I loves me some Carl Hiaasen novel. Doesn’t matter which one - they are all pretty interchangeable, but they make me laugh and they don’t linger too long on the brain after I’m done.
Me? I like Lucky You, Skin Tight and Native Tongue
You guys?
mm
I’d say my favorite was the one where the ‘hero’ impales the assassin with a marlin (don’t worry folks, not really a spoiler as it happens at the beginning of the book). Can’t remember the title, but it might be one you mentioned.
Also liked Lucky You, and the one about bass fisherman and the one where the bad guy was killed by a randy dolphin.
My favorite Carl Hiaasen novel is “Florida Roadkill” which was written by Tim Dorsey.
Lucky You and Strip Tease for feisty heroines, Stormy Weather for some Skinky goodness, Native Tongue for the blue-tongued mango voles {and more Skinky goodness}, and Skinny Dip for the redemption of Tool. Sadly, Nature Girl, his latest, was pants, although it may strike a chord with anyon who hates telemarketers. I guess that’s just part of the deal with Hiaasen, though: elaborate revenge fantasies pitting ballsy women with nice legs and world-weary heroes who rediscover their fundamental decency against the kind of people who around here just get Pit threads. It’s wish-fulfilment, really, but extremely well done. And Skink rocks.
Skinny Dip I was hooked from the beginning.
and, of course Hoot I’m an elementary school teacher–what can I say?
I just finished his latest, Nature Girl.
Pretty much the same as most of his - and entertaining fast read that sticks with you about as long as Chinese food.
I’d probably say my fave was whichever one I read first, if only because I didn’t know what to expect at the time.
Maybe it was Stormy Weather. The image of housing inspectors slowing their cars to have the builders trot out with their bribes seems to have stuck with me. Another image I recall is the hit man who loses a hand to a barracuda, only to replace it with a weedwhacker.
Fun stuff.
The one that made me laugh out loud the most was Double Whammy, about the weird world of bass-fishing tourneys, crooked real-estate developers, and the murders that happen when these worlds collide. I think that novel may have marked Skink’s debut.
Hiaasen’s novels definitely follow a formula, but there’s always fanciful characters and a bit of riffing off of the headlines.
I’m slowly discovering Hiaassen, but Strip Tease and Lucky You stand out.
As a general pattern, his novels written from multiple points of view are better than those written with a single point of view character: more room for characterization and weirdness.
I’ve read 'em all yet have a hard time remembering which plot goes with which title. I do recall liking Sick Puppy a lot, anything with Skink, and especially the one with the guy who has the prosthetic arm and er, interesting attachments. Which one was that? I’d like to reread it.
I think that’s his best book, too.
I also loved Native Tongue, if only for the guy with the intravenous steroid drip and the memorable dolphin assisted demise.
His best one is whichever one of his I’ve just finished, mostly.
Lucky You and Skinny Dip. Loved them both. Loved all of the ones I’ve read but those two are my absolute favorites.
Lucky You may be my favorite. I have an abridged Skinny Dip on audio, so its the one I know best because I’ve listened to it in the car more than once (and I love the redemption of Tool).
I like the one set in the Disney-like Florida amusement park. Lots of great fun with the whole amusement park industry there. Forget the title: was it “Tourst Trap”? I think they called it the “Amazon Kingdom of Thrills.”
I’m a sucker for a good redemption: Chub redeeming himself in Lucky You, with the aid of Amber “Bernstein”, Hooters waitress extraordinaire, is another favourite.
His non-fiction is good, too: Team Rodent is a marvellously bile-flecked rant about the evils of Disney.
My favorite is still the first, Tourist Season.
Heh. Tim Dorsey is great.
I’m reading Skinny Dip at the moment and really like it.
Book is “Native Tongue”, and the park is the “Amazing Kingdom of Thrills”. That’s the last one I started, but haven’t finished yet.
I think my favorites so far are “Skin Tight” and “Tourist Season”.
That one is “Skin Tight”. Mick Stranahan was the hero (and the impaler).
I just finished Nature Girl today and felt a bit let down. I still laughed hard regularly, but I thought it had an edge of cruelty to it which is usually absent in Hiaasen’s work. Also, it was paced slightly differently from his other books which had me expecting things to happen when they didn’t.