Rating: 
Summary: Off Course
Review: I'm a big Dave Barry fan. I rarely miss his weekly column, and have read many of his "non-fiction" books prior to his first novel, "Big Trouble", which I thoroughly enjoyed. So it was with great anticipation that I looked forward to the release of Tricky Business. I was only mildly disappointed. "Tricky Business" was slicker - more skillfully written - than "Trouble", but it has a darker, more ominous tone than Barry's typical writing. While has Barry succeeded in pulling off this slight divergence from his usual course, it comes at some expense to trademark wry wit and insightful observations of the dumb things people do. As in much of Barry's work, southern Florida (richy justified) bears the brunt of his light sarcasm. And the cast of characters, while memorable, is not up to par with the zany misfits and malcontents from Big Trouble. While "Business" will evoke many chuckles, I didn't find myself laughing out loud as I usually do when reading Dave Barry.In the final analysis, though, this is a darkly humorous book that is worth the time and money. Longtime Barry fans will find enough of the master to hold interest, while the uninitiated may find Tricky Business has an acceptable alternative to Carl Hiaasen.
Rating: 
Summary: Filthy Language Ruins What Could Have Been a Great Read.
Review: From the start Mr. Barry warns the reader that this book contains foul language and that if one is offended by such language then don't read it. While I am no prude when it comes to obscene language I do believe that this book goes over the top. Rather than write a better description of the characters and their surroundings he just goes the easy route and throws in a huge dose of bad words. The best part of the book occurs when the old retired gentlemen are in the picture. The most amusing part is where the two make their escape from the retirement home to be able to board the Extravaganza of the Seas. I wish the book had focused on these two even more and less on the sexual prowess of the band. If you like a filthy read then this is the book for you, otherwise I'd say skip it.
Rating:
Summary: A little TOO much like Hiassen
Review: This is my first Dave Barry novel, and to me it seems like a ripoff of a Hiassen book, with the wacky South Floridians, the preposterous plot, and a mess of stupid people everywhere. The Arnie and Phil subplot was endearing, but the rest of the characters were so one-note that at the end I didn't really care who lived or died. Still, Barry is funny at times and setting a crime caper on a tacky gambling cruise is pure genius. He wonderfully describes just how repulsive the boat and its gawdy customers are. Still, the action didn't really start until page 200. The book too way too long to set up and the payoff, while entertaining, seemed inadequate.
Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely Hilarious
Review: I was laughing before I finished the first chapter, and was still laughing when I finished the book. The characters are eccentric and bizarre, the plot is simple but hilarious, and the entire book takes place in a single 24-hour period in which EVERYTHING goes awry. There are a lot of ill-fated thugs, some very inscrupulous businessmen, a couple of old farts, four aging musicians, and a gambling boat gone wrong. I haven't read Barry's first novel, but I'll be buying it now.
Rating:
Summary: Dave, you disappoint me.
Review: I was really disappointed in Dave with this book. He is my favorite writer, and this one doesn't meet his standard of intelligent humor. I was hoping for the best after his wonderful Big Trouble, but Tricky Business is not close. To give you a hint: the f-word is used on almost every page. To quote Mr. Barry, I am not making this up! The situations are hilarious in concept, but the writing of the situations is pretty bad. The swearing does not help the writing sound intelligent. I'll give him this though; several scenes did make me laugh out loud, and the whole subplot of the two escaped senior citizens is hilarious the whole way through. Overall, however, I recommend his books of columns first and Big Trouble second.
Rating:
Summary: As funny in fiction as he is in the newspaper!
Review: In his second novel, Dave Barry has taken his readers out to sea for a fast-paced action yarn that is as funny as it is exciting. 'Tricky Business' is a real ensemble story about a casino ship out of Miami that is used to launder money and traffic in narcotics, unbeknownst to the patrons or most of the staff. On the day this story takes place (all in one day -- difficult to do and keep it exciting, but Barry does it), the ship is going out into Tropical Storm Hector, despite all safety warnings to the contrary, because of a shipment of drugs and cash too big to let go. The characters include a musician with a crush on a cocktail waitress, a pair of old men who just want out of their retirement home, a captain who wanted to give up a life of crime, a man in a giant pink conch costume, some stupid criminals, some smart criminals and the crew of a TV news station that suffer a freak chain of events I suspect many of us here on the Gulf Coast secretly wish would happen to REAL news anchors when they start scaremongering and stupid reporting whenever a storm hits. Like Barry's first novel, 'Big Trouble,' the dialogue and descriptions take a plot that would work just as well in a hardcore drama and make it a good, lighthearted comedy that has a real sweetness to it at the end. Fans of Dave Barry, the funniest columnist in America, are probably lining up for this book already, but fans of a good action comedy will enjoy it too.
Rating:
Summary: clever but gory story, few laughs
Review: I find Dave Barry's weekly humor column a joy to read, and was expecting something similar in this book. I did laugh out loud maybe ten times while reading this book, and the story does cleverly weave eight or ten sub-plots into a more or less coherent (but not very believable) whole, but there's too much blood, violence, and evil people in this book to make it enjoyable for me. It was not at all what I expected. Perhaps Dave is trying to break out of being type-cast.
Rating:
Summary: I dunno, Dave...
Review: As a drooling Dave Barry fan, I am quick to pounce on every single book published under his name. I absolutely adored "Big Trouble," and my furry little heart leapt when I found myself holding a copy of his second comedic crime novel. I wasted no time in reading it, and now....I'm kinda torn. "Tricky Business" follows the same formula as "Big Trouble": a bunch of wierdo Floridians are thrown together by unlikely circumstances and subjected to tragicomic ordeals. This time, the story centers around a massive casino boat run by corrupt gangsters. The boat ends up in the middle of a massive tropical storm. Its passengers include a stressed-out single mom, an incredibly bad band, two old age home escapees, a buxom waitress with a flatulence problem, a large number of thugs and hoodlums, and a guy dressed as a giant conch shell. Mayhem insues. There are some hilarious moments (we hear the "Sex Pootie" song again), but "Tricky Business" isn't as funny as its predecessor, and at times I found myself uncertain if I was really reading something by Dave Barry. Every now and then, the book veers off into danferous territory with depictions of oral sex, mass vomiting, and a great deal of gunfire and killing. One character in particular meets such a horrible demise that all pretense of humor is dropped and we feel like puking ourselves. What was Dave thinking? Deliberate castration isn't funny! Sorry, but it's just not! Anyway, I hope Dave's next book is more like "Big Trouble." I enjoyed "Tricky Business," but it's hard to recommend a book that has such graphic stuff. The faint of heart may want to avoid this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Madcap Romp In The Sea
Review: A farcical madcap romp in which literature collides with Dave Barry--in the Atlantic Ocean--and both get soaked. Other reviewers have outlined the plot. Basically a lot of people with different agendas get caught up in a midnight cruise on the Extravaganza of the Seas. Which is a more-or-less legal offshore gambling ship, as well as a strictly illegal drug-running ship. While the characters are plotting and scheming, double-crossing each other, trying to have a little fun, or just trying to survive, the ship heads out into Hurricane Hector. Barry tells the story with his usual comic flair, lots of bad words, his usual fascination with bodily fluids, a little adolescent sexuality, and a bottomless capacity to laugh at everything, including himself. Dave Barry is not a great novelist, knows it, doesn't take himself too seriously, and seemed to enjoy writing this book as much as I enjoyed reading it. I would have preferred a little less blood and gore, but hey! For what it was, it worked. If you're not too uptight, you will love it.
Rating: 
Summary: Why can't I rate less than 1?
Review: I'm a long-time Dave Barry fan. I enjoy his writing, have always subscribed to any local newspaper that published his column. He's hilarious, irreverent, consistently and predictably unpredictable. But this book is bad, simply and unforgiveably, bad. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. Not one chuckle in the whole d____d thing. I didn't pay much, but wasted way too much money and time on this really bad book. Don't do likewise. Save your money. Buy any newspaper that includes his column, and have a good time. Just don't spend good money on this really bad book. What it comes down to is: This book would never have been published if the author's name was not Dave Barry.
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