- Paperback: 416 pages
- Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (May 9 2005)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0446695718
- ISBN-13: 978-0446695718
- Product Dimensions: 13.3 x 2.9 x 20.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 340 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #547,095 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
When the president of the Miami Chamber of Commerce is found dead inside a suitcase with his legs sawn off and a rubber alligator stuffed down his throat, news and police locals prefer to believe it's simply another typical South Florida crime. But when letters from a terrorist group, Las Noches de Diciembre, link the man's death to the disappearances of a visiting Shriner and a Canadian tourist, former newsman (now private eye) Brian Keyes intuits that someone is out to kill Florida's tourist trade. His investigation leads him to an old journalism crony obsessed with fury against the state's irresponsible development policies. Miami Herald columnist Hiaasen writes with a seriousness of intent and knack for characterization which, unfortunately, outstrip his comic talents. This is an auspicious solo debut for the serious Hiaasen (he has written three thrillers with William Montalbano), but a lukewarm one for him as a potential comic-absurdist. (March 24p
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
Satiric mystery adventure about a crazed Miami reporter and an eruption of bloodlust meant to drive off the tourists and developers. It's December and the loyal Shriners have arrived in southern Florida for their annual Miami Beach bash. Theodore Bellamy goes out for a swim with his wife Nell, gets stung by a man-of-war and after two fake "lifeguards" take him off to a hospital, disappears. What happens to B.D. "Sparky" Harper, President of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, is much worse: with a toy rubber alligator stuffed down his throat, his 190 pounds (smeared with suntan oil) are chewed off at the knees and stuffed into a piece of Samsonite luggage, head and all - wearing black wraparound sunglasses. And that's just the start of varied bombings, an aerial assault (dropping rattlesnakes) on a cruise ship, and other horrors perpetrated by the so-called "El Fuego, Comandante, Las Noches de Diciembre" (The Fire, the Nights of December). Brian Keyes, private investigator, is hired to help defend Ernesto Cabal, small-time burglar accused of murdering Harper for his car. Brian's investigation eventually circles back to the Miami Sun - where there are many, many nuts, chief of whom is Skip Wiley, a once-celebrated columnist whose lunatic writings are so bizarre that his own editor has put Wiley and his columns under psychiatric examination. Chief terrorist Wiley at last kidnaps the Orange Bowl Queen and stakes her onto a coral isle that is about to be dynamited for later bulldozing by land developers. What Wiley hates is "an entire generation of blow-dried rapists with phones in their Volvos and five-million-dollar lines of credit and secretaries who give head" - i.e., greedy, blind land-developers. Hiaasen gives an up-to-date sharpness to the old Hecht-MacArthur Front Page cynicism as he slices up limbs for his boiling pot-of-horrors. With this kind of thick-skinned black humor, real feelings would be intrusive - even about ecology and the rape of Florida. Everything is sacrificed to a news-hound humor that is as forced as it is cynical. But if you like your gallows laughs with gall, this could be for you. (Kirkus Reviews)
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Tis the season,
By Peggy Sue got Married (Land of peace) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Tourist Season (Mass Market Paperback)
If you liked Jackson McCRae's "Katzenjammer" with its wacky characters and mind-bending plot. Second only to "Basket Case," this quirky Hiassen novel is over the top and wild. Set in Florida, like almost all his books, he takes his usual swipe at government, corruption, and the state itself. The main event that propels this novel along is the murder of the Miami Chamber of Commerce President, who is found with his legs cut off and a rubber aligator stuffed down his throat. It just gets better from there, with a who dunnit type of scenario and live and fake reptiles used for harmful purposes. Rip-snorting laughs and a serious undertone give this five stars.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mind boggling mystery,
This review is from: Tourist Season (Mass Market Paperback)
Private Eye Brian Keyes has multiple murders of important men to solve and comes to believe someone is out to stop the tourist trade in Florida. A good read with realistic characters and a mind boggling mystery to solve.Reviewed by Janet Sue Terry, author of the contemporary romance, "Set Me Free" series Possibilities and Resolutions. President of Just My best Book Publishing Company. www.janetsueterry.com.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Open season for a great read,
By A Customer
This review is from: Tourist Season (Mass Market Paperback)
Hiassen rarely disappoints. Like many of his other novels, this book is a satire of the current problem of invasion in South Florida. However, this book does not share the same amount of comic violence that some his other works (such as Native Tongue) do. Because of that is more realistic. The ending is a little bit weak, but it does come as a bit of a surprise and is definitely symbolic of the struggle these characters are facing. Also would recommend THE BARK OF THE DOGWOOD by Jackson McCrae
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