Take three Fidel Castro heads (well actually four), a montage of unique characters from movie stars to former politicians, and a naked manatee (aren't they all naked?) and you have one unique madcap story. This 13 chapter story was written by 13 well known Florida authors. It is neat to see the writing styles change from one chapter to the next. This is a quick read filled with a few laughs and a bag full of smirks. ( )

Remember that game where you get a bunch of people together and one person starts a story then breaks off and the next person continues the story, and so on? Well this book is what happens when that bunch of people are all published authors. Just like those impromptu group stories, this story is a lot of fun, but suffers from characters that suddenly begin acting out of character, plot points that show up suddenly then just drift away, and even chapters that shift genres. Kudos to Carl Hiaasen who had the unenviable job of trying to tie down a story that had grown way out of hand and provide a reasonable conclusion to it. ( )

This book was a light read: light suspense, light mystery, light sense of humor. It would be a decent beach read, but it really never pulled me very far into the story. I giggled a bit though, so points for that. It just wasn't my preferred genre. The fact that so many authors contributed a chapter kept the story from ever gaining any real depth, but it was certainly an interesting experiment. ( )

Black comedy by Carl Hiaasen in collaboration with 12 other south Florida writers, including Dave Barry and Elmore Leonard.

Each writer produces one chapter. In spite of this technical handicap the story is cohesive. Indeed it's hard to tell at times that the writing style has shifted, since all keep to the well tried rules of the genre.

Arguably the result would have been better if each author had gone it alone, but it's a fun exercise that ultimately succeeds. ( )

A clever idea: Get a bunch of south florida writers together and have them each write a chapter of a crime/mystery novel. Execution: Not so good. Too many cooks spoil the broth. ( )