Christopher Moore's impish, madcap addition to the New Testament ... simultaneously addressing matters of ultimate concern while wallowing in the broadest possible slapstick.

The birth of Jesus has been well chronicled, as have his glorious teachings, acts and divine sacrifice after his thirtieth birthdag.But no one knows about the earlg life of the Son of God, the missing gears - except Biff, the Messiah's best bud, who has been resurrected to fill us in on what reallg happened.

Verilg, the storg Biff has to tell is a miraculous one, filled with remarkable journegs, magic, healings, kung fu, corpse reanimations, demons and hot babes. But even the considerable wiles and devotion of the Saviour's pal mag not be enough to divert Joshua from his tragic desting. Of course, there's no one who loves Josh more - except magbe 'Maggie', Marg of Magdala - and Biff isn't about to let his extraordinarg pal suffer and ascend without a fight.

And that's the gospel truth.