Reviewer Oline Cogdill calls Carl Hiaasen’s forthcoming novel, Fever Beach, “vintage Hiaasen”. And, you can order a signed copy of Fever Beach through the Webstore. https://bit.ly/3YnGPUT. Release date is May 13.
Thank you, Oline, for the review, printed first in the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Book review: Vintage Carl Hiaasen attitude guides his new ‘Fever Beach’ about ‘dumb as a post’ white supremacist
‘Fever Beach’ by Carl Hiaasen. Knopf, 384 pages, $30
Few absurd aspects of life in Florida have escaped Carl Hiaasen’s wry wit and razor-sharp social commentary. Dumb developers, dumber politicians, disrespectful tourists, smarmy millionaires, smarmier billionaires, stupid crooks — all are fodder for Hiaasen.
You name any bad or weird behavior, Hiaasen has skewered it. His novels often seem more like documentaries than fiction. (Anyone who thinks an incident is too bizarre or over-the-top or could never happen, just think again and use Google.)
That vintage Hiaasen attitude guides “Fever Beach,” his first adult novel since “Squeeze Me” in 2020. Quasi-heroes, dumb criminals, nasty entitled people, a testament to Florida’s environment and situations that could be ripped from today’s and tomorrow’s headlines find a home in “Fever Beach.”
As usual, there’s a plot but it’s more like a series of cohesive vignettes. And laugh-out-loud moments. Lots of them.
The phrase “dumb as a post” doesn’t begin to describe white supremacist Dale Figgo. How dumb is he? He’s been kicked out of the Proud Boys, and the Oath Keepers will have nothing to do with him. Both groups believe him stupid and incompetent because he defaced the wrong statue. His mother thinks he’s “the definition of a dolt.” Another character thinks he’s “too dumb to be dangerous.” The nicest thing his so-called best friend calls him is “a certified blockhead.”
Determined to continue his hate-mongering, Dale starts his own group — the name of which we shouldn’t mention. He attracts 17 members with the same brainpower as Dale. They meet at Florida’s isolated Fever Beach, leaving trash and debris and spoiling the once-pristine beach. Dale, given to frequent malapropism, has plans, not good plans, not well thought-out plans, but plans.
He doesn’t know it but he’s up against two people secretly working against him. Twilly Spree, who appeared in Hiaasen’s “Sick Puppy” (2000), has extreme anger management issues when he sees wrongdoing, whether against a vulnerable person, an animal or the environment. Twilly, who’s a bit of an ecowarrior, does “enjoy ruining a bad guy’s day.” And he can afford revenge, as he inherited millions.
Twilly teams up with Viva Morales, a new Floridian wanting a fresh start after her dreadful ex-husband took all her money. Her new life isn’t going well. The only place she could afford to rent is a room in Dale’s townhouse. She didn’t know about his bigotry when she signed the lease. At least she has sole access to the washer-dryer as Dale, who she despises, believes it has “software that could read and report the seditious slogans on his tank tops.” The only job she could find is with the Mink Foundation, a so-called philanthropic organization run by a sleazy couple who donate millions “with the goal of getting as many buildings as possible” named after them. The foundation hides the Minks’ bribing of politicians, funding bigotry groups and ideas that destroy the land.
Twilly’s concrete plans to wreak havoc on Dale and his group are fairly successful with a hefty dose of humor. Viva is his willing accomplice.
Hiaasen keeps “Fever Beach” on an accelerated pace that includes an ill-advised trip to a Key West drag show, orange groves destroyed to make room for development, teenage hookers, and lots of plastic surgery. Naturally, there’s a corrupt politician whose latest disaster is starting a program patterned after Habitat for Humanity only with children building the houses with little adult supervision. What could go wrong when a rebellious pre-teen is handed a loaded nail gun?
As a social critic, Hiaasen uses well-placed humor to examine current events and the direction of society — both of which will continue to be relevant in the future, as his 1986 debut “Tourist Season” still is.
“Fever Beach” proves that five years is too long to go without Hiaasen’s whip-smart writing.