My rating:
add to my books
Loading...
Tricky Business
by
Dave Barry,
Dick Hill
The Extravaganza of the Seas is a five-thousand-ton cash cow, a top-heavy tub whose sole function is to carry gamblers three miles from the Florida coast, take their money, then bring them back so they can find more money. In the middle of a tropical storm one night, these characters are among the passengers it carries: Fay Benton, a single mom and cocktail waitress desper...more
Compact Disc, 0 pages
Published
September 30th 2002
by Brilliance Audio
(first published September 1st 2002)
There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!
sign in »
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is currently not featured on any Listopia lists.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
1,491)
It’s warped. It pokes outrageous fun at the stupidity in all of us—especially the ‘us’ who live in Florida (not me—those other people), and it uses adult language like I hear it used in the street all the time. It also has all the good stuff we like in a novel: murder, sex, drugs, violence, hijacking, corrupt government officials, inept authorities, and my favorite subject these days, senior citizens on a casino boat. Isn’t that everyone’s favorite subject?
The litany bizarre characters is ...more
The litany bizarre characters is ...more
view 1 comment
Dave Barry is an American columnist who, I have to say, can be very, very funny. Some Australian papers carry his columns from time to time, you might have seen them around. He is also a mate of Carl Hiaasen, a fellow journalist-turned-novelist. This book is humorous and light, except for a few acts of extreme violence, but not quite as good as the Hiaasen’s I have read to date, nor as good as Janet Evanovich. It is better than R is for Ricochet, though.
The plot involves several part...more
The plot involves several part...more
I loved to read Dave Barry's newspaper columns when I was a kid, he is one of my favorite humorous authors. When I found out that he had written a fiction novel, Big Trouble, I read it and loved it. It was made into a movie, which is also one of my favorites. I looked him up recently to see if he had any other books and found this one. I liked this book as much as Big Trouble. It follows the same sort of pattern with the "main" character being a sort of flawed but likable guy who s...more
I read this as a once-devotee, and I have to say I was not entirely impressed with it. It was not nearly as good as Big Trouble, in my opinion, and I am not sure that that is entirely Barry's fault. There are a lot of fun things in the text - the names that are double meanings and other plays on situational comedic genius that you can only do in the format of the written word, but Barry has done it much better in the past. I think what Barry is starting to do is move into his retirement as a ...more
Evidently the Wacky Florida Crime-Fiction genre is limitless; I figured Carl Hiaasen and Tim Dorsey had that genre pretty sewed up, and then along comes Dave Barry, another newspaper columnist-turned-novelist. While evocative of Hiaasen and Dorsey, Barry keeps his plot development a little tighter and doesn't have as many plot threads mucking up the works. The unfortunately-titled "Tricky Business" involves a gambling cruise ship that goes 3 miles off the Miami coast to ostensibly ru...more
From the back:
"Dave Barry...follows his acclaimed debut with a book that 'leads readers into a crazy complexity of money laundering, drug dealing, murder, sex, violence, hijacking, and undercover work' (Library Journal) -- not to mention 'barbs aimed at overbearing mothers, corrupt officials, inept authorities and , of course, the American crime novel itself' (Publishers Weekly)."
"What else do you need to know? It's by Dave Barry so you know it's going to b...more
"Dave Barry...follows his acclaimed debut with a book that 'leads readers into a crazy complexity of money laundering, drug dealing, murder, sex, violence, hijacking, and undercover work' (Library Journal) -- not to mention 'barbs aimed at overbearing mothers, corrupt officials, inept authorities and , of course, the American crime novel itself' (Publishers Weekly)."
"What else do you need to know? It's by Dave Barry so you know it's going to b...more
I happen to really like Dave BArry and like his novels best of all. I am particularly fond of the acknowledgment and Warning in the front of this book, where he goes through a riff on the fact that the book, like Big Trouble contains some "bad words". He apparently got letters of complaint about the language and he "wrote them back and explained that, yes, it did have some unsavory language, but that was because the story involved some unsavory characters, and that was the way th...more
I half wonder if my 3-Star rating is due to the length of time it took me to read this book. Not that it had anything to do with my feelings on the subject, rather personal life just took me away from books for a while. However, sharing my brother's sentiment, I have only seen the movie Big Trouble and have not read it, but found that story funnier than this. There was certainly some quirkiness to the characters, and the impending "catastrophe" was enough to keep me interested. Wit...more
This is a funny book with a lot of action and some great characters. Take a single mom cocktail waitress, two retirement home escapees, a washed up band, a large breasted roulette dealer with a bad case of flatulence, and others on a gambling cruise ship piloted by a prior convicted felon enroute to a rendevous for a drug drop with a cast of screwed up bad guys, and then shake it all up with a tropical storm. That is more than enough to pilot this book on a very funny course. Also pay attention ...more
Golly, I wish I were Elmore Leonard, said Dave Barry enviously, then I could write dialogue really good and maybe my character wouldn't be shallow stereotypes like the overburdened single mom, the wisecracking eighty year olds, or the polite and dangerous mobster. Oh well, I guess I'll just go read an Elmore Leonard book, sigh...
The best thing about this book is the warning at the beginning that he uses bad words. I can imagine that people who were familiar with his newspaper humour c...more
The best thing about this book is the warning at the beginning that he uses bad words. I can imagine that people who were familiar with his newspaper humour c...more
I would have probably given this book at least 3 stars, if it weren't for one scene of totally gratuitous violence and torture. The book is quite entertaining, and witty, well written, if rather over the top, but that's only as anyone who's been a fan of Dave Barry from his erstwhile newspaper columns, would expect. It builds to a nice well-developed climax in which most of the bad guys get their well-deserved rewards in one way or another. But that one scene kind of spoiled it for me. It was so...more
This was a fun book full of unique characters pulled together in a strange situation. I love Dave Barry's writings and the dialogue in this book is fantastic. There were not as many laugh out loud moments as I was hoping for, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thought it was a quick, clever story highlighting Barry's skills as an observational humor writer. The plot is a bit ridiculous, which I think is kinda the point. Warning, there was a surprising amount of violence and a few truly awful tort...more
No list of funny books could be complete without including Dave Barry, and I actually paused for several minutes while trying to decide which of his many books to discuss. I finally selected his second novel, Tricky Business, which is set, of course, in Florida. Briefly, it’s the story of what happens when a cast of colorful and eccentric characters all end up on a gambling ship off the coast of Florida during one of the worst hurricanes in memory. But, it’s also much more than just that.
...more
...more
By his own admission when he was writing a weekly column, Dave Barry was a booger journalist. That being said, his books follow this same philosophy. His humor is not the wit of Wodehouse or Wilde, but he can be very funny in a booger sort of way. So if you are just finishing a tome of Tolstoy and need a bit of light reading, look no further. Somewhere in this book he extends the lyrics to "My Funny Valentine" which, for me, made the book worth reading. It has a lame ending, but, hey...more
Okay, so Dave Barry isn't Italo Calvino or David Mitchell or one of the Japanese geniuses (whose names I would have to look up before attempting to write them here) but he HATES what has happened to Florida and has (like Carl Hiaasen) taken his revenge on the scumbag developers by writing them into his books. And for that he gets a top rating from me (not to mention that he's really funny).
Tricky business is filled with the usual arsenal of Dave Barry characters --- as mentioned above the...more
Tricky business is filled with the usual arsenal of Dave Barry characters --- as mentioned above the...more
As should be apparent from my book list, I am a great fan of Barry's writing. I am not, however, a fan of this book.
I think this was a bit of a stumble in his follow-up to his first work of fiction, Big Trouble.
First, the good. Barry has a knack for creating entertaining characters and for writing individual scenes of great comedy. The book has a running joke of the news coverage of a hurricane in South Florida which is hilarious and spot-on.
Now the bad. The book as a whole is ...more
I think this was a bit of a stumble in his follow-up to his first work of fiction, Big Trouble.
First, the good. Barry has a knack for creating entertaining characters and for writing individual scenes of great comedy. The book has a running joke of the news coverage of a hurricane in South Florida which is hilarious and spot-on.
Now the bad. The book as a whole is ...more
Nothing classy about this one, but Dave Barry is the funniest humor columnist I know, & some of his characteristic wit & insights into human foibles find their way into this character-driven story set in south Florida (where else?), largely aboard a floating casino, with a cast of mobsters & other unscrupulous businessmen along with a few lovable losers, including a rock band, a single mother cocktail waitress, & two old geezers from a retirement home.
It was an entertaining, briskly-paced caper. As with Big Trouble, the bad guys are borderline idiots and most of the protagonists don't know they're protagonists, which Barry pulls off in a very entertaining fashion. There are bouts of inane conversation that go on for pages at a time, but that's sort of his trademark, so asking him not to do that would be like asking Elvis to hold off on the hip-swiveling.
Barry manages to fill the 300+ pages with the events of just one night, casti...more
Barry manages to fill the 300+ pages with the events of just one night, casti...more
(Read by Dick Hill - divine)
I LOVED this book. You learn background on each person and have no idea how they will intertwine until they all end up together on a ship. It was a great story and hilarious, too. Dick Hill was his typical, awesome self.
I was on a walk listening to this and started to laugh out loud, which caught the attention of fellow walkers who were about 30 yard ahead of me. :)
I LOVED this book. You learn background on each person and have no idea how they will intertwine until they all end up together on a ship. It was a great story and hilarious, too. Dick Hill was his typical, awesome self.
I was on a walk listening to this and started to laugh out loud, which caught the attention of fellow walkers who were about 30 yard ahead of me. :)
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
A fan of Barry's humor writing for years, I was underwhelmed by this fictional effort featuring a motley assortment of characters. While no reader wants one-dimensional characters (all good or all bad), in this book, I didn't really like ANY of the characters.
Add to this that there was some rather graphic violence and you have a book that I won't be recommending to anyone any time soon.
Add to this that there was some rather graphic violence and you have a book that I won't be recommending to anyone any time soon.
A comedy of characters. Of course, what else would you expect from Dave Barry?
An unlikely set of protagonists set out on the Extravaganza of the Seas, a Miami gambling boat of dubious quality. They then proceed to become embroiled in naked shenanigans, bad music, hijacking, cocaine stuff ('cuz, dude, Miami), and shoot-outs.
Also, Wally is a really good guitar player.
An unlikely set of protagonists set out on the Extravaganza of the Seas, a Miami gambling boat of dubious quality. They then proceed to become embroiled in naked shenanigans, bad music, hijacking, cocaine stuff ('cuz, dude, Miami), and shoot-outs.
Also, Wally is a really good guitar player.
With Tropical Storm Hector bearing down on the Atlantic Coast of Florida, a motley cast of characters find themselves going to work or seeking fun aboard The Extravaganza of the Seas - a cruise ship that heads out to international waters off the U.S. coast in order to allow its patrons to gamble to their heart's content. However, the ship also serves a seedier purpose, the Mafia uses the ship as a transaction point where money is swapped for large amounts of cocaine and marijuana destined for sa...more
I was in the mood for more Carl Hiassen but couldn't find any. This was a fine substitute. Lots of riffs by the characters that read just like his old column. I recently discovered that whole Florida Funky Charcters and Crime genre, and it makes for some great (though bloody) escapist stuff.
Yeah, Johnny and the Contusions fine name for a rock band.
Yeah, Johnny and the Contusions fine name for a rock band.
It's Dave Barry; of course it was funny. I laughed out loud a couple of times. The story was really interesting and definitely held my attention, but I was a little disappointed with some of the content. Too much sex and profanity for me to want to give it any more than 3 stars. Or ever read again.
Dave Berry tells a writes yarn and tells a good joke. In this book, he merges these skills to tell the story of high seas robbery gone bad, old folks looking for more out of life, stoners getting too much out of life, and the perils of falling in love with a constantly gaseous woman.
With this being a crime novel but written by Dave Barry it was more a crime comedy. The book was a fast and easy read that spiraled into quite the crime scene. The book made laugh out loud at some spots and I could easily see this being made into a movie like Big Trouble.
Hilarious, convoluted story involving elderly escapees from a senior living center, an undercover Coast Guard agent, a mediocre cover band, a captain trying to make a life for himself and his wife and son, and a handful of career criminals... Definitely fun and funny!
The first few chapters of this were hilarious. Phil and Arnie in the Beaux Arts retirement home were a hoot. Quick Read. The final chapters were not as funny as the beginning as the author struggled to complete the plotline, however were still humorous.
I have a weakness for Dave Barry's humor. He just makes me laugh! This story is a hilarious farce with Miami gangsters, gambling, bloodshed, sex, rough language, and a tricky plot. Sometimes I just need a book like this!
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Readers Also Enjoyed
Dave Barry is a humor columnist. For 25 years he was a syndicated columnist whose work appeared in more than 500 newspapers in the United States and abroad. In 1988 he won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. Many people are still trying to figure out how this happened.
Dave has also written a total of 30 books, although virtually none of them contain useful information. Two of his books were u...more
More about Dave Barry...
Dave has also written a total of 30 books, although virtually none of them contain useful information. Two of his books were u...more
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
