

His writing style is fun because he doesn’t hold your hand.

If you can’t imagine vampires in San Francisco, move on because this story’s chugging along, whether you like it or not.

He throws back to his previous novels quite quickly, and that’s because they take place near each other.

He builds on the mythology of weird things like vampires and vampire slayers.

This will be a quick, fun read if you’re into succinct novels that build on previous books.

However, you don’t need to have read the earlier novels in the series because he peppers enough details to keep the story moving.

I recommend it.

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