  The fraction of Compton thick sources is one of the main uncertainties left
in understanding the AGN population. The Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT)
all-sky survey, for the first time gives us an unbiased sample of AGN for all
but the most heavily absorbed sources (log NH > 25). Still, the BAT spectra (14
- 195 keV) are time-averaged over months of observations and therefore hard to
compare with softer spectra from the Swift XRT or other missions. This makes it
difficult to distinguish between Compton-thin and Compton-thick models. With
Suzaku, we have obtained simultaneous hard (> 15 keV) and soft (0.3 - 10 keV)
X-ray spectra for 5 Compton-thick candidate sources. We report on the spectra
and a comparison with the BAT and earlier XMM observations. Based on both flux
variability and spectral shape, we conclude that these hidden sources are not
Compton-thick. We also report on a possible correlation between excess variance
and Swift BAT luminosity from the 16 d binned light curves, which holds true
for a sample of both absorbed (4 sources), unabsorbed (8 sources), and Compton
thick (Circinus) AGN, but is weak in the 64 day binned BAT light curves.
