Review by New York Times Review
CHRISTOPHER buckley writing historical fiction? The departure from type calls to mind an old graffito on the New York City subway: "Allen Ginsberg revises." But it's true. After two decades of books like "Thank You for Smoking" and "They Eat Puppies, Don't They?," Buckley's most recent publications are historical novels: 2015's "The Relic Master," set in 16thcentury Europe, and now "The Judge Hunter," setin 17th-century London and colonial America. And there will be more. His author biography in this book announces his intention to write novels set in the 18th, 19 th, 20 th and 21st centuries, and concludes with this sentence: "Good luck with that." Writers with 18 books to their credit have surely earned the right to step out of their comfort zone, Buckley's being satirical novels that skewer the vanities and hypocrisies of American commerce and politics. In "The Judge Hunter," the satire is mild, for this is mostly a melodrama about a ne'erdo-well brother-in-law of the great English diarist Samuel Pepys. Balthasar de St. Michel, Baity for short, is a real-life figure who does appear briefly in Pepys's work. In the diaries, as in this novel, he's the annoying hanger-on whom Pepys is expected to assist financially because he's family. The year is 1664, a decade and a half after the beheading of King Charles I, and four years after Charles II has been restored to the throne. Most of those responsible for the king's execution have been executed themselves, save two judges who fled to the American colonies. To dispose of his relative, Pepys arranges for Balty to take the job of hunting them down. Baity is a recognizable type: the bumbling, shiftless young man with neither talent nor accomplishments who ingenuously blurts out things he shouldn't say yet manages via wile and luck to survive. He repeatedly escapes death and imprisonment, and once is spared hanging at the last moment. The story he inhabits follows the classic pattern of picaresque novels: With an associate named Huncks, he makes his way through the back alleys, mansions, forts and forests of colonial New England, meeting all manner of social and ethnic types - colonial governors, Puritan saints, Quakers, scoundrels, "savages," merchants, termagants and lovely, sweet women. Unbeknown to him, his commission turns out to be a cover for global political intrigue, which doesn't merely complicate the plot but also makes of it a lumpy pillow that must be twisted and folded to fit inside its case, the case being the historical record. There are times when the novel adopts the tone of a boy's adventure story with obvious villains, endangered maidens and heroes, but one particular villain is too obvious. He is a Native American and the "godson" of one of the Puritan founders of New Haven Colony, and he's a dime-novel staple, the "savage" who rapes a white woman. As both the novel's principal bad guy as well as a victim of his godfather's racism, he is a potentially complex character, but Buckley sketches him in stark, simplistic terms: "So-Big-StudyMan became even more angry and struck him, again and again, on his face.... His eyes filled with blood so that he couldn't see. SoBig-Study-Man stopped hitting him and said he must have a new name, a name that would make God less angry. The name he would have from now on was Repent." The irony of this name doesn't rescue the stereotype, and Repent remains as cartoonish as countless other portrayals of Native Americans in American pop culture. I hope the point of writing historical fiction for Buckley is not that it's safer to create such characters inside the haven of the past. Buckley's writing is breezy and his descriptions vivid. Here, for example, is his portrait of Peter Stuyvesant, the director general of the colony of New Netherland: "Baity was struck by the immensity of Stuyvesant's forehead. It was like the side of a mountain. It went on forever, the summit disappearing beneath a skullcap. His nose, too, was outsized. It drooped, as if made of clay that hadn't hardened. ... Cascades of hair descended on each side past the shoulders, giving him a spaniel aspect. He seemed to have been assembled from various parts and materials. His chest swelled like a great bellows." Other passages, however, become mere exposition dumps where the narrative pauses before continuing; for example, the background information on Capt. John Underhill reads like an entry in the Dictionary of National Biography. Buckley's dialogue sounds like the witty combination of the vulgar and formal in Restoration comedy, but sprinkled into it - and one must assume this is deliberate - are modern colloquialisms. I doubt whether Restoration speakers ever used such phrases as "call it quits," "come clean" and "point taken." And they surely didn't say "din-dins" for "dinner." In his earlier novels, when he satirized the blowhards of our own times, Buckley's purpose was clear: to expose greed, hypocrisy and stupidity. In "The Judge Hunter," the only clear targets of his satire are the Puritan saints who populated New Haven, and readers are left to decide how much of it rubs off on contemporary Puritans. One wonders, however, what the comic purpose of swashbuckling perils and improbable coincidences is, other than to convey the fun of writing them. Perhaps for his fans that becomes the fun of reading them. JOHN VERNON'S latest novel is "Lucky Billy."
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [August 30, 2019]
Review by Booklist Review
In The Relic Master (2015), essayist and political humorist Buckley demonstrated his aptitude for historical fiction with the farcical adventures of a relic collector during the Middle Ages. Here he moves the timeline forward to 1664 and splits the lively locales between early colonial America and London under the reign of King Charles II. Twenty-four and chronically unemployed, Baltasar Balty St. Michel had done almost nothing in his life except be a nuisance to his brother-in-law Samuel Pepys, the chief secretary to the admiralty and future famous diarist. When an assignment presents itself to hunt down a pair of fugitive justices partly responsible for the execution of the king's father, Charles I, Pepys drafts Balty for the position and sends him packing to the New World. After landing in Boston, Balty finds himself, by turns, haplessly entangled with suspicious Puritans, hostile Indians, and a mysterious king's agent named Huncks. Buckley serves up generous helpings of witty dialogue, colorful characters, and intriguing plot twists that his fans and historical novel enthusiasts will find irresistible.--Hays, Carl Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
Satirist Buckley (Thank You for Smoking; Boomsday) travels to 17th-century New England for his second historical novel, part of the century-jumping series he began with The Relic Master. With an almost British, Monty Python-esque dryness, Buckley traipses through the American Colonies and skewers the foibles of the inhabitants. "Balty" (Balthasar de St. Michel) is brother-in-law to Samuel Pepys. To keep his inept, freeloading relation occupied, Pepys directs him to New England to track down two judges responsible for ordering the death of King Charles I. Arriving in the New World, Balty becomes embroiled in a political bramble patch that may bring about war with Holland. At his side during his misadventures is a former militiaman named Huncks. Buckley cleverly weaves his story line with historical threads taken from Pepys diaries and other notes from the Colonial period. Verdict A wry, witty, enjoyable romp. Buckley knows how to turn a phrase. Recommended for fans of George MacDonald Fraser and those who prefer some P.G. Wodehouse in their Bernard Cornwell. [See Prepub Alert, 11/26/17.]-Laurel Tacoma, Fairfax Cty. P.L., VA © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The political humorist's second historical novel is a witty bromance about international intrigue and a hunt for two regicides in 17th-century New England.Buckley (The Relic Master, 2015, etc.) continues a series that began with his previous book's Baedeker through religious hypocrisy in 16th-century Europe and may have four more installments. Here, he moves to 17th-century New and Old England, jabbing at the Colonies' Puritan cant, London court intrigue, and libidos in high places. When Samuel Pepys in 1664 seeks a job for his feckless brother-in-law, Balthasar "Balty" de St. Michel, the effort rapidly becomes embroiled in secret plans to spark a war with Holland. Balty receives a royal commission to hunt down two of the judges who signed the death warrant for King Charles I and then fled to New England after Cromwell's demise. But Balty's aide-de-camp, a former militia commander named Hiram Huncks, uses the hunt as a cover for his efforts to rally Colonial forces when the British navy arrives to seize New Amsterdam. Balty is amusingly useless at nearly every turn, from seasickness on the Atlantic to tactless posturing among suspicious Colonial officials. Huncks, by contrast, is impressively resourceful and heroicuntil Buckley cleverly flips roles and Balty must show his mettle. One subplot has Pepys cast into the Tower of London for peeping at private communiques. Another brings in a Quaker woman who must be rescued by the judge hunters from sadistic New Haven jurists. For those who nodded through classroom history, Buckley provides excellent summaries where needed during the tale and a two-page bibliography as well as asides on the five bastards Charles II had with Lady Castlemaine and their descendants (Diana Spencer, Sarah Ferguson).An entertaining and nicely crafted picaresque thriller with crackling dialogue and a brace of Colonial cops as appealingly mismatched as any of Hollywood's buddy efforts. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
