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It's probably safe to say that developers, lobbyists and big game hunters are unlikely to find SICK PUPPY as enjoyable as say, well, anyone else. Unless, of course, they have a highly developed sense of self esteem and can take a joke aimed squarely at their collective jugulars. This goes, too, for elected officials.
While these arch villains are often the object of Carl Hiaasen's particular brand of gonzo mystery zingers, he has introduced us to what I believe is his alter-ego in the hero of his latest South Florida caper --- a black Labrador Retriever named Boodle. Boodle is kidnapped and held for an unusual ransom, and Hiaasen (or Boodle) pulls us on a romp through the pages with the same joy and reckless abandon as if we were on the other end the leash.
When we interviewed Hiaasen for his last book, TEAM RODENT, he promised us that Skink would make a return. Can you picture Skink as a mentor? Would you choose him to guide your wayward child in the ways of the world? For all the Skink fans out there, never fear that the seriously unbalanced former Florida governor who stars in several prior novels will fade away. The one-eyed, road kill chef is back and as strange as ever, but he's met his match in a young man with an anger management problem named Twilly Spree.
We have in Twilly not only a protege honing his skills to wreak havoc on the richly deserving but, because he fell into a few million dollars in an inheritance, someone with more means than the wily old swamp monster. If Hiaasen brings Twilly on as the new contender for arch antihero, he will go down in the mad, mad, mad, mad genre of caper writing as one of its champions.
Hiaasen is best known for serving up heaping helpings of just desserts. His bad guys are the baddest, and his good guys are anything but the Dudley Dorights of popular fiction. How does Hiaasen come up with his new means of doling out justice to the terminally greedy? Just when you think, "they'll never get out of this mess," he devises a plan, and they're off and running.
Oh, and here's fair warning: If you throw a beer can out of a car window in Florida, be prepared to pay a lot more than a local litterbug fine.
--- Reviewed by Roz Shea
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