Category Archives: Carl Hiaasen

Review: Native Tongue by Carl Hiassen

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Native Tongue opens with one of those only-in-America scenes in which a holidaying family is driving along a Florida highway in Key Largo when a rat-like creature lands in their car. After screeching to a stop and leaping from the vehicle the family are trying to work out how to get the thing from under a car seat when a helpful Trooper arrives on-scene and shoots the thing. Three times. Comedic crime fiction book reviews are probably not the place to ponder the state of America’s gun-mad culture so I won’t go there but it would be dishonest of me not to admit I considered stopping the book at that point (and yes I do know it’s a comedy). I did listen on though and enjoyed the tale which followed in which we soon learned that the rat-like creature was an endangered species which had been stolen to order from The Amazing Kingdom of Thrills, a family entertainment park owned by Francis X Kingsbury. The theft starts off a chain of events which incorporates several more shootings, an explosion, the development of an unlikely friendship and a couple of human deaths caused by animals, including a sexually frustrated one, that’ll leave you chuckling at the animal kingdom getting its own back.

I have only read a couple of Carl Hiassen novels but even so I can discern the commonalities. They mostly take place in Florida, they are of the caper/satire variety and they tackle environmental themes. In those respects Native Tongue is no different to the others but there are surprises-a-plenty in the small details of this book. It is in the deft and delightful characterisations and the genuinely funny writing that this book’s enjoyment is to be found.

The characters include Joe Winder, a former journalist who has been forced by circumstances and much to his chagrin, to become a PR man for the seedy theme park. Early on Joe Winder starts to think something fishy about the story he’s being asked to write press releases about versus the things he knows to be true. His girlfriend, who writes erotic scenarios (and poetry) to be used on the phone sex line she works for, thinks Joe Winder should concentrate on just being a PR man and forget his journalistic training but Joe Winder can’t help but get involved. Another gem of a character is Molly McNamara, the environmental activist and grandma who is not afraid to break the law to achieve her aim of stopping more development in the area, though she shoots people who use curse words or take a prescription drug that isn’t theirs so she’s got an odd set of morals. My favourite character though might be Pedro Luz, the steroid over-dosing, crooked, ex-cop who is in charge of security at The Amazing Kingdom of Thrills. His descent into a version of madness is hysterical.

There’s some clever satire in the novel too, with my favourite example coming towards the end when Joe Winder no longer works for the theme park (no that really isn’t a spoiler) and he goes into a battle of press releases against the park’s own PR man. For anyone who has ever had to write, or read, the spin that is a modern press releases, or anyone who’s ever wanted to take some non-violent revenge on a former employer this sequence of events is brilliant (if entirely implausible).

I did think the book too long (repetitive in parts) and I found the use of all the characters’ full name every time they were mentioned utterly annoying. I suspect this is much more noticeable in audio than it would be in print and I could discern no reason for it other than to be annoying. However, these are relatively minor quibbles in what is otherwise a genuinely funny romp with several outstanding moments and a not-so-gentle environmental message to boot. The audio book is very-well narrated by George Wilson.

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My rating 3/5
Author website http://www.carlhiaasen.com/index.shtml
Narrator George Wilson
Publisher Recorded Books [this edition 2008, original edition 1991]
ISBN N/A (downloaded from audible.com)
Length 15 hours 47 minutes
Format audio (mp3)
Book Series standalone
Source I bought it

Crime Fiction Alphabet: E is for Environment

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I’m probably more sympathetic to environmental themes than the average reader (I’ve voted Green more than once in my life) but even so I hate being lectured to or preached at. However there are some crime fiction gems among all the well-meaning, earnest tomes that deal with environmental issues.

One of my favourite environmentally themed crime novels might be a surprise to anyone who read about my history with Wexford but Ruth Rendell’s 17th Wexford novel, Road Rage, is a terrific book. When a new motorway is due to cut through the woodland surrounding Kingsmarkham militant protesters gather. Wexford’s wife Dora would quite like to be one of them but she and several other people are kidnapped in an incidence of domestic terrorism.  The book offers quite a realistic portrayal of both sides of a complex argument and also shows Wexford at his most human, being very fearful for his wife’s safety.

The first of G. M. Ford’s novels to feature private eye Leo Waterman is another of my ‘go to’ books focusing on environmentalism. In Who in Hell is Wanda Fuca (which also vies for best title ever) Leo is asked by an old friend of his father’s, a semi-retired Mafia don, to look for his missing niece who has gotten caught up at the more extreme end of environmental politics. The book is a little bit surreal, amusing and full of over the top characters, including a bunch of homeless drunks who act as Leo’s version of Holmes’ Baker Street irregulars.

There must be something that draws together Florida, environmentalism and crime fiction as both Carl Hiassan and Randy Wayne White have written half a dozen books each combining all three themes. Another book to do so is David Liss’ The Ethical Assassin which features a killer whose sins are, to some at least, forgivable because the people he kills deserve their fate as they are perpetrators of cruelty to animals on a grand scale. The book is absurd (in a good way) and though it does get a little ‘ranty’ at a few points overall it is an entertaining read.

A recent discovery for me is Canadian writer William Deverell whose delightful legal procedural April Fool involved his aging lawyer protagonist’s wife in a dramatic environmental protest. The rural community’s old-growth forest is under threat from developers and tree house sit-ins and other shenanigans abound as the locals, and some ring-ins, try to save the area.

Another legal thriller containing a strong environmental theme is Clare Francis‘ Requiem (a.k.a. The Killing Winds). When the pregnant wife of a wealthy rock star (who may or may not be modeled on the outspokenly vegetarian former member of The Beatles) dies slowly and painfully her death is at first blamed on some preservative she used. But a lawyer with an eco-action group is convinced she died due to a new pesticide that is being tested in the area because other people have died from similar symptoms and she convinces the rock star to join the fight which soon gets very, very dirty.

Do you have any suggestions for other non-preachy environmentally themed crime fiction I should be reading?

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Kerrie at Mysteries in Paradise is hosting the crime fiction alphabet meme which requires the posting of an article relating to the letter of the week (a book title, an author name, a subject…) Do join in the fun by reading the posts and/or contributing one of your own. You don’t have to write every week.

This is the second round of the meme which was first run from late 2009 to early 2010. My contributions that time were discussions of books with one word titles.

Review: Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasan

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Title: Skinny Dipskinny-dip

Author:Carl Hiaasan

Publisher: Black Swan (2005)

ISBN: 0-552-77393-X

The book opens with Joey Perrone being thrown head first off a cruise liner into the Atlantic Ocean by her husband Chaz for reasons that aren’t immediately clear. Unfortunately for Chaz Joey survives the fall and her stint in the sea. Rather than inform the authorities Joey, her rescuer and an assortment of friends and family have loads of fun extracting revenge by playing with Chaz’ mind and generally making him regret being alive.

I found this book by a circuitous route while searching for something a little lighter than normal that my face to face book group hadn’t read before. I tried half a dozen books that I was assured are humours and found, not surprisingly, that it’s not only beauty that ’tis in the eye of the beholder.

I wouldn’t describe the book as laugh out loud funny but it did have me smiling a most of the time. I can’t think of another book to compare it to but it reminded me of one of my favourite movies, Fargo. It’s the same kind of satire and has the same delicious inevitability in the unfolding downfall of the loser husband. The people who populate the book, good and bad alike, are larger than life and full of eccentricities but are credible within the context of the story. Most of them are also very, very likeable. Even the guy who collects roadside death markers.

Even though I’m something of an ageing hippy I found the environmental overtones a bit obvious but they’re a minor feature of the book so not too much of a problem. Despite what it says on the book jacket I don’t know that it qualifies as crime fiction (there’s not much of a puzzle after all) but it’s a sharply written romp of a yarn in the best sense of the word and offers that totally satisfying feeling that comes from a bad guy getting what’s coming to him.

My rating 4/5