Carl Hiaasen

There hasn't been a single Carl Hiaasen book that I haven't loved and laughed while reading it. This one is another winner. His books, sadly, are timely. While definitely skewered towards the extreme, his characters stand firm in their beliefs. In this book, Hiaasen targets base MAGA supporters for his satire, as well as super wealthy Republican donors, and crooked, lazy politicians. The book is both absurd and feasible at the same time. This book has it all: wealthy donors who feel their show more money can and should buy anything, Corrupt politicians on the dole spouting the loss of American Christian values one moment and engaging in paid perversions the next, greedy developers bulldozing land, and getting permits second, prostitutes, Eco terrorists. A good read. show less

Hiaasen is known for skewering greed, hypocracy, and stupidity. That he has thus far been able to do so without venturing beyond the borders of his home state of Florida is probably not doing the state's tourism business any favors.

In this outing, Hiaasen is taking on a certain U.S. President, Secret Service codename Mastadon, who has established a Winter White House in the state. The plot, involving geriatic fangirls calling themselves the POTUS pussies, an unlucky immigrant who becomes show more the target of POTUS-inflamed xenophobic rage, a physically decaying and morally bankrupt chief executive, a kickass female wildlife removal expert, and a multitude of monsterous, man-munching pythons, catapults from one comical scene to the next, propelled by the propulsive momentum of the material (the excesses of vanity, cupidity, hedonism, racism, immorality, and stupidity practically write themselves) and Hiaasen's dry wit. The icing on the cake: cameos by two of my favorite recurring characters, former governor-turned-environmental-terrorist Clinton "Skink" Tyree and his worthy sidekick Jim Tile, aged but with a few gleeful acts of sabotage still up their sleeves.

Without getting political, I will say that some of the humor of this is unintentionally dimmed by the extent to which reality has caught up with hyperbole. Hiaasen clearly intended this tale of politically-maniuplated misinformation, incoherent presidential rants, syncophantic pandering, conspiracy-mongering, and performative patriotism as satire ... but at least some of the humor has been undermined by the fact that, in the interval since this was published (2020) most of these excesses are now accepted as baseline status quo.

Nevertheless, I grinned the whole way through this, laughed out loud more often than I should have, and ended up rearranging my days to create time to enjoy this gleefully outrageous skewering of our modern era. show less

A totally incompetent and unqualified, but highly successful plastic surgeon has caused and nastily covered up the accidental death of one of his patients, and then tries to arrange a hit on the inconvenient investigator who's getting too close to the truth. He turns out to be hysterically incompetent at that, as well. Satirical, farcical, ironic, and downright ridiculous ---what a hoot! Perfect stuff for those times when the brain wants a real vacation and the psyche needs a little show more nonsense.
May 2015 show less

Digital audio performed by John Rubenstein

I love reading Hiaasen’s ridiculously crazy plots, featuring the NOT-tourist-friendly Florida. In this romp, former cop Andy Yancy (now demoted to inspecting restaurants for health violations) is joined by a cast of eccentrics including: Merry Mansfield (a delicious redhead who specializes in staged fender-benders done while she is shaving her nether regions); Buck Nancy (star of a reality TV series); Martin Trebeaux (owner of a company that show more steals sand from one beach to replace erosion on another); Brock Richardson (Miami lawyer hooked on a product he is litigating against); and a possibly psychotic street person known as Blister.

The action is fast, furious, and totally insane. The bad guys are frequently three cards short of a full deck. The women almost always get the best of the men. Hiaasen has a gift for drawing this reader into his wildly improbable plots. And I enjoy the ride every time!

John Rubenstein does a great job of performing the audiobook. He has a lot of characters to deal with and really shines when voicing the bad guys. show less