Nature Girl
Carl Hiaasen - Nature Girl
All the half-Seminole Sammy Tigertail wanted was some piece and quiet after a white tourist died of a heart attack in his boat. But not only is the dead tourist haunting him, he also had to drag along Gillian St Croix, a willing sorority girl, as a "hostage" to the Dismal Key. But that was only the beginning.
Now there is the single mother Honey Santana with a nonexistent tolerance for rude behavior and an uncontrollable jukebox in her head; Boyd Shreave, horny scum of a telemarketer who Honey has tricked into an "ecotour" in the Everglades; his "girlfriend" Eugenia Fonda who is apparently desperate for indifferent sex; Louis Piejack, deluded stalker-fishmonger who is after Honey, hapless Texan private eye Dealey Shreave's wife hired to get XXX-rated evidence against him; Honey's ex-husband Perry Skinner who cannot admit to himself that he still cares about her. And their son Fry (unrealistically reasonable school kid) with a football helmet in his head.
No wonder Sammy wonders why everyone had to select this one of all the Ten Thousand Islands…
Apparently Hiaasen tried to write something else than his usual plotline and I think that his alter ego is much better hidden this time. All the characters are also new - Skink is nowhere to be seen - even if they are typical to Hiaasen's stories. He has also upped the ante with the "gruesome" department with extra bleeding, vomiting and gangrene. Many characters also are at least preoccupied with sex although the many descriptions are nor particularly graphic. Hiaasen does not elaborate with the Honey's mental malady (probably wisely since it seems to be A Dramatic Madness) thought the auditory hallucinations hint to some form of schizophrenia.
(There is also one tertiary character, masseuse Mikko with a right gender thought he claims to have come from Bali...)
The main confrontation is literally crowded. Looks like Hiaasen would have wanted to give all the possible protagonists to get a shot at the bad guy even if they have to get careless to let things go to a certain way.
All the half-Seminole Sammy Tigertail wanted was some piece and quiet after a white tourist died of a heart attack in his boat. But not only is the dead tourist haunting him, he also had to drag along Gillian St Croix, a willing sorority girl, as a "hostage" to the Dismal Key. But that was only the beginning.
Now there is the single mother Honey Santana with a nonexistent tolerance for rude behavior and an uncontrollable jukebox in her head; Boyd Shreave, horny scum of a telemarketer who Honey has tricked into an "ecotour" in the Everglades; his "girlfriend" Eugenia Fonda who is apparently desperate for indifferent sex; Louis Piejack, deluded stalker-fishmonger who is after Honey, hapless Texan private eye Dealey Shreave's wife hired to get XXX-rated evidence against him; Honey's ex-husband Perry Skinner who cannot admit to himself that he still cares about her. And their son Fry (unrealistically reasonable school kid) with a football helmet in his head.
No wonder Sammy wonders why everyone had to select this one of all the Ten Thousand Islands…
Apparently Hiaasen tried to write something else than his usual plotline and I think that his alter ego is much better hidden this time. All the characters are also new - Skink is nowhere to be seen - even if they are typical to Hiaasen's stories. He has also upped the ante with the "gruesome" department with extra bleeding, vomiting and gangrene. Many characters also are at least preoccupied with sex although the many descriptions are nor particularly graphic. Hiaasen does not elaborate with the Honey's mental malady (probably wisely since it seems to be A Dramatic Madness) thought the auditory hallucinations hint to some form of schizophrenia.
(There is also one tertiary character, masseuse Mikko with a right gender thought he claims to have come from Bali...)
The main confrontation is literally crowded. Looks like Hiaasen would have wanted to give all the possible protagonists to get a shot at the bad guy even if they have to get careless to let things go to a certain way.