Whale Season: A Novel

Set in Whale Harbor, FL where there aren't any actual whales. An idealized American dream town that has now fallen on hard times. The fictional town is known as America's first tourist trap. The story is fun and is easy to read. An interesting cast of characters a used RV salesman, a strip club owner, a man who sings the blues and a serial killer. Others on Library Thing compared it to the works of Carl Hiaasin.

This is the second Kelby book I have read - the first was Murder at the Bad Girl's Bar and Grill and I love them!! Whale Harbor is a small town in Florida where there have never been any whales. There is, however, a Jesus who shows up on his birthday, a Las Vegas card dealer with a mysterious scar, and a Buddhist blues man.

A quirky novel reminiscent of Carl Hiaasen. Whan Jesus shows up on Christmas Eve in Whale Harbor, things start to happen. An unlikely serial killer is just the beginning.

Reminded me of Carl Hiaasin, A guy shows up claiming he's Jesus and some people believe him, most humor him. he turns out to be a medical doctor who has gone off the rails and his performing "mercy killings" on people he thinks need to die.

Whale Season by N.M. Kelby aspires to be a Carl Hiaasen-like romp. This Florida tale is populated with quirky characters, film-like dialog, and a pretty standard humor-crime-drama plot. (What is that? ‘Drimor’?) It’s good summer reading, that reaches - and fails - to be more.

There’s nothing wrong with N.M. Kelby’s Whale Season - except that she’s in the shadow of Carl Hiaasen. I like Hiaasen. His work is straight and tight, slick but not overly so. His characters seem real enough and the insight provided isn’t forced. The goal is to entertain, not to challenge the reader to higher thinking or to arrive at some epiphany. This is where Whale Season loses it’s focus.

Read my full review at the Used Books Blog:
show more target="_top">http://usedbooksblog.com/blog/whale-season-by-nm-kelby/ show less

well... it was something to read while stranded in the airport. it's hard to read it and *not* think of it as a watered down version of Carl Hiaasen. It was a cutesy book, seeing how life intertwines the small-town folk with "murder and mayhem." Not a bad book, but not something i'm planning on rereading.

Cute. Nothing truly remarkable. Enjoyable, light read about a dried up tourist town and the crazy characters that live there and one REALLY crazy visitor.