Noir: A Novel

Chris Moore delivers again! As true with any of his books, get ready to laugh until you have Coke come out of your nose. Seriously...these books should come with a disclaimer "Reader is warned to not operate this book while partaking of food, drink, hypodermic injection, inserting suppositories, trimming your nails, painting your nails, tying your shoes, plucking your eyebrows, applying eye makeup, shaving (his or hers), cooking, driving, standing, sitting, etc. Serious injury may be incurred due to excessive laughter during any of these situations."

arrived in 4 days using free shipping. another delightful piece of work from Christopher Moore. I now buy all his new releases in hardback thinking he should make some money for his efforts, and then I can reread them as needed. and there is a need.

Reserched well and snappily written "Noir" has all that we love about Chritopher Moore. Characters that draw you in and creatures that make you howl with laughter. A fun read by an awesome author. You's mugs better read it!

If you haven't read anything by Christopher Moore, I pity you. And I'm envious. Pity because you've missed some great reads. Envious because of his many books that I wish I could read for the first time.

For those of you that don't know, Mr. Moore is a very funny guy. But as good as he is at everything from concocting humorous situations to making you laugh out loud, he also tells a good story. His characters are likable and settings are well researched. This book is a good example, as I felt like I was really in 1947 San Francisco.

If you haven't read anything by him, "Noir" is a fine place to start, and I'm betting it will get you to read more of his work. If, like me, you're already a fan, I think you'll agree he came up with another winner.

"Noir," by Christopher More, was a clever romp! This fiction is set in the "Tenderloin," district of 1947 San Fransisco.

As suggested by it's title, you are sent to a "Black & White" image of as seedy bar, filled with disparate drunks and looser; where the slang of the day is the narrators of the book (which includes the protagonist "Sammy," and the voice of an African Black Mamba snake... yes a snake)

The story follows the lives of these night dwellers, which include, not only the aforementioned snake bu also a survivor of the famous "Roswell Flying Saucier... yes, an Alien!

I've read every one of Christopher Moore's novels and once, even tweeted a quick convo with the man himself. So...I'm admittedly a biased super fan. If you like his style, or that of other notable folks like Carl Hiaasen or Douglas Adam's, it's a safe bet you'll enjoy this Noir romp through San Fran in the late 1940's. I loved the setting; Moore got it right immediately and I was transported. Dames, Edward Hopper 'esque diners, Chinatown and the dingy bar scene were perfect. Prose was spot on as per Moores usual light-hearted and humorous storytelling. I loved it.

The rich tapestry of characters reminded me of "A Confederacy of dunces " and the way that he captured the soul of San Francisco reminds me of Tooles Nawlins! Christopher Moores humor is spot on as usual. You just anticipate consistent hilarity and he never seems to let me down. Highly recommended for all adults who love old movies particularly

A slightly different book, but an excellent and enjoyable read. The characters were well developed and the story was fast paced and a lot of fun. I laughed out loud so many times that my wife asked me to move to another room. As with most of Christopher’s books, the story took a couple of twists and turns in very unexpected directions, which were extremely amusing. Great book!

Damon Runyonesqe sci-fi, channeled by Biff through Petey. What could go wrong? Well, if written by Christopher Moore, very little.
Turns out, people in 1947 were only a little differently screwy than those in 2017. Both had the moonmen and Roswell.

This is another great novel by Christopher Moore. Uproariously funny, as usual. Still, I wonder why the store advertises on Breitbart. They could stop quite easily. Why support a site that is racist and hates women? C'mon Jeff, you're better than this.

Poorly conceived and even moore (sic) poorly executed. I've liked ll the previous books I've read by Moore which is all up to Lamb. This book just isn't funny. His attempts at what he believes too be 1940's banter & use of slang fall flat time and time again. I finally gave up around page 100 and put it down, something I rarely do with books.

This isn't a totally trademark Christopher Moore book, but you know what? I'm totally OK with that. People evolve and frankly I didn't want to read a formulaic novel.

I struggled a bit at first - I think Moore was working on creating the Noir feel and it just felt like a lot of words going nowhere. But I'm a fan and I knew that it couldn't be that far off the mark, so I needed to persevere. What came next was maybe a little sophisticated that we perhaps expect.

San Francisco 1947. Your ragtag bunch of misfits get caught up in something which would be too much to handle for most. Using their street smarts they slither from one trouble to the next yet manage to overcome. The characters are great (typically Moore) and at the center of story is the relationship between Two Toes and the Cheese, which I absolutely loved. I don't know what it was about those two together, but for me it was magic.

The only disappointment for me was the lack of laugh out loud moments. It's humorous but definitely more subdued.

San Francisco is often featured prominently in Moore novels, and this (for me) was a new and fresh look at the City. In the afterword he gives us a glimpse into the process of writing this book and into the people and places who influenced him. I loved that. It made the reading of the book more special.

I enjoyed it.

I have been a Christopher Moore fan since I discovered Lamb way back in the day. So when I hear he has a new book out, I generally make sure it's on my TBR pile to enjoy at some point. With this one, the throwback feel of a classic noir with Moore's trademark humor, I was intrigued.

I enjoyed this book - it was a fun romp, though I didn't tend to find it as LOL funny as some of his other books (Lamb being my favorite). Men in Black, aliens, Dames, poisonous snakes...the list goes on and on with crazy characters all thrown together that somehow work. Thus is the Magic of Moore ;)

Overall, I would recommend it, though again - it didn't have quite the...zany feel of many of Moore's books. But the story was so much fun that, in the end, it didn't really matter.

Moore can be a polarizing writer because his humor occasionally veers sideways and his writing can be over the top. But you know what- if you're looking for something different that will make you smile (if not laugh out loud) this latest is for you (and also if you haven't read him before.) I enjoyed his take on the noir genre, which has its own quirks, and think his effort was spot on. You get a mysterious alien, a bartender named "two toes" , a woman named Stilton, and an entirely implausible but highly entertaining tale. It's told from several perspectives (and just who the narrator is will not be immediately apparent.). Thanks to Edelweiss for the ARC. This isn't for everyone but I enjoyed it, especially as a break from more serious thrillers and the evening news. If Hollywood wouldn't ruin it.....

Christopher Moore’s fantasy novels have explored a wide variety of topics, from vampires to Shakespeare to Jesus, with his characteristic humor and unique perspective. In his latest outing, Noir, Moore takes on the stereotypical hard-boiled detective stories set in the post-WWII era. At the front of the book is a disclaimer that reminds readers that the story’s historical and cultural context differs greatly from today’s, and that some may find the attitudes and vocabulary of the characters offensive if viewed through a contemporary lens. Sammy “Two Toes” Tiffin is a salty character working a bar in 1947 San Francisco. As in many Noir tales, he encounters a mysterious and alluring femme fatale who saunters into the bar one night, and he is immediately entranced by her. Sammy attempts to continue their flirtation while chasing down a money-making scheme involving poisonous snakes and the elders of Chinatown. His boss also wants him to use his connections to obtain some “company” for a party thrown by a General from the area of Roswell. Of course, with Moore at the helm, things soon spin off into strange and amusing territory, tying together the different character and plot elements. Noir is fast-paced and witty, but probably not Moore’s best. In attempting to parody the hard-boiled genre, he piles on the misogynistic and racial stereotypes he is trying to skewer. Some might find the result to be a bit tiresome and repetitious. Still, Moore is always entertaining and innovative, making Noir a worthwhile addition to a list of summer reads.

No one does loony satire like Christopher Moore. Returning to San Francisco, the site of his vampire trilogy and his "A Dirty Job" / "Secondhand Souls" duo. In this book he traverses the familiar streets of the City by the Bay in an unfamiliar time, the transitional years in the aftermath of World War II. And only Christopher Moore could bring together the disparate group of characters that inhabit this story – a gimpy bartender with a secret to keep, a dishy blonde with a past that isn’t what it seems, a Chinese doorman at a swanky nightclub, a black mamba named Petey – and an alien from Area 51… Throw in government conspiracy, a whole troop of “men-in-black“ prototypes, and a waterfront drag club run by a tough-talking lesbian and you have classic Moore.
The plot of “Noir” is almost too manic to explain, and to be honest, I think I’m going to have to read it at least once more to wrap my head around it – but suffice it to say that if you are a Christopher Moore fan you are going to be happy when this book hits the stores in April

I feel pretty comfortable right out of the gate saying: if you haven't read Christopher Moore before, don't start here. This isn't a bad book or a good book. It's like an extra bag of airplane pretzels: don't need ‘em, but sure I'll take one, and actually thanks, I enjoyed those, but I'm not journaling about it on my blog later.

So what Christopher Moore novel should you read first? Well, that's hard for me to say. I guess I liked Lamb the best, but I've only read Lamb, Fluke, and the Stupidest Angel. All three, like this one, are ridiculous, as they are intended, but none for me reached that 'Airplane' level of ridiculousness that signifies a classic. And they aren't Terry Pratchett funny either - think less witty humor and more tomato throwing or banana peel slipping humor. But they are funny. If you've read Moore in the past and loved him, you'll enjoy this. If you didn't, this won't do much for you, but it also won't have you stacking it in the bathroom cabinet in case of a post-apocalyptic toilet paper shortage along with those James Patterson novels you accidentally read.

Noir fails in three ways. First: it doesn't have a great story. Second: it takes way too long to get going. By itself, a slow start isn’t a death sentence, but when combined with problem number one, it’s a potential DNFer. Three: the 'noirisms' and attempts at humor are so frequent and so frequently fall flat that it becomes a slog to read through them.

Where Noir does succeed is in its setting and some of the side characters. I really enjoyed reading about this post war San Francisco, and the scenes revolving around Lone were not only funny, but felt authentic in a way the rest of the book didn't. I loved those scenes. A shout out to the terrible kid too, he was hilarious.

Disclosure: I received an ARC of Noir as part of a goodreads giveaway.

First things first, I love the cover of this book! Do you ever pick a book because of the cover? I do and I would grab this one in a heart beat. The pin up girl in bright red and the two men in black suits and fedoras screams 1947. The golden gate bridge is also displayed lending a hint to the setting of the story. There is a snake and a green three fingered hand resting on the title that adds a bit of mystery to the overall design. This is cover love at it’s finest.

In the summer of 1947, San Francisco is changing. The war is over and work is hard to come by. Sammy “Two Toes” Tiffin is a bartender at a seedy gin joint when one night a dame named Stilton, aka the Cheese, walks in and Sammy falls hard. They spend time together and enjoy some razzmatazz until one night the Cheese goes missing. Sammy sets out to rescue her and save her from the two mugs in black suits. However, what he finds he never expected. With a colorful cast of characters and bountiful twists and turns down dark alley’s, we are off on an adventure.

Satire abounds in the novel with a heavy dose of humor. Some may be offended at the language and the political incorrectness; but I was not. I loved the slang of 1949 America. There are two narrators in the story; Sammy and an unknown, (“Don’t worry about who I am, I know things.”). We do find out who the second narrator is towards the end of the book and you will be surprised. One of my favorite characters is the moonman. The Roswell crash happened in June 1947, so why not include it in the book, Christopher Moore style of course. Moore explains many historical details and the noir genre in the Afterword. This enhanced the book tremendously and I recommend reading it before beginning the novel. A solid four star read with lots of entertainment!

Thank you to Bestsellersworld.com for a copy of the book for an honest review.

This is what happens when Christopher Moore writes a noir novel. As he explains in the Afterword, he set out to write in the spirit of “Raymond Chandler meets Jim Thompson”, something dark and desperate. But it comes out more, as he says, “Perky Noir”, like “Damon Runyan meets Bugs Bunny.”

It could go really badly wrong, but it doesn’t. I enjoyed this book as much as anything I’ve read in years.

The only other book by Moore I’ve read is Lamb, and, although I enjoyed that (and also gave it 5 stars) it teetered on the edge of just being silly and losing contact with what it satirized. There has to be a genuineness, I think, when you make fun of a subject or a genre — the way you make fun of it has to respect it and show what’s really good about it.
There just aren’t any misses, I think, in this one.

The central character in the story is Sammy, a bartender in San Francisco, with a damaged foot. He’s a noir underdog. Stilton is the “dame” in the story. She walks into the bar where he works, and they fall in a noirish kind of love. Sammy’s boss, Sal, is a schemer, and a bumbler. He’s somehow hooked up with a General, Remy, who wants to get into the Bohemian Club. Sal is going to help him by supplying respectable-ish girls for Remy to, in turn, supply for his guest appearance at the Club’s camp, the Bohemian Grove. And Sal turns to Sammy for help.

Of course, it isn’t going to go right. None of the characters play the roles they are supposed to play in anybody’s plan. People die, but somehow it befits them. Sammy and Stilton get into serious trouble, and they pull together in pulling out of it. And there are space aliens, actually at the center of the whole thing.

The story is set in 1947, the year of the Roswell episode. But that’s all in the background until we’re well into the story. Moore does his job of letting his characters display who they are, how they think, and how they act, and much of the story is just that. Good noir, for me, is more about characters — including not only people, but places, and even things — and Moore got that dead-on. There’s the cab driver who doesn’t drive, the war hero who was never in the war, the elderly Chinese man whose wisdom is all balled up with criminal know-how, the good-hearted bouncer who aspires to join the Secret Service to protect President Roosevelt (no one dares tell him Roosevelt is dead), the cop who spends most of the story incapacitated by heroin, . . .

Moore puts all these people (and aliens) together, gives them a plot and a place, and lets them run with it.

I can’t say enough how right Moore got everything. In his Afterward, he gives some glimpses of the research he did, to get the feel right, the places right, and the times right. It really paid off.

It’s 1947 in San Francisco, and bartender Sammy’s life is about to change forever. Not only is he smitten with the gorgeous blonde Stilton (as in The Cheese), but she’s smitten with him too. But there have been strange things going on of late, including sightings of UFOs and something weird happening in Roswell, New Mexico, and the air force general leading the base there has come to San Francisco in a bid to be invited to join the Bohemian Club. He asks Sammy to help him achieve that end, and before too long all sorts of plans are going awry….Christopher Moore writes very funny stories, and his spoofing of hard-boiled noir from the 1940s is very funny indeed. He does put in a disclaimer at the very beginning, noting that the language used in 1940s America concerning gender, race and culture could be offensive to some readers, but if you can’t separate the satire of the story from the author, you probably wouldn’t like this book anyway. Given that he throws in everything but the proverbial kitchen sink, it’s quite a delicious guilty pleasure to watch him juggle all the balls he throws into the air in this book; a lot of fun.

First off, as the author admits in the afterward, this book is more comedic than dark. So don't expect anything more noir than, say Roger Rabbit. Which is perfectly fine because the story is great (and unpredictable), the writing is sharp, and the humor is sometimes laugh-out-loud funny without degenerating into farce. I actually came to care about the characters, which shows that the story is deeper than just some jokes.

There are several things I especially liked about this book. One is the sense of time and place. Moore knows modern San Francisco well, but he clearly did his research on what the city was like in the post-WW II years. Another thing I liked was the storyline, which was fresh and smart, and which moved along at a brisk (sometimes breakneck) pace. And I like Moore's writing. It's bright, with just enough details to give scenes life without bogging them down. The secondary characters were a lot of fun too.

There were a few POV shifts that, while clever, didn't work as well intended. They tended to be somewhat jarring. And the protagonist's backstory, hinted at for most of the book, finally came out in an expository chapter that felt awkwardly slotted in. These are minor complaints, however. Overall I enjoyed the book a great deal.

One of the great things about Christopher Moore novels is that you never really know where they're coming from or where they're going. "Noir" is no exception to the rule. Moore has picked what seems like an obscure period of recent history (1947) and a relatively quiet place at the time (San Francisco) as the setting for the novel. Seems quirky at first, but there's a plan there as things get whacky and go whackier. Central characters here are two of the walking wounded of WWII--Sammy the bartender and Stilton (aka The Cheese) a diner waitress, who fall for each other and are both the unlikely heroes and victims of the story's outlandish actions.

If that description isn't enough to whet your whistle, you can also look forward to some great moments with a Chinese sidekick (zoot-suited and slang-addicted), Uncle Ho, who has an unsavory affinity for cats, members of the Bohemian Club, the commander of the USAF Base at Roswell New Mexico, a profane seven-year old kid, the King of SF drag kings, Sammy's Black guardian angel, Thelonious Jones, and first among equals, Petey, the black mamba who is at the center of the action. Also in the cast is the author's wildcard visitor, who cannot be mentioned in this review as it would take things too close to spoiler territory.

"Noir" took a little patience at the outset, but becomes increasingly entertaining as you move toward its conclusion. Great, fun read that will make you a Christopher Moore fan for life if you aren't already there.

Just finished Christopher Moore’s Noir, which I borrowed from Barb after she bought it at Literati. You can see her review here. We think this is the first time we’ve both reviewed the same book, not counting our annual reading project.

First, until I read the afterword, I didn’t realize that Moore was born in Toledo–where we both live–and grew up in Mansfield, which is a couple hours from here. So that’s a coincidence I didn’t expect.

It’s a really good book. I have often said that it is far harder to be funny on purpose than it is to be serious. Anyone who has tried to tell a joke to a live audience–even to lead off a presentation–has learned this fact. It is far easier to make people cry and failure is far less obvious. For that reason, I believe that funny writing is pretty rare.

Moore excels with smart-ass dialogue, which is only part of the job, but he also does something that I would contend is the quadruple axle of writing, which is to convey a sight gag entirely with words.

Moore also has a terrific ability to capture a milieu, something I have seen from him in numerous books. In this one, he writes in the cadence of a noir movie–in fact, you could read most of it with the clipped tones of a fedora-wearing private eye or the streetwise growl of a dame. Believe me, I tested this, to the annoyance of other people, and by that I mean Barb.

To annoy your own loved ones, read this quote aloud in Noirspeak and see if I’m not right:

“She had the kind of legs that kept her butt from resting on her shoes—a size-eight dame in a size-six dress and every mug in the joint was rooting for the two sizes to make a break for it as they watched her wiggle in the door and shimmy onto a barstool with her back to the door.”

Or from the dame.

“It’s French,” she said. “They designed it like a zoo—you know, keep ’em in, but give everyone a good look at ’em…”

Lastly, Moore has the most important ability of a novelist, which is that he never loses sight of the story. In Noir, we’re talking a pretty crazy plot, but his job is to keep you reading and laughing at the same time, and he does it as well as anyone. There’s no gratuity. All the jokes arise organically from thes tory.

I love literary humor writing. My two favorite books of all time are Catch-22 and A Confederacy of Dunces. And I am a big of Chris Moore’s, including, now, this book along with Sacre Bleu and Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal (“sin is moist). I may have to take some time to work through his back catalog. It’s a cliche to say something is “laugh out loud funny” unless you were actually laughing out loud. Which I was.

Two of my favorite things, reading noir crime novels, and reading the latest Christopher Moore novel, are both more than satisfied with the author's just published and hilarious novel, Noir.
Neon lit Frisco. 1947. Hot summer and a hot dame, with the cheesy name of Stilton, enters and settles in on a bar stool in a gin joint, a block out of Chinatown, where Sammy "Two Toes" Tiffin tends bar. All heads turn, and drinks pause in amazed observation.
"She had the kind of legs that kept her butt from resting on her shoes - a size eight dame in a size six dress." Sammy was instantly smitten, and thus begins the laugh a page romp through 339 pages.
With a loving nod to Raymond Chandler, Dash Hammett, and Mickey Spillane, Christopher Moore pays homage to some of the great masters of noir fiction, and if they were in the bar, Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe, and Mike Hammer, would be roaring with laughter, and sighing with nostalgia at this endearing, laugh-a-page yarn that pays respect, but also brings noir fiction to a new and fresh level.
Get it, read it, and you'll love it.

Christopher Moore is so funny! After tackling the French Impressionists, the Grim Reaper and Shakespeare, he showed this dame a good time in this super-fun romp through San Francisco in 1947. Using all the typical clichés in an original way, this book tells the story of Sammy, a bartender, who falls for a femme not so fatale named Stilton (like the cheese). There are goons, snakes and aliens. Moore really knows how to recreate the language and feel of the Sam Spade canon. Some chapters are told by Sammy and others by an omniscient narrator that, when I realized who it was, made me fall on the floor laughing. Johnny Heller gives a great performance on the Audiobook. Movie lovers and people with a sense of humor will enjoy this book.
I won this Audiobook through a Harper Collins giveaway, but all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased.

Mr. Moore places his latest novel in 1940s San Francisco and sets up the noir genre in hilarious fashion. With his unique fusion of the real, unreal and surreal, Moore has served up a decidedly wacky stew of MIB, crooked cops, shady Asians, a foul-mouthed urchin with a truly risible malapropist vocabulary, loose ladies, lesbian lairs, desperate drunks, a driving-shy cab driver, a kidnapped alien and a runaway black mamba called Petey.

In a web of deceit and lies so tangled Machiavelli would have difficulty unraveling it, the plot skims along with unpredictable results, both bullets and the laughs flying in almost equal profusion. This is Moore at his giddy best, proving once again his adeptness in almost any literary genre. Whether it’s crime, fantasy, science fiction or the supernatural, Moore delivers.