More farcical crimebusting from Hiaasen, this time involving an inept plastic surgeon and a seven foot goon with a skin condition and one hand replaced by a strimmer. Daft entertainment, tightly plotted with a good ear for style and the occasional burst of more writerly prose when Hiaasen gives himself a rare, brief break from serving the relentlessly purposeful amusement he's constructing. Better than Basket Case, not as good as Sick Puppy. ( )

Carl Hiaasen creates the craziest characters. I would expect no other author to create an ex-Amish hit man with a horrible facial disfigurement and a weed whacker for a hand replacement, and make him believable. Unlike some of Hiaasen’s other novels, the situation here isn’t completely outrageous… just the cast (including Reynaldo Flemm, who is so obviously patterned after Geraldo Rivera in his early days of being attacked by white supremacists). Someone is trying to kill Mick Stranahan, and once he discovers that it’s related to the disappearance of a young woman four years ago, he figures the best way for his life to return to its peaceful normality is for him to solve that mystery. It becomes a game of kill or be killed for Mick, and along the way he may just have met his 6th wife. I enjoyed this much more than the last Hiaasen I read, Sick Puppy. ( )

Another Hiaasen romp featuring "retired" Florida special investigator Mick
Stranahan. Mick's quiet life in the small house out in Stiltsville in the
bay is disrupted by people who keep trying to kill him. Who is it that
wants him dead? that's the big question. There isn't a lack of candidates,
either, after a career like his putting bad guys behind bars for years. He
keeps being shadowed by a hitman with the world's worst complexion and
manages to barely escape fire bombs, automatic gunfire, and poison. Along
the way, innocent and not so innocent bystanders are dropping like flies.
Shady lawyers, vicious plastic surgeons, starlet wannabes, a vindictive
ex-wife, and a self-important TV exposé reporter, Mick deals with everybody
with the same straight-forward method. All he wants to do is sit on the
dock and fish. Is this too much to ask?

I absolutely love the way Hiaasen writes. His recurring characters are like
old friends I've missed. He's got a flair for the ridiculous without going
over the top. The good guys are gritty and human, the bad guys are
deliciously bad and meet very satisfactory ends. There's always a little
sex and maybe a romance, but the story is the thing. This man spins a yarn
from multicolored fibers and draws you right in. 5 ( )

This is the second adult book I have read by Hiaasen, the first being "Strip Tease". I really enjoyed Strip Tease so I had high expectations & this book did not disappoint. It was laugh out loud funny in parts and contained a crazy cast of characters, including a world renowned plastic surgeon who doesn't know how to perform plastic surgery and a hit man with a terrible complexion and a Weed Whacker for a hand!!! The first chapter features a dead body being found and someone else being killed, so there is no shortage of action or suspense! Hiaasen's books are like really good movies: they feature action, adventure, suspense, a bit of romance and several twists and turns! ( )

Blurb from Amazon...

"Somebody wants Mick Stranahan dead. Mick is sure of this, because he just had to dispatch a pistol-packing intruder with the help of a stuffed marlin head. But who would want to hurt a former Florida state investigator? The answer is plenty of people-as Stranahan soon finds himself acquainted with a litter of nefarious players, including a hit man whose skin problems could fill a comprehensive (if bizarre) medical textbook, a lawyer of questionable repute who advertises on billboards, and a TV show host whose taste for sensationalism is exceeded only by his vanity. The whole thing gets downright harrowing for the ex-cop in one of Hiaasen's most breathtaking, madcap romps ever-where even a plastic surgeon with extremely shaky hands waits to wring Stranahan's neck."

My review...

Once I started this book I could not put it down. It was just so much fun. Mick turned out to be a fabulous anti-hero. Seriously, I want to marry him. The bad guys were extremely well done. I don't think I'll ever read another villian who can touch Chemo. The plot was fast paced and didn't drag at all and best of all the book was hilarious. I can't wait to go pick up more of Hiaasens books and I'm crossing my fingers that Mick is in some of them. ( )