- Hardcover: 352 pages
- Publisher: Knopf (Jan 4 2000)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0679454454
- ISBN-13: 978-0679454458
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 16.3 x 3.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 726 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (175 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #747,297 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Carl Hiaasen's characters ride and flail on little verbal hurricanes, and his literary storm shows no signs of dying down. Sick Puppy shares Dave Barry's giddy gift for finding humor in South Florida horrors, and a bit of Elmore Leonard's genius for pitch-perfect dialogue spouted smartly by criminals who are dumb as stumps. The title of Hiaasen's eighth novel could apply to most of its characters, but it chiefly refers to an ebullient Labrador retriever named Boodle and the millionaire eco-terrorist Twilly Spree. Let's just say that Twilly has a singular affliction: poor anger management in the face of environmental irresponsibility. When he spots Boodle's owner, Palmer Stoat, tossing litter from a car, Twilly goes to Stoat's home and removes the glass eyeballs from the animals that the bloated lobbyist had shot and mounted on his walls. Boodle gulps down the eyeballs, sustaining no small amount of digestive difficulties.
Soon Boodle and Stoat's wife, Desie, are fugitives from Florida's nature despoilers (who include the Governor, a "gladhanding maggot," the amusingly slimy Stoat, the human bulldozer Krimmler, the cocaine-importer-turned-developer Clapley, and the hit man Mr. Gash, who's fond of sex with multiple beach bimbos in iguana-skin sex harnesses to the tunes of The World's Most Blood Curdling Emergency Calls). Desie, who has a knack for calamitous romance, is smitten with Twilly, but urges him not to kill any litterbugs or pelican molesters: "Jail would not be good for this relationship." What keeps pure farce at bay in a novel that romps with the abandon of a scent-crazed Labrador is the otherwise charming Twilly's creepy edge of implacable fanaticism. And what redeems the funny/ugly violence from cliché is its colorful bad guys (they're as iridescent as oil slicks), Hiaasen's excellent wit, and the music of his prose. To evoke a drunk asleep on the beach, he adds a pungent detail: "a gleaming stellate dollop of seagull shit decorated his forehead."
Hiaasen is not unflawed. His original eco-terrorist character, ex-Florida governor Clinton "Skink" Tyree, seems like an interloper from the earlier books. But Hiaasen's the master of madcap ensembles (which is partly why the star-vehicle film of his fine book Strip Tease flopped). And even when you can see a chase scene's denouement coming for a beachfront mile, each paragraph packs descriptive delights to keep you going at breakneck pace. --Tim Appelo
From Publishers Weekly
Florida muckraker Hiaasen once again produces a devilishly funny caper revolving around the environmental exploitation of his home state by greedy developers. When budding young ecoterrorist Twilly Spree begins a campaign of sabotage against a grotesque litterbug named Palmer Stoat, he gets much more than he bargained for. Stoat is a political fixer, involved with a bevy of shady types: Dick Artemus, ex-car salesman, now governor; Robert Clapley, a crooked land developer with an unhealthy interest in Barbie dolls; and his business expediter, Mr. Gash, a permed reptilian thug with ghastly musical tastes: "All morning he drove back and forth across the old bridge, with his favorite 911 compilation in the tape deck: Snipers in the Workplace, accompanied by an overdub of Tchaikowsky's Symphony No. 3 in D Major." After a wave of preemptive strikes centered on a garbage truck and a swarm of dung beetles, Twilly ups the ante and kidnaps both Palmer's dog and his wife, Desie, who finds Twilly a great deal more interesting than her slob of a husband. In doing so Twilly uncovers a conspiracy (well, more like business as usual) to jam a bill through the Florida legislature to develop Toad Island, a wildlife sanctuary, in a deal that will make a mint for all the politicos concerned. Chapley wants Twilly silenced and dispatches Mr. Gash. Palmer wants his wife and dog back and asks Dick Artemus to help in the rescue without derailing the bill. Who should be called upon but the good cop/bad psycho duo of Trooper Jim Tile and ex-Governor Clinton Tyree, aka Skink or the Captain, whose recurring appearances throughout Hiaasen's novels have made for hysterical farce. While there may be nothing laughable about unchecked environmental exploitation, Hiaasen has refined his knack for using this gloomy but persistent state of affairs as a prime mover for scams of all sorts. In Sick Puppy, he shows himself to be a comic writer at the peak of his powers. 200,000 first printing; first serial to Men's Journal; Literary Guild alternate; simultaneous audiobook. (Jan.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
weird and outrageous,
This review is from: Sick Puppy (Paperback)
When Twilly Spree, an environmental terrorist and financially independent, sees Palmer Stoat throw trash out of his car window on the freeway, he is on his tail seeking revenge. Stoat is a political fixer involved with all sorts of characters: Dick Artemus, ex-car salesman, now governor; Robert Clapley, a crooked land developer with an unhealthy interest in Barbie dolls; and his goon, Mr. Gash, who plays his favorite 911 compilations in the tape deck.Twilly, after filling Stoat's car with dung beetles and not reforming him, kidnaps both Palmer's dog and his wife, Desie. Twilly uncovers a conspiracy to force a bill through the Florida legislature to develop a bridge to Toad Island, a wildlife sanctuary. This will allow the island to be developed and money to be made by all. Chapley wants Twilly silenced and dispatches Mr. Gash. Palmer wants his wife and dog back and asks Dick Artemus to help in the rescue by manipulating the introduction of the bill. Trooper Jim Tile is the policeman involved in finding the kidnapper along with ex-Governor Clinton Tyree, aka Skink or the Captain, who lives in the wilds of the Everglades. Development is shown to be what it is, a stripping away of the environment for the gains of a few. There is loads of dark humor. I loved Desie as a character and what is funny is that she is only a minor character. Some of the others were just too over the top for me but this is a Hiaasen book and what he is known for. A weird and strange kind of mystery
5.0 out of 5 stars
Woof, woof,
By A Customer
This review is from: Sick Puppy (Paperback)
This,like all of Hiassen's books is one hilarious romp. And I've read the all! In "Sick Puppy" Hiassen introduces us too Willy Spree, who is like a Skink Jr. On a highway Spree sees a literbug and decides he will teach this literbug a lesson. The literbug is Palmer Stoat a corrupt lobbyist who is the middle of getting the Shearwater Island Resort throught the capitol. After a few hilarous pranks, Spree finds out about the resort and is determined to stop the resort and save the small island from the bulldozer. He ends up dognapping Stoat's dog, a lovable black lab named Boodle. If you own a Lab, or are owned by one, you will appreciate this book. Yes, the premise is absurd, delightfully so. If you are in the mood for an easy read - and a funny read - this is a nice little book to spend some time with. With it's usual "over the top" writing (we actually like this), you'll be in for a treat. Also, try THE BARK OF THE DOGWOOD (another dog-influenced book) for a great tough sometimes disturbing time!
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great, I loved it.,
By Stephen Moore (The Mouse House, FL) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Sick Puppy (Paperback)
I never read any of his stuff before now, how funny. The humor and tone reminds me of Ben Elton's "Stark" a bit.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
|
Most recent customer reviews |
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
