Rating: 
Summary: Tighter story, fewer laughs
Review: Readers expecting as many laughs as Dave Barry provided in this novel's predecessor are likely to be disappointed. The good news is that the story is tighter. Essentially, a collection of wacky characters travel from different directions, ending at a single plot point from whence a succession of conclusions (all mostly satisfying) follow. We are still very much in Carl Hiaasen's Florida, depicted with Dave Barry's rhetorical techniques. The problem is that the vehicle chosen--converging plot lines with quick-cuts between them just at the moments of maximum tension--requires that we care about the characters in order to be effective. When the characters are stereotypical (or identified by minimal, sometimes scatological, details) we tend to lose that necessary interest and the whole house of cards collapses. Bottom line: wait for the paperback.
Rating: 
Summary: What a hoot!
Review: This is classic Dave Barry in short novel format, and an excellent follow-up to his earlier Big Trouble. He gets a little more graphic in this one, however, so there's a scene or two that is less Dave Barry and more Carl Hiaasen. In fact, this book really resembles an extremely funny Hiaasen novel.If you're ready for some hilarious light reading and don't mind your fellow airplane passengers thinking you're crazy because you're laughing out loud from one end of the country to the other, buy this book!
Rating: 
Summary: Losta laffs.
Review: Dave Barry's "Tricky Business" is an amusing, satirical South Florida romp. An assortment of losers, bad dudes, seniors and a bad rock band are mixed together on a gambling ship amid Hurricane Hector. Naturally the ship in a mob owned drug exchange vessel that must make a rendezvous. Of course a nefarious double-cross is afoot. And so, the games begin. When one of the central characters started as a crooked airbag replacement king---moved up to cut-rate LASIK centers---founded Happy Conch fast fooderies (no conch, just fried batter to lower costs)---you know irony, humor and derision will keep you rapidly turning pages. The sardonically embellished vignettes of Miami life alone are worth the price of admission. "Tricky Business" is funny business.
Rating: 
Summary: A Dave Barry book without any humor, lots of gore
Review: In the introduction Dave Barry warns readers that "there are bad words" in this book -- what he should really warn you is that for your [money] you won't find yourself laughing, even once. I found myself cringing quite a few times, as drug dealers torture and mangle each other in gruesome detail, but the physical gags that Barry uses for levity -- a flatulent blonde and a homeless man in a conch shell who gets beaten up -- fall flat. My husband and I have been a Dave Barry fan for years, but don't waste your money on this one.
Rating:
Summary: 4 1/2 stars
Review: Unabridged audio. This time around Dave Barry's rag-tag bunch of characters all have one thing in common. They will all be passengers or hired help on a casino boat that will float about three miles off the coast of Florida. As usual there is a wide assortment of characters. There are a couple old folks who escaped a retirement home, a band called 'Johnny and the Contusions' whose main goal is to be high, drug runners, cocktail waitress's and a few others. All play a major role in this laugh out loud story.
The reader, Dick Hill, is a very talented voice actor. From his mobster voice to his old man voice, the inflections put forth are truly hilarious. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: long live dave barry
Review: What does a giant pink conch, gas passing croupier, cocktail waitress/Coast Guard employee, horny cover band drummer and a gaggle of thugs have in common? Nothing, unless they're aboard a cruise ship in Dave Barry's "Tricky Business." Not quite as good as his first novel, "Big Trouble," but still pretty good, "Tricky," features Barry column staples: bodily function jokes, insights on the differences between the sexes - but those considering giving this book to young Barry fans, would do well to read the foreword, in which he states not one, but three times, that THIS BOOK CONTAINS SOME BAD WORDS. (Actually, more than a few.) Kudos for the warning, although those who are the most likely to get offended, probably won't read it.
Like "Big Trouble," "Tricky" has a plot hard to sum up in a few words, but involves sharply drawn "good" guys who eventually wind up in a contained space with the (far too many one syllable named) bad guys and mayhem results, along with an explanation of why women never seem to fart. Good read although I had to admit I missed Puggy, of the first book.
Rating:
Summary: Impressive!
Review: Regardless of the other reviewers who say the story is below exceptional, or "not as good as the other one", are missing the point of a new novel. Further comparisons of modern literature to Barry's old work, to me, is unnecessary. We should just devour his work for it's recentness, and love it for what it is. I have read only one other DB book with his old columns in it, and i loved it, but, although i am only four chapters into this book, it is amazingly impressive already. I highly recommend it. Not only is the story mysterious, atmospheric, and supsiciously involved, it IS STILL! funny as hell! Get it, i'm tellin you.
Rating:
Summary: will appeal to readers who like Kinky Friedman
Review: Tropical Storm Hector is playing havoc in the waters near Miami Beach and most people are staying indoors rather than go on the roads or sail their boats in the dangerous ocean. The Extravaganza of the Sea is a cruise ship that goes out past the three-mile limit into international waters so the passengers can have an evening of gambling. It is going out on the night Hector hits because it has a scheduled rendezvous with another smaller boat based in the Bahamas to exchange money for drugs. Arnold and Phil, two senior citizens who escaped from the Beaux Art senior center, just want to have some fun. Wally and his band, Johnny and the Contusions, have to sing for their supper. Fay, a single mother and cocktail waitress, has to work if she wants to keep her job that pays the bills. All these innocent people are caught up in the crossfire when some of the criminals try to double cross their partners in crime. TRICKY BUSINESS sounds like a deadly serious crime thriller and in part, it is exactly that. However, it is also a hilarious comedy satirizing the worst things about cruise ships. Dave Barry (that Dave Barry) has a unique serio-comic voice that will appeal to readers who like Kinky Friedman as obviously the President does. The characters seen real as the innocents struggle with heroism just to stay alive. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: More Gritty, Less Barry
Review: Dave Barry writes another book in the bunch-of-nuts-in-South-Florida genre. While his first book, "Big Trouble" felt like Dave Barry nuttiness put together into a workable plot, this book feels more like a good crime plot with Dave Barry nuttiness added. That may imply that the book is not funny. Not true. It's very funny in spots, especially when dealing with the characters who describe themselves as living at the "Old Farts Dying Senile Center". I've noticed that since 9/11, Dave Barry's columns have become slightly less wacky and a bit more heartfelt. In some ways Tricky Business reflects this shift. Overall I'd say Big Trouble was slightly better, but that's because I like laughs better than violence. Tricky Business is grittier, more violent and may appeal to those who like their stuff a bit more "real". On its own, it's a great read and compares favorably to other books in the genre (e.g. those by Elmore Leonard).
Rating:
Summary: I Am a Dave Barry Rookie
Review: I can only comment on this tale, so while others have said it does not measure up to his previous work, this novel had some wicked, razor sharp humor. The author really offers readers two elements, a novel to read, and a novel as a device to eviscerate current and recurring issues. The story itself is not one that I found to be exceptional, but there are a few characters that provide social commentary that is painfully funny. The author also skewers such hallowed institutions as the press. His specific target is television with the anchors including, "the bubble headed bleach blonde" made famous by The Eagles. A tropical storm plays a role in the book and is the catalyst for the local news to report once again on another tropical storm, but this storm offers something other than the repetitive footage of mayhem at the supermarket. In their mindless zeal in pursuit of tabloid news these geniuses lose 9 of their staff to the storm. The nine they lose also happen to be the only nine people who die in the entire state. My favorite players were Arnie and Phil who live at what they have named, "The Old Farts Senile Dying Center". Both are octogenarians that enjoy life as much or more than they ever did thanks to marvelous scientific inventions like Viagra. The repartee between these two is reminiscent of that between the players who once graced television during the 11 year run of MASH. To give you an idea of how extreme this story gets, these two curmudgeons wrestle a submarine to shore, finally grounding it on the beach at The Breakers. Then there is the Conch Shell who is an outlaw and killer, the mob, and a variety of characters that would be at home in an Elmore Leonard novel adapted to film, or possibly put on screen by Quentin Tarentino. I thought the book a bit drawn out, but when this writer is funny you will laugh until the neighbors complain.
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