Fever beach A novel

Review by Booklist Review

Remember Twilly Spree? The independently wealthy sometime ecowarrior who appeared in Hiaasen's Sick Puppy (2000) and Scat (2009)? He's in this new book, too, which is one of many things the novel has going for it. It also has Dale Figgo, a right-wing nutcase who was too crazy for the Proud Boys; Viva Morales, who's renting a room from Dale, and whose bosses, a pair of alleged philanthropists, are almost certainly up to no good; an ambitious and deeply corrupt congressman; Dale's mom, who isn't thrilled about what her son is doing with his life; and a bunch of other delightfully weird characters. There is a serious story to be told about right-wing conspiracists, corrupt politicians, and shady philanthropists, and Hiaasen is sort of telling that story, but mostly he's making us laugh--and not polite little giggles, either. We're talking giant belly laughs, embarrass-yourself-in-public spleen-busters. This could be his funniest book yet.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Bestseller Hiaasen (Squeeze Me) continues to romp through Florida's looniest corners in this hilarious send-up of white supremacists, crooked politicians, and the quirky citizens who oppose them. Dale Figgo is a down-on-his-luck neo-Nazi who has been rejected by both the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers for smearing feces on the wrong statue on January 6, but it looks like his ship may be coming in. Congressman Clure Boyette has successfully solicited $2 million from racist philanthropists Claude and Electra Mink to fund Dale's nascent far-right organization, Strokers for Liberty, laundering the cash through a Habitat for Humanity knockoff that uses child labor. Opposing those bozos are Viva Morales, the Mink foundation's dissatisfied "wealth director" and Dale's reluctant tenant; independently wealthy social justice crusader Twilly Spree, who meets Viva by chance on a flight; and underage sex worker Galaxy, who has dirt on Boyette. Viva uncovers much of what's going on by fake-dating Boyette and snooping around Dale's house and recruits Twilly to help her topple their scheme--but Dale and his crew fail mostly through their own incompetence. This funhouse-mirror satire offers welcome opportunities to laugh at the absurdities of 21st-century politics. It's Hiaasen at his finest. Agent: Esther Newberg, CAA. (May)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

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Review by Library Journal Review

Corrupt politicians, white supremacists, and billionaires hiding evil deeds behind charitable giving run amok until Twilly Spree and Viva Morales team up to set things right in Hiaasen's (Squeeze Me) new thriller. Inept right-wing extremist Dale Figgo leads a white-power group that aims to intimidate voters in the home district of Representative Clure Boyette. Boyette embezzles money from a charitable foundation created by his supporters, Claude and Electra Mink. Claude and Electra are billionaires determined to put their names on every project they fund and are more than willing to eliminate anyone who stands in their way. The foolishness of Figgo, Boyette, and the Minks cannot withstand the clever plans of Spree and Morales. Spree infiltrates Figgo's group, while Morales works to expose the Minks' nefarious deeds. The house of cards eventually collapses, with appropriate karma for all. Hiaasen gleefully satirizes all that is wrong with 21st-century politics and life in current times. Damron's narration underlines Hiaasen's themes, using various accents and tones for different characters. His versatile delivery shifts from deadpan to apoplectic as needed, which makes for a hilarious listen. VERDICT Hiaasen fans will relish the absurdities of this mischievous story, with pitch-perfect narration to match.--Joanna Burkhardt

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

Florida's preeminent satirist returns to the fray with a worm's-eye view of MAGA World. In his time off from packaging Dream Booty sex dolls for Bottom Drawer Novelties, Dale Figgo does his patriotic best to save the nation by hurling plastic bags weighted with sand and filled with antisemitic epithets onto the lawns of gated communities. The disapproving tenant in his extra bedroom, Viva Morales, works as "wealth director" for the Mink Foundation, a nothingburger position that would bother her a lot more if she knew the fate of Rachel Cohen, the predecessor who uncovered some secret details that cofounders Claude and Electra Mink wanted to keep secret. Congressional Representative Clure Boyette, in the middle of what should be an easy reelection campaign and a much tougher divorce from his wife, Nicki, who's collected abundant evidence of his infidelities, wants the Minks to fund Wee Hammers, which is just like Habitat for Humanity except that the habitats are built by child labor. Figgo and his best friend, white supremacist Jonas Onus, have a serious falling out over the demand by Clure's father, kingmaker Clay Boyette, that Figgo accept Onus as an equal partner in Strokers for Liberty, the organization of lunatic activists he's founded, and a calamitous demonstration at a gay bar in Key West. It all sounds so busy, dizzy, and fizzy that it makes perfect sense when Janice Eileen Smith, who in her role as Galaxy is Clure's mistress in every sense of the word, breaks away from him, bonds with Viva, and starts her own counterplot, just like every other member of the cast. The perfect antidote for anyone who doomscrolls daily headlines: more crazed, rollicking, sharply written sendups like this. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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