Stormy Weather by Carl Hiaasen

Stormy Weather

by Carl Hiaasen

I began reading Carl Hiaasen and Elmore Leonard about the same time and found them similar, perhaps products of the time period.  Both write about criminals and crime, but Carl Hiaasen's books are a good bit less violent and more plain fun. 

 
Sure, Elmore Leonard's books have been made into bigger movies, with a bigger budget I think, but I urge you to give Carl Hiaasen another look.  Stormy Weather is a favorite of mine.  It was the fourth book published by him back in 1995. 

 
Bonnie and Max Lamb are on their honeymoon in Florida when the news shows an inbound hurricane.  Max seems oddly excited about the weather to Bonnie and insists that they head south into the heart of the region that is being affected.

 
Edie Marsh has just given up on trying to bed, and then sue, a Kennedy heir.  She teams up with an old partner, Snapper, to fleece some people who have storm damage by pretending that a roof fell on her.  They pick the wrong person to try to con.

 
The absurd and the fantastic abound in Stormy Weather.  A one eyed man in a flowered shower cap has himself tied to a bridge before the storm hits by some young idiots out throwing empty beer cans in the wind.  He calls himself Skink and sees himself as an avenger of the wild in Florida.

 
Augustine is trying to chase down the wild monkeys and other illegally imported animals from his late uncle's wildlife farm after the storm when he meets Bonnie, whose husband Max has run off, chasing a monkey that stole his video camera.

 
Everyone seems a little storm addled in this wild ride and it makes for some fantastically fun reading.  If you haven't seen this one, give it a try.