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Book Description:

Hiassen gets back to his roots with this (almost) straight-ahead mystery, but doesn't skimp on the funny stuff as he follows the adventures of Jack Tagger, down-on-his-luck journalist relegated to the obit beat at a smalltown Florida daily. While researching a death notice, Jack stumbles by accident upon an actual news story: former rocker Jimmy Stoma has drowned while diving in the Bahamas, and his widow, wannabe star Cleo Rio, can't convince Jack that his death was accidental. The mystery offers Jack a way out of his job-related death fixation ("It's an occupational hazard for obituary writers memorizing the ages at which famous people have expired, and compulsively employing such trivia to track the arc of one's own life") and toward his increasingly lusty feelings for Emma, his 27-year-old editor ("Bring whipped cream," I tell her, "and an English saddle"). But when things turn violent and Jack suddenly has to defend himself with a giant frozen lizard, he enlists the help of his sportswriter friend Juan Rodriguez and teenage club scene veteran Carla Candilla to try to find out why someone is killing off has-been sleaze rockers. A hilarious sendup of exotic Floridian fauna in the newspaper business, the novel offers all the same treats Hiassen's fans have come to crave. What makes this book different is its first-person, present-tense narrative style. Unlike previous capers, which were narrated in the omniscient third person, this book settles squarely in the mystery genre from whence Hiaasen's fame (Double Whammy; Tourist Season, etc.) initially sprang.

This is a retired library book.

I finished this book today. My dad had told me a bit about this story, so a lot of it sounded familiar. This is my first book by Carl Hiassen and I wasn't disappointed! I have two more of his in my pile TBR. I liked the lead character Jack Tagger. He's obsessed with death! I find myself remembering: Marilyn Monroe died at 36, and now I am 37. (I try not to dwell on it like Jack!) You start reading about him and you think he is so bitter and whiney, but then you find out more about him and then you genuinely like him! He's a smart-ass and yet he's lovable in his own way. I thought all the other characters were real as well! I feel like I have met some of them, he gives such a good description and yet makes it interesting.

I am passing this one on to Lumbermoose to read, because I think he would enjoy it!

Thanks, JennyC1230!

8/26
This was my first book by this author and it won't be my last. I really enjoyed the story and for some reason brought to my mind the movie Eddie and the Cruisers for some reason.

Thanks again for sharing...I'm giving this one back to JennyC to pass on.

I'm glad you enjoyed it! I have more from this author I will be sharing with you. :-)

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sending to Queniene as a RABCK! Enjoy!

Thanks Jenny!! :) I appreciate everything you have sent me. Sorry it has taken so long to journal. I will be putting these on my TBR mountain and sending them off when i can =)