Reviewed by: BigAl
Genre: Noir/Paranormal/Satire
Approximate word count: 40-45,000 words
Availability
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Author:
A former
member of law enforcement in Florida, Buck Buchanan now works as a law
enforcement consultant as well as having his finger in several writerly
pursuits, including editing, conducting writers’ workshops, and writing crime
fiction.
Description:
“At last, a
novel that seeks to answer the age-old question of whether a hardboiled private
eye writer and a goody-two-shoes vampiress-in-denial can find redemption and
true happiness.”
Appraisal:
Hugo Rongg
is a “private eye writer” (think of your favorite “hardboiled detective”) who
drives a “classic Yugo.” Victoria Station is a sexy dame with a “little
genetics problem”; specifically she’s a vampire who falls hard for Hugo and,
with his guidance, hopes to become a private eye writer, too. The Secret Files … satirizes two genres,
both noir (the genre of the hardboiled detective) and the paranormal genre with
vampires, werewolves, and such creatures, especially the hybrids. Can you guess
the difference between a vampig and a hampire?
Relatively
short, I read straight through The Secret
Files … laughing constantly. For a few examples of things that tickled my
funny bone, it makes fun of the language of the hardboiled detective, i.e., “The
joint had been tossed, trashed, rifled… you know, searched” and the silly
nicknames often hung on villains in those novels, “Nickel is Dime’s
half-brother …” At times I got the feeling that despite my constant laughter
that there were many jokes sneaking past me. For example, there was a subtle
political statement that I almost missed and a little dig at those who are too
dogmatic about religion. If you’re into satire, especially if you like the
genres being satirized and don’t mind a little fun being poked at them, The Secret Files … should be a perfect
fit. I’ll leave you with one more quote. This is for the paranormal fans:
“My head
spun. I’d just learned I had vampire, witch, and werewolf blood in my veins and
a parrot for a grandfather. Talk about a bad heir day.”
Format/Typo Issues:
No
significant issues.
Rating: ***** Five stars
7 comments:
This book is hysterical. My favorite line is Victoria Station's longing to be a "private eye writer." Prepare to laugh... a lot.
OMG! I've got to download this book. It has everything.
Thanks Barb and Joan. I think you'll like it, Joan. I'm not surprised Barb did, it seems right up her alley to me.
So I take it this book comes with a *spew warning.*
A group of my friends call that SSR. Sip, swallow, read. Otherwise you'll dirty your computer or ereader screen. I just noticed this is Amazon only, Joan. Don't you have a Nook?
I have a Nook, which I prefer for digital reading, but I do have a tablet where I'm running the Kindle app. Already downloaded--didn't even bother to sample it, which I almost always do. This sounds so much like my kind of book.
Report back to us with what you think, Joan. :)
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