This is slapstick satire where one chaotic situation bounces on to another.  Full of wacky characters and improbable scenarios and set in the dangerous world of Florida’s ‘gator-strewn Everglades, it’s just the most ludicrous fun you’ll have for a long time.

Comparison: Christopher Brookmyre, Colin Bateman, Chris Haslam.

July 2009 Guest Editor Louise Wener on CARL HIAASEN
I started reading Carl Hiaasen when I was traveling in Florida researching my third book, The Half Life of Stars. The book is set in and around Miami, as is most of Hiaasen’s fiction. Hiaasen is the master of satirical, comic crime writing – I can’t tolerate the bleak slasher kind – and his characters are gloriously flamboyant. The plots are fast and furious and he brilliantly lampoons everything from rock music to politics to our obsession with eco causes and plastic surgery.

Synopsis

Honey Santana – self-proclaimed queen of lost causes – has a plan.

She’s taking part-time telephonist Boyd Shreave on a kayaking trip to Dismal Key for a lesson in civility. But lurking in the island's undergrowth is failed alligator wrestler Sammy Tigertail with death on his mind; and Honey's vengeful co-worker, Louis Piejack, now with the fingers of one hand surgically mis-attached to the wrong knuckles.

A holiday to die for? In Hiaasen's extraordinary universe, anything can happen...

Reviews

Embarrass yourself in public by laughing to near apoplexy.
Sunday Telegraph

Beautifully orchestrated chaos as the characters stumble towards the light or into a watery gator-filled grave. Guardian

‘The undisputed master of organised chaos … His satire is a fierce unmuzzled snarl followed by a painfully ironic bite. Quite simply, brilliant’ Sunday Times

About the Author

Carl Hiaasen was born and raised in Florida. He is the author of nine previous novels, including Sick Puppy, Lucky You, Stormy Weather and Basket Case. He also writes a twice weekly metropolitan column for the Miami Herald. Photograph by Elena Seibert   More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation