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Sam Hill's debut novel BUZZ MONKEY was rather fun, but there are some second outing problems with BUZZ RIFF. Not in the action, as Hill keeps a story moving, and there's a black humour behind it all, but in character motivations. Any writer takes a risk in creating a heavily-flawed character. If you're Patricia Highsmith and Ripley, you get away with it. Hill doesn't quite. In BUZZ RIFF, it feels like One Damn Thing After Another. And you can't help but feel that a lot of what happens to the hero, Top Keirnan, is his fault. Top runs a research firm in Athens, Georgia. It's been a useful legal front for his other activities – working as a mercenary. When BUZZ RIFF opens, though, things aren't looking good. His former office manager and lover Gillie has legged it with a chunk of his cash and half of his clients. And the firm who gave him freelance operative work won't do so any more, as they think he's out of control. This is a bloke with serious anger management issues and a worrying love of violence. At one point he admits: "Violence does seem to find me a lot" and his friend Dee Lane retorts: "Violence has your number on speed dial." This reader couldn't help but wonder why Top didn't take Gillie to court and be done with it to get the money back. After all, if the business is supposed to be legal . . . This of course would have deprived the book of its main plot angle. So the serious lack of cash means Top takes a job to recover the Bloody Red Rag, the flag supposedly used to mop up the blood of American Civil War General 'Stonewall' Jackson. The flag is owned by a controversial right-wing historian, Professor Jay Pope-Scott. The search brings Top into contact with tattoo artists, crazy fundamentalist churches and a collection of worryingly bonkers collectors. What made the first book – and to some extent this one as well – a worthwhile read was the relationship between Top and his friends Dee Lane, Benny and Bob John. The latter, a DEA agent, takes a back seat in BUZZ RIFF, but the other two are part of the, um, fun, and provide the story with a much-needed fillip when they're on-stage. If you can tolerate books where the men run around getting all the action and shedding a lot of blood as they go, then BUZZ RIFF will suit you fine. In Hill's world, the women either sit around looking decorative or play the vixen. Just occasionally – but only if they're a librarian – they're allowed to have a good idea.
Reviewed by Sharon Wheeler, August 2006
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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