INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!The absurdly outrageous, sarcastically satiric, and always entertaining New York Times bestselling author Christopher Moore returns in finest madcap form with this zany noir set on the mean streets of post-World War II San Francisco, and featuring a diverse cast of characters, including a hapless bartender; his Chinese sidekick; a doll with sharp angles and … sidekick; a doll with sharp angles and dangerous curves; a tight-lipped Air Force general; a wisecracking waif; Petey, a black mamba; and many more.
San Francisco. Summer, 1947. A dame walks into a saloon . . .
It’s not every afternoon that an enigmatic, comely blonde named Stilton (like the cheese) walks into the scruffy gin joint where Sammy “Two Toes” Tiffin tends bar. It’s love at first sight, but before Sammy can make his move, an Air Force general named Remy arrives with some urgent business. ’Cause when you need something done, Sammy is the guy to go to; he’s got the connections on the street.
Meanwhile, a suspicious flying object has been spotted up the Pacific coast in Washington State near Mount Rainer, followed by a mysterious plane crash in a distant patch of desert in New Mexico that goes by the name Roswell. But the real weirdness is happening on the streets of the City by the Bay.
When one of Sammy’s schemes goes south and the Cheese mysteriously vanishes, Sammy is forced to contend with his own dark secrets—and more than a few strange goings on—if he wants to find his girl.
Think Raymond Chandler meets Damon Runyon with more than a dash of Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes All Stars. It’s all very, very Noir. It’s all very, very Christopher Moore.
more
What I love about Christopher Moore is you never know where exactly he is going until you get there but it’s a fun ride. Noir is a funny, and silly story with weird and interesting characters that make you want more after the last page is read.
This is prime Christopher Moore: a little twisted, very funny, and sweet. This book is worth reading for the “tough guy” idioms alone. My only beef with the book is the POV flipping from first to third. I know that’s a trend, but it seems lazy.
I’ve been enamored with Chris Moore’s work since the beginning. Always fun and funny. Noir is a great gateway book to his work, though I usually suggest people start with his earlier work, all of which I love. Can’t wait to see what he comes up with next…
Simply an amazing book. A superbly written, zany, chaotic book that’s deep in the crazy. Couldn’t put it down…
Actually, I like all of the Christopher Moore books I have read so far. This one is particularly fun. I listened to it on Audible and the reader was excellent and really helped set the tone.
I listened to this book at the gym and it made me laugh out loud so many times I almost fell off my elliptical machine! I will definitely be picking up more book by Christopher Moore!
I’ve loved Christopher Moore’s books for a long time, starting with YOU SUCK: A LOVE STORY, and this one does not disappoint. An absolutely hilarious romp through noir tropes, set against a backdrop of post-WWII San Francisco, complete with gangsters, Chinatown, deadly snakes…and Moon Men.
just weird
I’m a big fan of Christopher Moore and this book delivers what I always expect from him; engaging characters, an updated twist on a classic genre and handful of things you don’t expect but totally make sense in the end.
A beautiful blonde walks into a San Francisco gin joint, and Sammy “Two Toes” Tiffin is suddenly smitten by the mysterious woman named Stilton (after the cheese). Thus begins Christopher Moore’s tale of Noir. It’s 1947, and the Allies have won the war. Now regular folks are scraping by and trying to get through a rough and dangerous world, and hoping to maybe earn a bit of dough on the side. Sammy is a man with a lot of plans and schemes – Sammy knows people – he’s friends with all sorts around town, and for that he is dragged into a plan by his boss at the saloon to help an Air Force General get into a swanky nob club. But Sammy has several irons in the fire and as his plans for a quick buck begin to unravel, Sammy soon learns how closely all these strange events are connected together. As his new girl, the Cheese, goes missing Sammy must avoid being caught by the mysterious guys wearing black suits and sunglasses as he saves the Cheese and uncovers a mystery that is out of this world.
I really enjoy Christopher Moore, and Noir does not disappoint. It is a gritty, hard-boiled story filled with many nods, winks, and nudges at classic noir fiction. But it is classic Moore as well, so his Noir is also filled with a lot of sly and witty humor on the side. The combination is a fun-filled adventure that mixes pulp sci-fi with pulp fiction. I swear that Moore makes an attempt to use every bit of noir slang in the story, and the characters are rich and full of life. As the story unfolded I could picture the scenes rolling out like classic film noir, with enough dark humor to cause me to burst out laughing several times. Sammy is the classic noir hero – the regular guy, working a crummy job, and who is trying to do better at life but doing it by the seat of his pants. Into Sammy’s life walks the mysterious and sultry Stilton (don’t call her Toots), a woman who takes no guff from anybody and who has more secrets than you can shake a stick at. Together they make a great pair, playing off each other and basically making up everything as they go along, hoping to come out okay at the end. The other characters the Moore sprinkles into the mix, from Sal, Sammy’s boss and a regular douchbag, to Sammy’s friends and ersatz assistants, to the mysterious Men in Black, all make this is fun and entertaining read.
I listened to the audio version that was expertly read by Johnny Heller. Heller does a fantastic job of bringing life to all of the characters, and you can hear the influences from Bogart, Cagney, Ladd, and Burr throughout the narration. Heller sets the stage and his voices immerse you into the wonderful world that Moore has created.
I highly recommend this entertaining and witty interpretation of the classic noir genre.
I have to say that this was an interesting book, but not interesting enough for me to finish. By the time I got to this review, I actually forgot what I read. All I remember was that it seems well-written and mildly interesting, but well into the book I still couldn’t figure out where it was going.
Love the genre, loved the hook.
I really like this author…this is not his best book but very enjoyable
Typical rib-splitting humor from Christopher Moore. He succeeds in capturing every nuance of the noir genre while not allowing you to leave a page without a ton of laughter. He’s created great characters in a zany story that carry you along on a rapid dash to its conclusion. A great read!
It doesn’t seem to be Christopher Moore at his best, but it’s still pretty good and totally outrageous. With very weird characters, some lovable, some not, and 1940’s San Francisco settings in very strange places. A fun read, but not one of his best. Still worth the time.
A good book, but not his best.
This was just a really fun book that brought several enigmatic entities together in the classical sense of NOIR where things just seem to get worse and worse and the protagonist gets deeper and deeper in trouble. This was a great book and I would highly recommend it.
Funny and entertaining. Mr. Moore kept his promise about the genre; however, he just couldn’t help himself. He had to insert some illogical and other worldly characters to assure we diehards that he has not lost his sense of absurdity. I love you, Christopher Moore!
If you don’t know Christopher Moore’s work you owe it to yourself to get acquainted. I first found this entertaining, irreverent, author reading Lamb and have looked forward to his books ever since. Always fun, extremely enjoyable and slightly off the wall Noir is no exception. Characters you’ll like, love, and dislike take the reader on a wild ride. It’s always fun when I, as a reader, am surprised by what happens on the next page.
Christopher Moore has written about the best friend of Jesus and two books about Shakespeare’s fool, among other. So what you can expect from him is nothing, you just have to roll with it. This time, “Noir” is about a down on his luck bartender in post-WWII San Francisco who encounters the love his life named for a cheese, a bratty kid, a U.S. Army general seeking good-time girls, and a mysterious crash in Roswell. And that’s just half the story. The perfect beach read.