Turns out that Ms. Valerie Riordan. Pine Cove's local--and only--psychiatrist has taken everyone off their anti-depressants after the death of one of her patients. Val feels as if she is over-prescribing these medications and wants to be free of the shackles of pharmacology. The problem is, though, now everyone in town is a horn-dog and jumping each other's bones like a prarrie dog with a harem.
A Giant Sea Beast, prone to mood swings, lives in the deep water channel of the Monterey Bay. Turns out, he's a Lust Lizard. Whenever horny folk are about, he get's...well...a bit excited himself and wants a human snack.
Molly Michon, a washed-up B-movie actress, is one of Val's patients and when she comes off her meds, her brain chemistry goes out of whack. The Lust Lizard, now on land, finds Molly strangely attractive and a sexual encounter with a motorized weed-whacker soon ensues.
From bionic women, to blues men without the blues, I laughed myself silly reading this. My girlfriend nudged me whenever I giggled in bed, causing the mattress to shake while she tried to nod off for the night. "Stop it!" she'd say.
"I can't help it! This is so damn funny."
And you'll feel the same way. A story that comes together masterfully. Chris Moore is "Da Man."
A+ rating
I won't try to summarize the plot, but among the elements of it, you've got this "lust lizard," which is really more of a horny undersea dinosaur. Then the hero is a town constable with a horrible marijuana habit. There's a washed-up, insane B-movie star living in a trailer. A bar owner who is made up mostly of fake parts. A biologist studying rats. A corrupt sheriff. A pharmacist with unnatural yearnings for sea mammals. A blues musician with a giant catfish in his past. And so on. You begin to get the idea.
What's fun about this book is that aside from the wacky plot, Moore writes with such verve and energy. It zooms along, peppered with lots of little asides and casual observations which in many ways are the funniest parts of the book. And while totally crazy and unlikely, the characters become very endearing as the book goes on, and there are even moments of romance which manage to VERY briefly add a touch of seriousness to the goings-on.
The book is not for kids. It does have some bad language, and while not exactly explicit, the sexuality that is explored is odd, to say the least. But for an adult with a slightly off-kilter sense of humor, I highly recommend it. Now, on to ISLAND OF SEQUINED LOVE NUNS!!