Buzz Monkey: A Novel of Crime [Hardcover]

Sam Hill (Author)

Book Description

Series: Otto Penzler Books | Publication Date: July 23, 2003

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 habit: 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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this fun, fast-paced first novel set in Athens, Ga., Top Kiernan has two jobs: he's head of Polymath, an Internet research company run from his home-a former elementary school building where his bedroom is located in the old gym, handy for pick-up basketball games with pals-and he works undercover for Shaw's, "the world's leading booking agency for mercenaries, bodyguards, and probably worse." Top not only collects tops but spins like the best of them, an adrenaline addict who takes unnecessary risks for the rush, a buzz monkey on his way to becoming a buzz junkie. And that's his problem. Shaw's won't employ him after he made a mess of his last few jobs. When his best friend, Dee Lane, a dealer in contraband, disappears, a drug baron to whom Dee owes money thinks Top can locate Dee or at least the cash. With two associates killed and a third held hostage, Top has his work cut out for him. Like cartoon characters who get repeatedly smashed to the ground but pop up (mostly) unharmed, Top and his sidekick, Benny, just keep going, as they dodge the assorted lawmen and bad guys in pursuit, usually along Georgia highways and venturing as far as Florida. Those who like a lot of action will enjoy this witty, rollicking debut.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

'I recommend it highly.' -- Mark Timlin INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY 'Buzz MOnkey is exciting, funny and suprisingly erudite ... and is yet another jewel mined from the apparently inexhaustible pipeline of top class American first-time thriller writers.' -- Myles McWeeney IRISH INDEPENDENT 'With some crackling dialogue and vivid characterisation, Hill has written a clever and well-executed debut thriller that boasts one of the most stirring chase climaxes in recent crime fiction.' -- Phil Hamer MANCHESTER CITY LIFE --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf; 1st Carroll & Graf Ed edition (July 23, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786712619
• ISBN-13: 978-0786712618
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,944,546 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Adrenaline Rush!, September 16, 2003

By 

"dillo3" (Waycross, GA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Buzz Monkey: A Novel of Crime (Hardcover)

If you like to finish books you've started, read this one. But beware of starting it later at night, unless you have the discipline to lay down a real page-turner. In his first novel, Sam Hill has set a new spectrum of colorful characters spinning dervishly around Athens and Atlanta. And the action, suspense and pure entertainment led me merrily along their paths, trying to keep up. The best thing I can say about this book is that I was still thinking about its plot turns and survivors for days after coming to its conclusion. And I'm really looking forward to meeting up with several of them in forthcoming adventures.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Move over, Spence!, September 24, 2003

By 

Elsie Maio (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Buzz Monkey: A Novel of Crime (Hardcover)

Enthralling, easy, sexy, smart: a perfect vehicle for Joe Montegna. More, please!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Snap, crackle and zip, September 15, 2003

By 

Lynn Harnett (Marathon, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Buzz Monkey: A Novel of Crime (Hardcover)

This character-driven debut thriller runs on the buzz of adrenaline - Top Kiernan's drug of choice. Narrator Top heads an Athens, GA, research firm, Polymath, founded as a tax cover for his real job - operative for Shaw's Mercantile, "the world's leading booking agency for mercenaries, bodyguards, and probably worse." Top, wound tighter than the tops he collects, is itching for a challenge, but Shaw's cuts him loose instead. "My heart lurched against the inside of my rib cage as if I'd stood on the brakes in the fast lane....`What do you mean there's no assignment?' " His adrenaline jones has made him too reckless, a liability.

His severance package consists of a valuable heads-up. Shaw's just turned down a recovery-and-termination contract from a drug dealer who thinks Top has the money that disappeared when a courier, Dee Lane, disappeared.

Dee Lane is one of Top's boyhood friends. The other is Bob John, a cop. All of them enjoy the buzz of adrenaline, though none so much as Top. And now he has a job. Find Dee Lane, find the money, stay alive. The latter may be difficult as the drug dealer is not the only one who thinks Top has the money. Suddenly he's beset by DEA agents, redneck thugs, ambitious freelancers and worse - treacherous friends maybe.

Top is a delightful protagonist; witty, action-oriented and impossible to stump on a quote. His trusted employees, the quiet, knife-wizard Benny, and the beautiful administrator Gellie are always trying. How can you not like a widely read man who still throws up every time he sees a dead body?

The southern setting - from backwoods shoot-outs to decaying small-town insularity and hair-trigger racism - is well done. Bennie, deep and determined, and fast as lightning, is a valuable asset; complex, private and African American. The plot, though occasionally hard-to-follow or over-the-top, zips right along, but who cares about plot when the characters are so much fun and the writing sparkles with wit. Smart, funny and unapologetic, Top Kiernan is a winner. Let's hope we see more of him, and Benny, and the big, rambling old elementary school where they live and work.