Tourist Season by Carl Hiaasen


Relentlessly violent screwball book.

Published in 1986.

This is my first Carl Hiaasen book. It is also Hiaasen's first book as a solo author. Hiaasen goes for over-the-top funny, much like Elmore Leonard and Dave Barry. but, in the end it wore me down rather than keeping me intrigued.

The premise of Tourist Season is that a Miami-based newspaper columnist is sick of all of the development in and around Miami and the Everglades so he decides to start a campaign of terrorism to scare away the tourists and to discourage more development. 

The columnist (whose anti-development commentary rarely deviates from Hiaasen's as the narrator) is joined by an anti-Castro bumbling bomb specialist, an African American that is a former star member of the Miami Dolphins who hates almost all white people and a native Indian from the area who is flush with bingo and gambling money. Throw in a newbie Private Detective and an Orange Bowl Queen that is sick of the pageant scene and you have a potentially powerful mix but, in the end, it wore me down rather than keeping me intrigued.

I'm not sure if I'll read any more of his books - I was left with that much of a feeling of indifference.

I rate this book 3 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here: Tourist Season by Car Hiaasen.

 Reviewed on May 5, 2010.

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