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Double Whammy
Scritto da Carl Hiaasen
Narrato da George Wilson
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“Robert Clinch loved his boat more that anything else in the world … more than his wife … his kids … his girlfiend … Even more than the largemouth bass he was pursuing.” Thus begins a twisted tale of murder in the world of big-stakes bass fishing tournaments. Filled with exwives, evangelists, and an armed pit-bull, this is a story that could only be concocted by Carl Hiaasen, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, New York Times best-selling author, and czar of Florida noir fiction.
Azioni libro
Inizia ad ascoltareInformazioni sul libro
Double Whammy
Scritto da Carl Hiaasen
Narrato da George Wilson
Descrizione
“Robert Clinch loved his boat more that anything else in the world … more than his wife … his kids … his girlfiend … Even more than the largemouth bass he was pursuing.” Thus begins a twisted tale of murder in the world of big-stakes bass fishing tournaments. Filled with exwives, evangelists, and an armed pit-bull, this is a story that could only be concocted by Carl Hiaasen, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, New York Times best-selling author, and czar of Florida noir fiction.
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Recensioni
It tries for farce and satire, succeeds sometimes, but ultimately descends to sarcasm and silliness.
On some lists this crime book can be found under humor. This is probably because there isn't any genre for zany or grotesque. I suppose dark humor might fit. One reviewer mentioned "Swiftian wit," which seems fitting. Whatever genre this book might fall under, it was quite entertaining. I will soon be reading another Carl Hiaasen book.
It was a really fun read but some ridiculous situations at the end of the book brought it down a notch or two for me.
Funny - but not his best book I've read. I think it is a pretty early one. A photographer/PI is hired to look into a series of deaths around professional Bass fishing in Florida (of course). Enjoyable - but not the best Hiaasen.
My second Hiaasen - liked it a lot. This one seems to be one of the earlier ones, when Skink was just developing as a character. Fun characters, well written, the good guys win over the sleazy and powerful. A great formula.
Odd characters and many plot twists. Not the best mystery, but it was somewhat entertaining. I like his writing, but this is not his best effort.
I'm surprising myself. I really like Carl Hiaasen's characters. Lots of fun and you never know when you are going to chuckle out-loud while reading them.
This guy is one really sick puppy ... and speaking of sick puppies is appropriate when discussing this bizarre mystery. Well-written, unbelievable characters believably drawn make this a really fun read. But I did feel the the guilty pleasure of voyeuristically watching a train wreck. Oddly exhilirating.
Have you ever had the urge to learn everything you can about bass fishing? Well, neither have I, but I did learn quite a bit while reading this satirical, hysterical thriller. This one takes place in Florida, in the small town of Harney.
R.J. Decker, a down-on-his-luck ex-con and private investigator, is in Harney, having been hired by Dennis Gault, a wealthy bass fishing aficionado, who is convinced that champion fisherman and host of a popular weekly bass fishing show on the Outdoor Christian Network (OCN), Dickie Lockhart, is cheating in the high-dollar bass fishing tournaments. It is now Decker’s job to find out how the cheating is taking place and obtain photographs of the cheating. Decker teams up with Skink, a very strange hermit with a surprising back-story, who lives in the outskirts of Harney, subsisting on road kill. He has no qualms about shooting intruders, and acts very peculiar whether in public or private.
Hiassen creates other humorous characters to help the story along: Lainie Gault, a sexy swimsuit model with no morals; beautiful and classy Catherine, Decker’s ex-wife, who, although remarried to an incredibly boring chiropractor, keeps in touch with Decker; Ott Pickney, Decker’s old friend and a reporter who should have retired ages ago, and Charlie Weeb (televangelist and owner of OCN) who has problems avoiding prostitutes and enjoys performing fake healings on farm animals on "live satellite television", as well as marketing his development, Lunker Lakes Resort, which is built on a contaminated landfill. Needless to say, even though there are murders, attempted murders, close calls of all kinds, muggings, and intrigue to keep any reader on the edge, Hiaasen has inserted enough of his distinct brand of humor to make this book difficult to put down.
Granted, this is not destined for the “classics” aisle in the library or bookstore, and it won’t be studied in college literature classes, but as far as a light, upbeat, and fast-moving thriller, this one is highly recommended. Hiaasen’s characters are delightful, and this book has an absolutely wicked sense of humor. There were all kinds of situations and moments that even caused me to laugh out loud. Some of those situations were priceless as they poked some very serious holes in several over-the-top stereotypes.
R.J. Decker, a down-on-his-luck ex-con and private investigator, is in Harney, having been hired by Dennis Gault, a wealthy bass fishing aficionado, who is convinced that champion fisherman and host of a popular weekly bass fishing show on the Outdoor Christian Network (OCN), Dickie Lockhart, is cheating in the high-dollar bass fishing tournaments. It is now Decker’s job to find out how the cheating is taking place and obtain photographs of the cheating. Decker teams up with Skink, a very strange hermit with a surprising back-story, who lives in the outskirts of Harney, subsisting on road kill. He has no qualms about shooting intruders, and acts very peculiar whether in public or private.
Hiassen creates other humorous characters to help the story along: Lainie Gault, a sexy swimsuit model with no morals; beautiful and classy Catherine, Decker’s ex-wife, who, although remarried to an incredibly boring chiropractor, keeps in touch with Decker; Ott Pickney, Decker’s old friend and a reporter who should have retired ages ago, and Charlie Weeb (televangelist and owner of OCN) who has problems avoiding prostitutes and enjoys performing fake healings on farm animals on "live satellite television", as well as marketing his development, Lunker Lakes Resort, which is built on a contaminated landfill. Needless to say, even though there are murders, attempted murders, close calls of all kinds, muggings, and intrigue to keep any reader on the edge, Hiaasen has inserted enough of his distinct brand of humor to make this book difficult to put down.
Granted, this is not destined for the “classics” aisle in the library or bookstore, and it won’t be studied in college literature classes, but as far as a light, upbeat, and fast-moving thriller, this one is highly recommended. Hiaasen’s characters are delightful, and this book has an absolutely wicked sense of humor. There were all kinds of situations and moments that even caused me to laugh out loud. Some of those situations were priceless as they poked some very serious holes in several over-the-top stereotypes.
I love Bass fishing and I love Hiaasen work, so I believed this was a win win situation. The book starts off exactly as I had anticipated and was very good. However, around chapter three there was characters being talked about that by books end I had forgotten they even existed. The final few chapters picked up again, be it the outcome a predictable one from chapter 6, but overall I enjoyed the book. The cover and bass fishing are an automatic 3 star! Narrator George Wilson was awesome and Hiaasen once again makes me want to obtain another Serge A. Storms book by Tim Dorsey.
Very entertaining book. A little unlikely in some places. The Skink character is marvelous.
a good read with that former governor of florida named "skink" wandering throughout the book. "Double Whammy" refeers to a fishing lure used by bass fishermen.
I think as a reader, for the most part you either enjoy Hiaasen's style or you don't. I will admit that I liked this one better than another of his that a read a few months ago, but for me it still falls into the almost-too-ridiculous-to-be-funny category. And granted, that's Hiaasen's style & that's what a lot of his fans enjoy about him, but I find his stories just a little too cheesy. It takes a vivid imagination to picture some of the scenes in this book (the literal head of a pitbull attached to the arm of one of the "bad guys", just to name one), but I'm sure some readers would get a kick out this. I enjoy humor, but this is a little too over-the-edge for me.
I find it hard to review this book. It is not, nor was it intended to be, great literature. I read and quite enjoyed an American crime novel (this is not some form of racism, it is simply that I prefer English crime stories as the settings and social structure are more well known to me). So, why don't I give it more than three stars and a much more positive review?I guess that it is, at least in part, my age, but I do not approve of the modern technique of trying to shock with gruesome detail. The excuse oft used is that a string of expletives is merely art imitating life. I believe that art has more influence that that for which it is given credence. Culture often leads people. In this country, I am convinced that East Enders has taught a generation how to be metropolitan and you just have to visit Norfolk (the county in which I am currently living) and hear American gangster rap regurgitated in the local accent, to realize just how preposterous this trend can become. To return from this rant to this tome, I could have managed without the description of Skink losing his eye and Curl's escapade with the dog's head. For me, this is humour taken too far; but then again, as my son so regularly reminds me, I am an old fuddy duddy.
Ah – here’s where we first meet Skink. He’s great. Basically it boils down to a preacher who has a bass fishing show on his Christian Outdoor Channel and he gets the idea to create some “lakes” with condos and sell them, using a big-money bass tournament as advertising. The snag is that the lakes are built over an old landfill and they are so polluted that the fish die. He’s desperate for money because he sank some of his own into this ill-fated project. When his prize bass fisherman host turns up dead, he just goes out and hires the competition.The fisherman was killed by his rival in the sport who wanted him dead because he was convinced he was cheating. RJ Decker was set up to take the fall. He hired RJ to investigate the cheating all the while setting him up. Even the guy’s sister was in on it. Fortunately, he met Skink. Skink decided to rig the contest himself and had coincidentally semi-trained a huge bass that would be sure to win. He transported her to the lakes, not realizing they were poisonous.When at the end of the book, the asshole who set up Decker got wind of this and tried to go after her himself, she tugged him over board and he fell into the propeller of his own bass boat. Jim Tile ends up helping RJ with the police and Skink went chasing madly after his bass. We left him joyously running naked through the Florida swamp, pleading with his fish to live. I think she did.Not quite as over the top as some of his novels, but very funny and has great dialogue and the bad guys get what’s coming to them in a most delicious and satisfying way.
Studying at the feet of the maestro Elmore Leonard, Hiassen also writes a damn good yarn, funny too. But where he misses the Elmore mark, is sometimes it feels like he is pushing events into place.
Hiaasen's books are always fun to read, catching you up in silly details and the frenetic pace of a good whodunnit. Double Whammy does not disappoint. The main character is a lovable loser, a talented photographer whose life has been negatively impacted by his temper and lack of impulse control. A bunch of quirky, fun people fill this book, and the bad guys get their just due in the end. Very satisfying and enjoyable.
It's south Florida again, with a little bit of Louisiana thrown in for flavoring. Underhanded dealings are afoot in the big Bass Fishing tournaments, where the heavy rollers and anglers use any means they can to cheat their way to the winning weigh in. R. J. Decker (former renown photographer turned private eye) has been hired by the unctuous Dennis Gault to catch All American Fishing Champion and darling of the Outdoor Christian Network's top rated fishing show, cheating to win another bass tournament. Not that Gault himself isn't above such activities, but you'd have to expect the guy who wears Gucci sportswear and drives a Rolls Royce with a trailer hitch to haul his bass boat to always want to win. As R.J. hides in the swamp with his trusty Minolta around his neck, he comes across Skink, a roadkill eating highly educated and strangely charismatic hermit giant who knows a whole lot more about what's going on than anyone else. Who is this man and why does he look vaguely familiar to Decker? Could he really be the wildly popular former Florida governor who alienated businessmen in the entire state with his environmental policies, and who just walked away one day from the Executive Mansion, never to be seen or heard from again? There's murder and mayhem everywhere Decker goes in this novel, and Skink is never far from his side. And, like all of Hiaasen's books, it ends so satisfactorily with the bad guys getting their just comeuppance so spectacularly in the end that you finish the book and smack your lips as if you have just pushed away from a delicious holiday feast.If you haven't read Hiaasen, you don't know what you are missing!
What can I say, I always enjoy Hiaasen's little tales. I absolutely LOVE how the bad guys always get their due via something highly ironic, e.g. the cheating tournament fisherman who gets drowned by a world-record fish, the dog-killer who gets bitten so deep by a pitbull that he has to cut the body off and walk around with a doghead on his elbow - until he goes insane from the toxins and starts believing that the dog is alive, or the gator-booted killer who (obviously) gets chomped up by an alligator. And then of course, there's "Skink" who's a recurring character in Hiaasen's novels - former Governor turned savage wild-life defender and weirdo - he's always good for a laugh. Good times!
Miami private eye R.J. Decker is hired to prove that the fishing tour's leading prizewinner is cheating. When the champ is murdered, Decker himself becomes the prime suspect. Realizing that he's been framed by his client, the detective sets out to clear himself with the help of a renegade police detective and a backwoods recluse. There is some strong language as usual.
Very funny book. Reminded me of the film "Ball room dancing" in that they both take you into a world of intrigue. bitter rivals, dark secrets but the world it self is a minor niche . In this case its about the world of carp fishing and its professional stresses that lead to cheating and murders. But it also about the destruction of the Florida natural landscape and the political corruption that allows it as well as a well aimed swipe at the bible-bashing Cable channels. But fall of amazing characters that hold your interest and situations that make you laugh
You know what? It’s not that hard to write a novel people will enjoy: a well-paced, believable narrative, interesting and distinctive characters with some sexual tension and humour to ease the thing along and you're pretty much there. You need a good reason to discard any of these if you expect anyone to be interested in your story.Luckily Hiaasen respects his readers enough to make his work enjoyable for them; that was refreshing. Sure, it doesn’t offer much of an illumination on the human condition, but at least it’s funny, which is more than you can say for Nausea. The characters are just dissimilar enough from stock genre-types to bring it to life, and with the swamp man Skink, Hiaasen hits on a memorable original.It’s not going to change your life, and I suspect you could pretty much pick up any Hiaasen and have a similar experience; but it’s a lot of fun, and surely the best novel exploring corruption in the world of competitive bass-fishing.
This is one of my favorite of Hiaasen's books. They all sort of seem to run together after a while, but they're still a lot of fun if you don't read too many in a row.