Squeeze Me
by Carl Hiaasen
I haven’t read a Carl Hiaasen crime novel for a while but I
always loved his sense of humor, sort of a lighter version of Elmore Leonard.
This one is no different. Hungry pythons set loose on a
Florida town by none other than the former governor turned ecological avenger,
Skink, feature prominently in the story.
As well as the bumbling criminals that I remember from his
former novels. And the average Jill, named Angie, just trying to get by in this
god-forsaken world.
There has been political satire in his other books but I’m
not so sure that I’ve been as aware of it, because I think it often centers on
Florida politics, which I know nothing about. For this novel, the current
residents of the White House take center stage, hardly thinly veiled.
There are always fascinating characters, some that we love
to hate, like the society matrons self-named Potussies, in wildly improbable situations.
One of their members, Kiki Pew Fitzsimmons has disappeared, leaving behind her
purse and a half tab of ecstasy. “Oh, she’d never do that!” Oh, but she would.
On the one hand it feels a little like all of those glittering
society novels of the 80s but with the crazy criminal element married in.
And the wildlife, always the wildlife. Angie, a wildlife
relocator, is called to relocate a very large python with a very large lump in
its midsection.
No one seems to make the connection with Kiki Pew’s
disappearance, until the next morning.
The details, the humor, the vitality in the romp. You might think
you were reading an extended “Florida Man” article, but this is fiction. Okay,
mostly fiction. Which is why I love this author so much. I highly recommend
this book.
I think I’ll go back and read some of the other novels I
missed over the years.
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