The Judge Hunter

by Christopher Buckley
348 pgs

Christopher Buckley follows up his last book The Relic Master, which was set in the 16th century, with another historical satire, The Judge Hunter. This time Buckley sets his story in the 17th century, but again, uses historical, but obscure characters from that period to tell his story. Samuel Pepys as a member of the British Parliament and a high-ranking administrator in the Navy, but he is noteworthy because he kept a detailed diary every day for a decade, a diary that has provided insight into what daily life was like in England in the mid-1600s. Pepys had a brother-in-la named Balthasar de St. Michel (Balty), whom little is known about, who Buckley has turned into an aimless, bumbling man who gets sent to the American colonies on a wild goose chase by Pepys, who wants to get him out of his hair for a time.

Balty believes he was sent to New Netherland to hunt down two judges, who were responsible for the death of King Charles I. But his real purpose is to be a distraction to the Dutch long enough for British warships to arrive and wrest control of the colony away from the Dutch.

Buckley seems to have toned down his level of satire in these last two books. It hasn't been nearly as in-your-face and entertaining as it was in his earlier books like Thank You for Smoking, Little Green Men, and No Way to Treat a First Lady. And I'll admit, if I had read either of these last two books first, I probably wouldn't have been interested enough to go back and read his earlier ones. But thankfully, I did read those first, and having enjoyed them as much as I did, I'll keep reading to see where he takes things from here. I understand he's planning to set his next four books in the 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, respectively. I'm hoping as the settings become progressively more and more modern, that Buckley will increase his level of wit and satire as well.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆