I simply must read more Carl Hiaasen. Just plain damn fun. Skinny Dip (2004) has his usual mix of violence, corruption, sex, and just oddness — all set in South Florida, where something drives people crazy (the heat?).
The plight of the Everglades plays a starring role, without ever slowing the story down. Hiaasen almost has too much fun making Chaz Perrone, the incompetent villain, a poster boy for stupidity. What could be crueler than laughing at a would-be killer? Maybe leaving him naked and bleeding in the Everglades, accompanied only by a Vietnam veteran living off the land and suffering flashbacks?
A tangential note: Hiaasen’s Miami, and the Keys, are an era ahead of the west coast of Florida as depicted by Pete Dexter. Hardly feels like the same state…but maybe that’s part of the reality, where urban Florida is truly different than the rest of the state.