Take a trip to exotic South Florida with this dark, funny book that established Carl Hiaasen as one of the top mystery writers in the game.The first sign of trouble is a Shriner’s fez washed up on a Miami beach. The next is a suitcase containing the almost-legless body of the local chamber of commerce president found floating in a canal…The locals are desperate to keep the murders under wraps … the murders under wraps and the tourist money flowing. But it will take a reporter-turned–private eye to make sense of a caper that mixes football players, politicians, and one very hungry crocodile in this classic mystery that GQ called “one of the top ten destination reads of all time.”
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I’ve read many of Carl Hiaasen’s books but somehow missed his first novel until recently. It’s an entertaining ride that takes you through the underbelly of Miami’s tourism trade. It’s much more overtly political than his other novels. I think as he got more experience the activism is more of an undercurrent to the humor. In Tourist Season, it’s front and center. That doesn’t make it bad. I just think later works like Bad Monkey, Razor Girl, and Lucky You deliver the message in much funnier ways. Tourist Season also gives us a glimpse into character types that will be more fully realized in future books. Wiley is a precursor to the Clinton Tyree (Skink) character in future novels.
Carl Hiassen’s books are set in Florida and reflect his deep concern for the environment and his equally deep disdain for the people who destroy it. Nevertheless, his novels are laugh out loud funny and always feature a likable lead character. The young reporter in Tourist Season discovers that tourists are being murdered by a mysterious gang, a gang he fears may be led by his friend. Warning: Hiaseen’s books contain a lot of profanity and black humor, but if this doesn’t bother you, you’ll really get a kick out of these books.
I am a Hiaasen fan, and this is one of his earliest books. It presents us with a set of bizarre characters, and wild situations rooted in the south Florida environment.
I gave this four stars when I actually only enjoyed it about three stars worth, but if I had read it maybe 25 or 30 years years ago it would have been five stars for sure. I love Carl Hiaasen’s work. His unique perspective is an interesting combination of hopefulness, cynicism, a love of Florida and the environment and a deep seated understanding of the human condition. The things we have seen happen since this book was written (1986, I believe) give it less impact and a sense of not holding up well. Still, any of his books are worth a read. If you don’t recognize some of the celebrity names, you are undoubtedly under 50, and there will be one or two you will recognize. And maybe what we should be thinking, instead of how it doesn’t hold up, is that we should have been listening more carefully.
Tourist Season and Double Whammy are two of my favorite crime novels and made me a Hiaasen fan for life. Nobody blends funny and edgy like him.
Great books, Carl Hiaasen knows Florida, characters and themes run through many of them.
Tourist Season, by Carl Hiaasen, Berkley, New York, 1986
You have missed Florida’s most satisfying export if you haven’t discovered Carl Hiaasen’s sardonic wit and humorous crime fiction. Hiaasen packs more humor, sarcasm, and satire in a one-page description of a Miami Chamber of Commerce member than most authors can pack into a book. In Tourist Season, the title is a double entendre; the action takes place during the tourist season, and for a rare American crocodile, tourists are in season.
A Shriner’s Fez washes up on a Miami beach and the Chamber of Commerce publicist is found in a suitcase floating in a canal. His legs have been gnawed off by a really big animal according to the pathologist. Snowbirds and tourists disappear as a new terror group does its best to scare tourists, developers, lawyers, and bankers out of southern Florida. The group, Las Noches die Diciembre and the mysterious Commandante El Fuego are kidnapping tourists and feeding them to Pavlov, their thousand-pound croc. There are only 30 American crocodiles left and the damned developers are doing what they can to destroy the Everglades and what remains of the croc’s habitat, along with the habitat of hundreds of species of birds, dozens of species of snakes, and the last surviving black panthers in Florida.
The cops and Chamber of Commerce types are desperate to suppress the story and keep the conveyor of tourist money flowing. Brian Keyes, a former soft-hearted newspaper reporter and struggling private detective is hired by a missing Shriner’s wife to find her husband. The satire and humor escalate as El Fuego nimbly outwits authorities and at last confronts Brian.
I’ve never read a Hiassen book I didn’t love.
Love all his books. Quirky
This was the first Carl Hiaasen book I every read . Friend for life !!
Hiassen’s characters never disappoint!
Must read
I’ve read all of his novels. He keeps getting better and better. I actually do laugh aloud when reading his gems.
Hard not to like Hiaasen writes. Alway funny. Seems to have an inexhaustible supply of greedy Florida land developers and sleazy politicians who service them.
What can you say? Hiaasen is always at the top of his game and the characters often make you laugh out loud. You know what you will get when you choose one of his novels.
I have loved every Carl Hiaasen Book that I have read. Always interesting characters and story line. Fun to read.
This is like a rated R book. I read part of it, it’s not clean enough for me.
Hiassen really captures the weird hilarity of Florida. These are crime stories, but they are also satires. A must-read for anyone who has ever indulged in “Florida man” stories.
nobody can make us laugh at the truly horrible side of South Florida (low) life like Carl Hiassen.
As usual Carl Hiaasen tells a witty and entertaining story of the two sides of Florida: the beauty of it’s nature and the world of money grubbers who seek to destroy it. His characters are original and hilarious as always. Great read to escape!