I read this when I was on vacation in Florida, and I liked it -- it was F-U-N. This is the only Hiaasen I've ever read, though I've started one or two others and not gotten into it/them.

I have to admit, while I was reading this I couldn't stop wishing that Elmore Leonard would care about the environment. I really love that Hiassen works his conservationist agenda in so wonderfully in a way that enhances, rather than detracts from, his fun fun fun story, but I just can't get as into other stuff about him as I'd like to be. It's kind of like going on a date with a cute, charming, alcoholic electrician who's got a lot of wonderful qualities, but you can't stop thinking of another cute, charming, alcoholic electrician from your past, and wishing you were out with him instead. I didn't think this book was so hilarious, and the romance was really cheesy and flat for me. This Florida crime genre seems to be romance-that-it's-okay-for-dudes-to-read, and Leonard writes better romances than the one in here. I also just like his books a whole lot more in general. Maybe it isn't fair to compare them, especially since I've only read this one, but that's who I was thinking of while I was with Carl: Elmore! So there it is....

Also, I enjoyed this book, but I was annoyed by some aspects of it. There wasn't much tension or suspense. You basically knew what was going on from the beginning, so there wasn't much to find out; the husband was a dick, and it didn't make sense that she would've married him, but she did, so that was that. The heroine was insanely rich, which can be done well, but here it just kind of made everything way too easy, plus the author's constant naming of the various designers she was wearing felt kind of distracting and unnatural to me; he'd be like, "Then she bought a blue silk Michael Kors miniskirt, which she looked great in." And you're like, "Well, it sucks about the Everglades, but other than that, is there really a problem here?" But then you're like, "Who cares, this is awesome, I'm on vacation."

Still, all in all, it was very enjoyable, and I 'd recommend this book for someone interested in a madcap caper kind of thing for a beach kind of situation. I would not recommend reading this in the dead of winter if you're someplace cold, because that'd probably make you depressed and bitter.

Should I make an effort to stop comparing him unfavorably to Leonard, and read more Hiassen? People (e.g., Jen, Mom) love him. If so, what's good?