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BURN WHAT WILL BURN
by CB McKenzie
Minotaur, June 2016
224 pages
$24.99
ISBN: 1250083370


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

"The body floated stubbornly in The Little Piney Creek…." Thus begins BURN WHAT WILL BURN by Edgar-nominated author of BAD COUNTRY, CB McKenzie. Living four miles down a dirt road in the Piney Woods of Arkansas, Bob Reynolds, a vocational drinker, is suffering from the after-effects of 200-proof moonshine when he spots the floater.

Bob is a classic noir hero, a self-chosen down-at-heels existential poet with a little family money. He is mourning the death of his wife by trying to destroy his own. The atmosphere is fog-shrouded and steamy, the neighbors frightening. Even the vehicles are run-down.

When Bob gets to the local UPUMPIT for a telephone, Malcolm, the teenage grandson of the owner, shy of a full load but with perfect faith in Jesus Rising Star, lends Bob the money for the pay phone.

The local sheriff arrives, already nursing a grudge against Bob Reynolds, and when the body disappears, Sam Baxter's hate-on becomes menacing. When Bob goes to town for food and, more importantly, drink, he encounters Tammy Fay Smith, the local "seduce and destroy" femme fatale. The plot thickens and the corruption deepens, but Bob has a few trusted friends who will see him through.

As the mystery begins to play out and the bodies pile up, or is it just the same body moving around, Bob finds himself deeper and deeper in the proverbial excrement. Back home he discovers a fugitive from justice lurking and threatening but manages to back him off. Snooping around further back in the woods, Bob gets clonked on the head and wakes up in jail. The sheriff lets him go but makes it clear that it is time for Bob to get out of town. Before he leaves, Tammy Fay has a go at him, with another half-wit secretly taking photos. With that insurance she disappears off the stage.

When Bob returns, somehow things look different. Much has changed, including Bob himself. The good guys seem to have survived and the villains have moved on, leaving a great deal of mystery behind.

WHILE BURN WHAT WILL BURN sometimes approaches parody of noir fiction (Tammy Fay's three-legged dog is called Skank), the characters and the setting make this novel fun to read. Malcolm with his steadfast belief in Jesus Rising Star is a great talker who endears himself to both Bob and the reader. Miss Ollie who runs EATS and Smarty Bell, the bartender of the local, are both good-hearted.

Plotting is not McKenzie's strength and there are times when the long dialogues slow the narrative down to the point of annoyance. In fact, this is not a book to read quickly to solve the mystery. Things are just as mysterious at the end. No, BURN WHAT WILL BURN slows the reader down like the slow moving, swampy Little Piney Creek.

§ Susan Hoover is a playwright, independent producer and retired college English teacher. She lives in Nova Scotia.

Reviewed by Susan Hoover, May 2016

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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