The Buzzing

December 23, 2002
Knipfel, the author of two well-received memoirs (Slackjaw; Quitting the Nairobi Trio), makes his first foray into fiction with a rambling New York City conspiracy yarn. Roscoe Baragon, jaded and faded newspaper reporter, has spent the better part of his professional life on the kook beat, consorting with and writing about the plethora of crackpots, perverts and conspiracy theorists littering the modern landscape. One of his sources hints of mischief at her residential hotel, setting in motion a series of events and strange occurrences: earthquakes along a particular Pacific longitude, NASA satellites falling from the sky, chicanery at the New York City morgue and, most sinister of all, the shadowy specter of a realty company staffed by toga wearers. Baragon emerges as a singularly unpleasant individual. His incessant beer consumption does little to add spice to his character, and his acquaintances are instantly recognizable types (and also spend much of their time guzzling copious quantities of beer). Knipfel's ability to spin something out of nothing stands him in good stead in his nonfiction, but his novel stalls for general lack of activity. The story's reliance on the well-worn idea of conspiracy theories suffers from Baragon's haphazard reasoning as he tries to jerry-rig an argument explaining the seemingly random weirdness afflicting the world. An intriguing link to the Godzilla movie franchise is suggested, but this spark sputters and dies soon after it is struck. Knipfel does bring some local color to his tale, but not enough to anchor the reams of speculation. (Mar.)Forecast:Knipfel, a long-time columnist at the weekly
New York Press, has a loyal New York following. Expect respectable sales in the city, and some interest outside it, spurred by a seven-city author tour (a Pynchon blurb won't hurt, either).

February 15, 2003
In a psychedelic ode to paranoia, New York style, Knipfel has the reader follow "kook beat" journalist Roscoe Barragon as he researches the story that will earn either a Pulitzer Prize or a rubber room at Bellevue. Noirish characters Barragon and his friends, NY morgue pathologist Emily and trash sf filmmaker Eel, become caught up in Barragon's pursuit of a conspiracy involving whales, earthquakes, Japanese fishing boats, nuclear submarines under the control of vacationing golfers, a lost mythical sea colony akin to Atlantis, and Godzilla. If it seems like a challenge to bring this conglomerate of subjects together, Knipfel meets it head on and ties up all the loose ends at the end of his first novel. The story takes a while to build as the author carefully lays out all the unusual puzzle pieces for Barragon and the reader to discover. Once the pieces start falling together, the plot moves quickly to the end, taking the reader on as harrowing a ride as the roller coaster at Coney Island.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)