Rarely have I found an author that has made me laugh out loud so many times in one book. Hiaasen has done that for me in the books of his I have read. I love his wit and dry humor. This is a great story about two lottery ticket winners in Florida. One is a young black woman that works in a vet's office and loves animals (keeps an aquarium full of 45 baby turtles that she saved) and the other is a redneck, white supremacist that doesn't feel like sharing the $28 mil., especially with a "negro". Thus begins the story of his search for JoLayne and her ticket. Along the road we meet a sexy newspaper journalist, his wife that refuses to divorce him because she might look bad, the religious fanatics that relieve the tourists of their money with weeping Mary idols and oil stains in the form of Jesus Christ, a Hooters waitress and many more hilarious characters. If you like a good laugh and a little mystery, give this one a shot. ( )

This is Hiaason on top form: Ruthless and inept criminals, passion and love gone awry, religious nuts and turtles that look like the Apostles. No other writer can pull off humourous crime takes like Hiaason. The plot it clever, with a spread of characters whose stories weave together to create mayhem in Florida. The underlying message is, as usual, a basic good vs. evil tale, but there is no shortage of new and clever material. This is a book which you feel could be wrapped up at just about any chapter, but you can see there are plenty of pages left - and that's great news. The characters are offbeat but likable, the bad guys awfully dumb and equally despicable. Great writing. A fun and enjoyable read which is highly recommended. ( )

Hiaasen has a real knack for writing about the dregs of society. His characters seem impossibly colorful, but if you're a reader of Fark, you know that in Florida this plot is completely plausible. I love Hiaasen's matter-of-fact satire. Though I have to say I kinda thought the Hooter's girl deserved the second lottery ticket. ( )

Grange is a small south Florida town, famous for it's religious shrines and
fanatics, like the Weeping Virgin Mother (with twice daily performances for
the pilgrims) and the Oil Stain Jesus out on the county blacktop. But
nothing much newsworthy ever happens there until one fateful Saturday night.
JoLayne Lucks is the beautiful black vet's assistant who plays the same six
numbers every week in the state lottery and on this particular Saturday
realizes that she has one of two winning lottery tickets each worth a cool
$14 million. Her dream is to spend it rescuing a local plot of swampland
from a strip mall developer. Bodean Gazzer and his redneck buddy, Chubb, are
the founding members of a home-grown White Supremacy militia they've called
The White Clarion Aryans, and this unlikely pair hold the other winning
ticket, and they want the whole $28 million. Afire with paramilitary fervor,
Bode and Chubb need the cash to bankroll the start-up of the White Clarion
Aryans before NATO takes over America with heavily armed paratroopers coming
in from the Bahamas. In a burst of uncharacteristic deductive reasoning,
they figure out who has the other ticket and drive down from the Tampa Bay
area to steal it. They break in and beat JoLayne and steal her ticket, but
before they can cash it she mounts a hot pursuit with the help of local
journalist Tom Krome. As they chase Bode, Chubb and a kidnapped Hooter's
waitress through the swamps and sleazy dives, dodging bullets and local
religious fanatics, Tom and JoLayne leave a wake of mayhem and hilarity.

I just love Hiaasen's books. There's nothing quite like them for pure
unadulterated escapism. The descriptions of the ridiculous bad guys, the
completely cockamamie ideas and unlikely outcomes never fail to entertain
me. I've read nearly all of his books and I have to admit that I'd be hard
pressed to try to pick a favorite, they are all just so delicious. This one
cracked me up several times, drawing stares from my family. Nobody writes
a more satisfying end to such wonderful tales as Hiaasen. This one gets a
high 5. ( )

One of my favorite Hiaasen books…so far.

Ya gotta love a story about a lottery winner who plays the same numbers every week, each number representing “an age at which she had jettisoned a burdensome man.”

As usual there are the quirky characters, multiple converging plots, and more then a few pointed jabs.