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Buzz Monkey: A Novel of Crime
Top Kiernan has been doing all right. He owns Polymath, a thriving research firm which he runs from his home—the 1930s-era schoolhouse he’s renovating just outside of Athens, Georgia. He’s got a bedroom in a basketball court, a handful of flannel shirts, and a splendid collection of tops. He also has a serious Top is addicted to the adrenaline buzz of danger, though periodic perilous errands to Latin America for Shaw’s Mercantile help him handle that. Only now Top’s long-best friend, Dee Lane, has disappeared with a fortune that belongs to Atlanta drug lord Raoul Menes. And in Buzz Monkey’s shifty world of hazardous secrets and hostile camps, Top finds himself the target not merely of Menes but also of ambitious DEA agents, a retired IRA assassin and his heavily armedaughter, a gang of meth-cooking rednecks, an urbane CIA recruiter, and two hired killers in sharkskin suits because everyone thinks Dee left the money with him. Top knows he is working against time and it’s going to take more than adrenaline to survive the maneuvers of all the players in the dangerous game that this deftly plotted debut novel brings unpredictably to a stunning, just, and explosive finish.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published August 12, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 24, 2016
Reading a crime novel set in Athens was both fun and a little weird. The majority of Sam Hill's settings and place descriptions of Athens, northeast Georgia, Atlanta, and even the drive from Athens to Jacksonville were recognizable either for the places themselves or as composites of existing venues to fit the story. The idea of mob-style or cartel-style corruption could be taking place in locations I frequent or have frequented was a bit unsettling, but the story line was fast-paced, pretty tight, and had enough twists to keep a reader on his/her toes.
Relationships between the protagonist, Top Kiernan, and a number of his north Georgia childhood friends and cohorts aquired along the way, seem portrayed realistically, even if each character within him/herself is larger than life. Top runs his internet research company from an old schoolhouse in which he lives and where various cronies and employees come and go with regularity. But he established the company as a front for his by-the-job mercenary activies that fuel his need for danger and adrenalin. The company that usually supplies his dangerous jobs decides he has begun taking unnecessary risks just for the buzz and doesn't give him the new assignment he's expecting. About the same time, his contraband-dealing childhood buddy disappears along with a huge amount of cash belonging to a drug lord, and rumor has it that Top has the money. The tale unfolds as Top continues to do things his own way, which is not necessarily a lawful way, among a number of relationships that are unclear in their intentions. Who is friend and who is traitorous, disloyal foe, crook, creep? Top's methods are pretty outrageous, even if the ultimate outcome seems to be the proper one, but the reader is on the edge of his seat throughout the book.
Relationships between the protagonist, Top Kiernan, and a number of his north Georgia childhood friends and cohorts aquired along the way, seem portrayed realistically, even if each character within him/herself is larger than life. Top runs his internet research company from an old schoolhouse in which he lives and where various cronies and employees come and go with regularity. But he established the company as a front for his by-the-job mercenary activies that fuel his need for danger and adrenalin. The company that usually supplies his dangerous jobs decides he has begun taking unnecessary risks just for the buzz and doesn't give him the new assignment he's expecting. About the same time, his contraband-dealing childhood buddy disappears along with a huge amount of cash belonging to a drug lord, and rumor has it that Top has the money. The tale unfolds as Top continues to do things his own way, which is not necessarily a lawful way, among a number of relationships that are unclear in their intentions. Who is friend and who is traitorous, disloyal foe, crook, creep? Top's methods are pretty outrageous, even if the ultimate outcome seems to be the proper one, but the reader is on the edge of his seat throughout the book.
October 25, 2009
Top Kiernan owns Polymath, a thriving research firm he runs from his home, a 1930s-era schoolhouse outside Athens, Georgia. His best friend has just disappeared with a fortune that belongs to Atlanta drug lord Raoul Menes.
Top has the skills to look for him as his occasional second career is as a "retriever" of drugs, money, people, weapons that the traditional law enforcement never knows about.
A fun, intelligent read. I'd give it 4.5 stars.
Top has the skills to look for him as his occasional second career is as a "retriever" of drugs, money, people, weapons that the traditional law enforcement never knows about.
A fun, intelligent read. I'd give it 4.5 stars.
October 27, 2008
Entertaining, not great, but I got into it because it takes place in and around Athens, Ga. Lots of cool local stuff.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews