Buzz Riff: A Novel of Crime

by Sam Hill

After his successful debut in Buzz Monkey, Top Kiernan is back. Only life in Athens, Georgia has grown more complicated. His former office manager (and ex-lover) has stolen half his clients and set up shop on her own. Top's no longer banking big bucks as an operative for Shaw’s Mercantile Marine, which has found his addiction to the adrenaline buzz a dangerous risk. He's six months behind in mortgage payments, and Fourth Federal is set to foreclose. So, for all his objections—the job’s too small, the client’s a racist—has no choice, really. He needs the twenty thousand. All he has to do is recover a Confederate battle flag—the one that stanched General “Stonewall” Jackson’s wounds when he was fatally shot on May 2, 1863, and in that instant became an American relic of incalculable value. Top’s search for the flag takes him and his friends on a raucous jaunt from Athens to the mansion of a multimillionaire stripper-turned-car-dealer to an armed compound in the Okefenokee Swamp to a tattoo convention. In between, they outwit and outrun obsessive collectors, bikers, ATF agents, the KKK, and more. It’s not exactly the way to beat an adrenaline habit.

Genres: Crime

288 pages, Hardcover

First published September 19, 2004

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Reviews

[Nd · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a toss-up between 4 & 5 rating for Buzz Riff: A 5 because it is riveting to read, but the 4, perhaps because of the implausibility of the Top Kiernan character, even though you're drawn to his exploits the way you might be to those of James Bond. Like Buzz Monkey, the adventure is tightly sculpted with plenty of twists, turns, and deviations in Top Kiernan's exploits. In spite of Top's unbridled approach to confrontation, he is honest and eccentrically honorable in his, albeit often violent, modus operandi. He, intemperately, undertakes a high-paying job to find a Civil War flag, The Bloody Red Rag, supposedly bled upon by Andrew Jackson, to save his business from being overtaken by his embittered former bookkeeper and lover. Top's search involves him with various members of society's upper echelon and its underbelly where violence ensues and his friends, cohorts, and colleagues tend to become involved right along with him.

[Jerry Peace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like this more than "Buzz Monkey." Still can't figure out Top's appeal or why people like to quote (or misquote) other people so much. But a Gamecock cap, the outstandingly cool name "Dixiecaust," the Bloody Red Rag and other baffling Confederate relic worship, and our not-so-secretly pervasive right wing Kristian church kommunities all make for a real fun romp. "Violence has your number on speed dial, my friend." Top seems to be able to handle himself, and with a drug smuggler and a renowned (new one on me) master of the straight razor as his two best friends, as well as a coterie of friendly lawmen, all seems well- bruised, broken, codeined, braced, caned and crushed-but well. But it's Amanda I worry about. Librarians don't have high survival rates around Top.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

The plot had potential, but this book dragged for me. The characters were border-line interesting, but lacked juice. A coworker tells me that Hill's fist book, Buzz Monkey, was much better.

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Top Kiernan; solider of fortune for hire, and the adrenaline buzz in need of ready cash takes on the mission of finding a stolen flag known as the Bloody Red Flag.