Rating: 
Summary: Regained Form for Hiaasen
Review: After Hiaasen's last two novels "Stromy Weather" and "Lucky You" I wondered if my favorite author had slipped a notch or two. Hiaasen returns with "Sick Puppy" a dark but funny look at the seedy side of political lobbyists. Hiaasen goes too what he knows best in "Sick Puppy". Corruption, the destruction of Florida's great nature and good old boy ex-govenor Clinton Tyree or Skink to true Hiaasen fans.In "Sick Puppy" Hiassen introduces us too Willy Spree, who is like a Skink Jr. On a highway Spree sees a literbug and decides he will teach this literbug a lesson. The literbug is Palmer Stoat a corrupt lobbyist who is the middle of getting the Shearwater Island Resort throught the capitol. After a few hilarous pranks, Spree finds out about the resort and is determined to stop the resort and save the small island from the bulldozer. He ends up dognapping Stoat's dog, a lovable black lab named Boodle. Boodle whose name gets changed too McGuinn is the star of this novel. The following events are funny involving great characters, both good and bad that only Hiaasen can create. I did notice that this book is much more well rounded than the previous two. Hiassen uses his typical style and timeline to create another fantastic read. This one is a must for any Hiaasen fan.
Rating: 
Summary: One Step Below A School Yard Flasher
Review: That's where Carl Hiaasen places lobbyists on the social scale. Lobbyists as well as politicians, those indifferent to the environment, and hit men will not find this novel amusing. On the other hand some professional assassins may enjoy it as CH surprisingly seems to find guns to be a solution to many problems. The author continues to vent his spleen on those who seem determined to convert Florida to one monster mall. The characters are mostly loony, nasty individuals who are focused on greed, and converting a small island to a housing and golf course development. Our hero and heroine are no saints either; he is an active felon, and she an adulteress. But who can blame her for straying when her husband is both a litterbug and a lobbyist. Sick Puppy will entertain you with tales of rhinoceros hunting in Florida. You will meet a contractor who wants to turn the whole USA into a paved parking lot. This will eliminate chipmunks from the country, one of which bit him in the groin when he was a child. The evil island developer has a fetish for toy Barbie dolls, while the hit man wears zippered shoes and a snakeskin corset. All typical Carl Hiaasen inventions. What's not to enjoy? Well, for some reason I found myself yawning occasionally while reading this one. These are roads well traveled by Carl, and I felt myself wishing for something a bit fresher. It's fun stuff, but not his best effort.
Rating:
Summary: Littering in Florida could be hazardous to your health
Review: This young man (old man?) definitely knows how to tell a story. Yes, the story's a little bumpy at times and there's a lot of "get back," (not exactly a spiritual approach), but it will definitely hold your interest from page 1 to the last page. Here's what I especially liked: I thought the hitman, Mr. Gash, was a "stone gas" (that's kind of how he ended up), with his seersucker suit and Gerry and the Pacemaker boots. It was great the way Hiassen let us into his personal life, even down to his dying thoughts. His 911 tapes are pretty funny. And the funniest one is the last one, based on his last (tongueless) call to 911. And you've got to hand it to him (Mr. Gash), he did die with his boots on (but his pants off). Some of the minor characters were a little more believable, but just as ornery, as some of the big players, like Governor Dick Artemus (with the shameful (rear)) and Palmer Stoat (with such a name, you just know he's going to have trouble) and Robert Clapley (who dies with his "dolls" on). I liked the fellas at the safari ranch, even though they come to bad ends, too. Palmer's "Republican" mistress was an interesting twist. This book will make you aware of the struggle between those who want to preserve nature and those who want to alter it. Here, we see the preservationists as the good guys, but even though they "win" in this story, it's pretty clear they are fighting a "rearguard" type of action. The nature of the existing system is such that constant alteration is to the short-term benefit of more people than preservation is. Population pressures don't help much either.
This book represents a very entertaining way to get you to think about such issues. Diximus.
Rating: 
Summary: Who's the Sick Puppy?
Review: So who exactly is the 'Sick Puppy' is this story?
Taken literally, it could be Boodle/McGuinn, the Labrador who needs surgery after swallowing some unusual items.
It could be Twilly Spree, the eco-vigilante who lives off his land-development trust-fund.
It could be Palmer Stoat, the slimy lobbyist and wanna-be big game hunter.
It could be Robert Clapley, the drug-smuggler-turned-land-developer with a Barbie doll fetish.
It could be Mr. Gash, the hitman who sets tapes of 911 calls to classical music.
It could be 'Skink', the former governor who lives in a swamp and dines on roadkill. Any number of the oddball characters in this crime farce fit the description of 'Sick Puppy'. Even the good guys seem like they should be locked away somewhere. Most of the female characters (Palmer's wife, Twilly's mom, and the governor's assistant) are a little more normal, but they all seem to be drawn to the wrong men. The story unfolds as minor littering incident escalates to dog-napping, and then through several twists and turns it completely blows up from there. Many of the events may seem unbelievable, but this is a COMIC novel, and it was clearly meant to appeal to people who would think that a scrotum-biting chipmunk is funny.
Rating:
Summary: A Very Entertaining Read - But He's Done Better
Review: Carl Hiaasen's "Sick Puppy" brings back his usual madcap hijinks, something that I felt was missing in his last novel, "Lucky You". The crooked politicians are there as is an environmental terrorist and the ever popular ex-Governor of Florida, Skink. The story has some extremely hilarious moments. I particularly liked the 911 calls listened to by Mr. Gash, they were hilarious! The bad guys get their (unusual) due at the end, always a fun thing about a Hiaasen book and Skink rides off in the sunset waiting to appear again (probably in Hiaasen's book after the next one - he has a pattern of showing up). My only criticism is that Hiaasen's books are starting to sound the same. Twilly Spree, the environmental terrorist, is like Skip Wiley from Tourist Season. Palmer Stoat is like Francis X. Kingsbury from Native Tongue and Desiee Stoat is like the lead female character in every Hiaasen book. The only thing he didn't do this time was have a reporter or former reporter (Hiaasen's regular gig) as a character in this book. I think Carl Hiaasen needs to look at a whole new type of plot for his next novel, one that doesn't involve trying to save the ever-shrinking Florida landscape. I think he could really write the ultimate comedy novel if he broaded his horizons. And with all of the crookedness in Florida, it shouldn't be a problem.
Rating:
Summary: Great, I loved it.
Review: I never read any of his stuff before now, how funny. The humor and tone reminds me of Ben Elton's "Stark" a bit.
Rating:
Summary: Pristine Florida?
Review: Carl Hiaason has got his writting style back. Outrages and funny at times. The charcaters are colorful and memorable. Even the labador, Boodle. In Sick Puppy we have a an eco-terrorist that has a compulsive drive to make sure that any one that he happens to witness harming the environment, learns the error of their ways. Our eco-terrorist, Twilly Spree, happens to be driving behind Palmer Stoat, a state lobbyist, when Palmer throws his trash out the window of his Range Rover. This starts Twilly on a crusade to teach Palmer the error of his ways. While trying to teach Palmer lesson after lesson, Twilliy uncovers that littering is just one of Palmer's destructive habits. This is a traditional Hiaason book with an imaginative ending. If you have a dark sense of humor, pick this book up.
Rating:
Summary: Absurd, Yes. Fun, Not Really.
Review: Sick Puppy is written with Hiaasen's usual eye for the absurd (Barbie fetishes, lopsided ocelots, misremembered song lyrics), but a lot of the fun seems to be missing. We see a more menacing side of Skink than in past outings, due to being placed between a rock and a hard place by the current gubernatorial administration. A number of villains meet poetically just ends, but the means by which those ends are reached are absent all but a touch of whimsical irony. The pro-environmental slant is a bit ham-fisted. We're presented with a character having essentially the same anti-development dream three times. Our ruthless real estate developers somehow manage to eradicate an island's entire toad population seemingly overnight (logically, this doesn't make sense - and it eliminates great potential humor; imagine the inconvenient places a tiny amphibian could get into - but that's the way the story's written). Hopefully our Skink-lite hero is on his way to learning the ways of true eco-friendliness from the master at the novel's close. His methods throughout the novel are as destructive as those to whom he metes out "justice." There has to be a better way than bank bombings and trash dumping, not to mention the wanton destruction of luxury cars - and how fuel-efficient and non-pollutionary is the Buick Roadmaster anyway? If you enjoy rubbernecking at the train wreck that is the human condition, this book has plenty of what you're looking for. This isn't Hiaasen's best work, so it doesn't have much more than that, but if you're a fan it's enough.
Rating:
Summary: Hijinks in Florida...
Review: Carl Hiaason has set the standard for wacky, crazy, side-splitting hilarious mysteries with a serious message, and after several near misses, Hiaason is back in the game with Sick Puppy. Taking place in Florida, a young eco-terrorist millionaire, Twilly Spree, is on a rampage over a chronic litterbug. But unfortunately for the litterbug, Twilly's vigilance uncovers a much more serious problem than just litter. In fact, Palmer Stoat is a sleaze-ball, lobbyist who is trying to trash the entire state of Florida by turning pristine barrier islands into large golfing communities. As with most Hiaason books, the characters are a scream. In addition to Twilly and Palmer, we have a sexual pervert, a crazy hit man, a spineless governor, two porno stars, a ruthless developer, a kidnapped wife, a sick dog, and a host of crooked politicians. We also see the return of Skink, ex-governor turned eco-vigilante. But Skink has a more minor role than in previous books, and the story really belongs to Twilly (kind of a Skink in training). The plot has some amazing twists and turns, and the ending will blow you away. But for all the hilarity, Hiaason has an important message about the rape of Florida by tourists, politicians and especially developers. And while the good guys usually end up winning in Hiaason's books, that usually doesn't happen in real life where money and greed are involved. The only thing that kept me from giving Sick Puppy 5 stars was the fact that there are a large number of characters and it was difficult at first to keep them all straight. In fact, I purchased the abridged book-on-tape for a trip, and several of the more minor characters and sub-plots were eliminated. It made the story much easier to follow. Still, I loved this book and would rate it not just my favorite Hiaason, but also one of my favorite mysteries.
Rating:
Summary: Fun imaginative read
Review: This book sat in a box for a number of years as it was purchased just before a move. I only wish I had ready it earlier. Hiaasen¡¯s portrayal of the characters is excellent, and I really enjoyed his writing style, giving you several perspectives of each of the major events. A couple of the chapters were slow, and I thought Mrs. Stoat should have never been introduced as a major character. I almost put the book down when she willing goes off with Twilly. All in all I thought it was a very fun read and will pick up another Hiaasen novel soon.
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