I found this slightly-battered softcover at the Little Free Library in Waltham, while dropping off some books of my own. It's among my favorite Moore books, so I nabbed it to register and release.

I first read this book years ago via this copy from BCer ottawabill, and enjoyed it very much. In fact, "Lust Lizard" is one of my favorite Moore books [though nothing's beaten "Lamb" so far]. It's got a flavor of the wonderfully cheesy "giant monster" B-movies, blended with some small-town angst, interestingly varied sex [Would you believe inflatable dolphins? How about weed-whackers? I swear I'm not making this up], relatively low-key (under the circumstances) violence, and a hint or three of H. P. Lovecraft - along with a lot of humor, from the subtle to the very rude indeed. I laughed a lot.

Some of the prose is wonderfully purple, as in this description of the Head of the Slug Saloon:

"The Slug was full of Blues and smoke and people chasing shots and running from sadness. If they'd been dogs, they would have all been in the yard eating grass and trying to yak up whatever was making them feel so lousy. Not a bone gnawed, not a ball chased - all tails went unwagged. Oh, life is a fast cat, a short leash, a flea in that place where you just can't scratch. It was dog sad in there, and Catfish Jefferson was the designated howler."

Or this, my favorite literary sound effect of the week:

" ...a roaring that sounded like someone had dropped the entire cast of 'The Lion King' in a deep fryer"

Despite the previous passages, the book's not a downer at all; in fact, calling it "the feel-good giant-monster book of the last decade" would not be out of line. The cast of characters is fun, too, from the former scream queen to the Terminatrix/saloon-owner, the pothead sheriff to the aged Bluesman, and the frisky dog to the really big lizard... Strongly recommended.

Oh, the book's a semi-sequel to Practical Demonkeeping - that is, the book stands alone, but shares a location and some secondary characters with the earlier book. I don't think it hurts the experience to read this one without having read that first, but if you can manage it, start with "Demonkeeping".

[There's a TV Tropes page on the novel.]

I plan to leave this book in the reading rack at the back of the shop at around 1:30; hope the finder enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in NH here.]

*** Released for the 2017 4 Elements release challenge. ***

*** Released for the 2017 Oh, the Places We Can Go release challenge. ***

*** Released for the 2017 Celebrate the Irish release challenge, for its green cover. ***