false 5931576 3 The thing was big and white and hairy, and it was eating all the ice cream in the walk-in freezer. Four dozen chewed-up, empty cartons testified that it had already devoured half of the inventory, and it wasn't full yet. Judy beat a hasty retreat and walked to the produce aisle, where Dave was stocking lettuce... Meet Monster. Meet Judy. Two humans who don't like each other much, but together must fight dragons, fire-breathing felines, trolls, Inuit walrus dogs, and a crazy cat lady - for the future of the universe. Monster runs a pest control agency. He's overworked and has domestic troubles - like having the girlfriend from hell. Judy works the night shift at the local Food Plus Mart. Not the most glamorous life, but Judy is happy. No one bothers her and if she has to spell things out for the night-manager every now and again, so be it. But when Judy finds a Yeti in the freezer aisle eating all the Rocky Road, her life collides with Monster's in a rather alarming fashion. Because Monster doesn't catch raccoons; he catches the things that go bump in the night. Things like ogres, trolls, and dragons. Oh, and his girlfriend from Hell? She actually <i>is</i> from Hell. 6104018 book 11 5 2009 Monster total:187|5:33|4:77|3:54|2:22|1:1| 187 680 382 55 3 1 false false Tue Jul 14 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 21 08:24:11 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 18 00:04:36 -0700 2009 1
A. Lee Martinez has written an incredibly fun, unique, fu...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 05 11:54:10 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 05 11:55:00 -0700 2009 http://www.hipsterbookclub.com/reviews/c...

In his new novel, Monster, A. Lee Martinez serves up an urban fantasy escapade bursting with biting humor and sarcasm. Through genuine and realistically flawed characters, madcap scenarios, and glimpses of philosophical pe...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun May 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue May 26 11:32:15 -0700 2009 Tue May 26 11:52:20 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Aug 13 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 12 08:05:52 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 13 20:54:21 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Jul 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 11 17:05:33 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 13 09:44:05 -0700 2009
A quick run down of the book.

It's about a person who traps monsters for a living; with his origami gnome side kick. His life sucks and he hates it all, until he's called to the scene of a yeti attack at a uni-mart. He meets up with a young ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Jun 06 07:14:32 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 11 06:52:35 -0700 2009
Unexpected side effect during or after reading: A new desire to have a paper gnome sidekick.

New thing I learned from reading this book: Unicorns aren't real.

General observations: A. Lee Martinez is working on Christopher Moore's turf with ...more...]]> 3 1 false false Thu Aug 13 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 08 07:11:51 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 13 21:09:08 -0700 2009 Monster is a light and frothy confection. It doesn't feel quite like a full meal on its own; perhaps one could use it as a palate cleanser between Ian McEwan's Atonement and Cormac McCarthy's The Road.

Author A. Lee Martinez appears to be having a lot of fun here. The book is an urban fa...more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Jun 16 13:56:35 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 28 14:49:33 -0700 2009
It unfortunately suffers from a case of meandering story and deus ex machina.

This isn't to say it's bad. The story of Monster,...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Apr 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 23 15:24:24 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 23 15:24:24 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 19 11:54:19 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 30 04:03:29 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Thu Sep 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 10 12:38:47 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 10 12:42:44 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 03 11:10:32 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 03 11:16:42 -0700 2009
If there is anything in the world of Cryptozoology that needs hunted, contained or captured, l...more...]]> 3 0 false true Wed Jul 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 20 12:54:03 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 23 11:44:18 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jul 05 16:44:22 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 06 18:49:44 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Wed Jul 01 23:22:14 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 01 23:22:14 -0700 2009 SF Site: A. Lee Martinez continues to be one of those authors who reinvent themselves with every book, never settling for telling the same sort of story twice. This time around, we're presented with a bizarre urban fantasy that reads like a cross between Neil Gaiman, Tom Holt and Christopher Moore....more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 09 09:43:15 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 09 09:49:18 -0700 2009
Sometimes, well, usually, when I read about one of his forthcoming books, the characters don't sound very appealing or likeable. But I kn...more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu May 14 17:58:30 -0700 2009 Thu May 14 17:58:30 -0700 2009 http://io9.com/5254875/subversive-mutant...more...]]> 4 0 true false Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 20 18:03:26 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 26 00:26:52 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Aug 13 21:27:41 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 13 21:33:40 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sat Aug 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 03 10:14:53 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 03 10:16:22 -0700 2009
--Jed]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=5931576