Genre: Noir/Paranormal/Satire
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.”
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.
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.”
FYI:
Added for
Reprise Review: The Secret
Files of Hugo and Victoria by J.E. (Buck) Buchanan was a nominee in the Humor
and Satire category for B&P 2013 Readers' Choice Awards. Original review
ran June 1, 2012
Format/Typo
Issues:
No significant issues.
Rating:
***** Five Stars
Reviewed
by: BigAl
Approximate
word count: 40-45,000 words
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