Rating: 
Summary: Double Whammy! Where'd all the fish go?
Review: Double Whammy may have had double the mystery but not to much interest. The book lost my interst when the whole situation and the murders that took place were becoming not believable and making it look weird. The book takes place down in the south where fishing big bass tournaments are the highlights of the week. Dickie Lockhart a big winner and has his own televison show is accused by the other fisherman that he is cheating. With this, murders are created to try to prove their theories correct, and R.J. Decker a private investigator ends up in the middle of this trying desperatley to understand why anyone would kill someone over a fish!?
In my opinion I think the book is ok and the mystery ride it rode was pretty well. I think this would be a great book for the south as they love fishing down there, and I don't understand some of things they talk about because I don't fish too often. Otherwise, this was a pretty good book.
Rating: 
Summary: Trailer Trash and Trophy Bass
Review: "Double Whammy" continues to build the case that it is impossible for Carl Hiaasen to write anything that is not brutally entertaining. For as prolific and Hiaasen is, one gets the impression that he still can't write fast enough to keep up with the wacky content streaming from Florida's zany residents. Hiaasen's talent lies in his unique ability to extract these nuggets of the bizarre from everyday life, and spin around them stories that while cynically and darkly hilarious, still have a ring of truth and reality.
In "Double Whammy", Hiaasen takes on a pair of unlikely bedfellows: professional bass fishing and TV evangelism. R.J. Decker is the `hero", but true to the author's anything-but-conventional approach to fiction, this hero is an ex-con with a hair-trigger temper who lives in a trailer park. But compared to the road kill-eating hermit, "Skink", he pals around with, Decker by comparison is a rock of sanity and normalcy. To this throw in an assorted cast of oily Florida bass-fishing millionaires, a corrupt Jimmy Swaggart-like TV preacher, a pair of Florida redneck murderous brothers, and the pro-bass fishing tournament crowd all slogging through black-water swamps and drainage ditches. Bodies pile up, but typical of Hiaasen fair, even as the creative brutality of the murders accelerates, the reader is more likely to chuckle than cringe. The dialogue is harp and witty, the pace relentless.
In short, a manic and imaginative ride through Florida's backwaters that could only come from Carl Hiaasen's twisted but insightful mind. Entertainment at its finest.
Rating: 
Summary: overrated
Review: Amusing, but unrealistic if you know anything at all about bass tournaments. Seeking the one biggest fish? Using stringers? Come on. I reckon if I knew less I would have liked it more.
Rating:
Summary: Bring on Skink
Review: Bring on Skink
Skink quickly becomes a character destined for many reappearances in Hiaasen's novels. He's huge, has a false eye that he takes out to toy with now and then, lives in the swamps, is a rabid environmentalist, eats road kill, reads classic literature, and turns out to be the ex-governor of Florida.
Hiaasen excels at character creation, especially slightly flawed and highly unlikely heroes. In Double Whammy, it's R. J. Decker, an ex-con. He and Skink team up to figure out who's cheating at the local bass fishing competitions and why people are so regularly getting killed.
Classic Hiaasen at his best.
Rating: 
Summary: Perhaps the funniest books ever written!
Review: Carl Hiaasen has taken wonderfully wacky characters such as Skink, a mystery giant who wears a glass eye retrieved from a stuffed owl and who dines on road kill, and has turned them into individuals that you have to love. Hiassen's villians, while bad, will capture the reader's imaginations with their total ineptude.
This is the first book that I have read by Hiaasen, but the outrageous humor contained in the twists and turns of the plot, centered around a bass fishing tournament, have convinced me to read his other works.
Although this was the funniest book I believe I have ever read, Hiaasen, makes his real message, enviornmental destruction, loud and clear and if the reader is not an enviornmentalist before reading the book, there is a good chance s/he will put the book down believing there is work to be done in saving our county, whether it be the swamp lands that Hiaasen weaves into his tale, or perhaps the mountains or lakes in our own back yards!
Rating:
Summary: consider it Hiaasen-Light...
Review: Carl Hiaasen is a man who seems to hate so many things: corrupt politicians, polluters, cheats, racists, and hypocrites. This hatred, which usually manifests itself as hilarious satire, does get a bit old as one reads more than 2-3 Hiaasen novels. Yet if Hiaasen is on form the number of one-liners and hilarious situations greatly outweigh the repetitiveness of the material. Unfortunately for the Double Whammy reader, Hiaasen was not on best form when he wrote this book.Double Whammy is Hiaasen's take on the crazy world of the obsessed bass fisherman and the promoters of the sport. Tied into all this is murder, hypocritical tele-evangelists, and a gallery of very strange people. No, it is not believable ... and nor is it intended to be (well, not really). There are some very funny moments in the book, especially towards the end. Yet while reading it I seem to recall similar scenarios in Hiaasen's other (and better) works such as Strip Tease. Still, it makes for a pleasant if utterly forgettable read. Bottom line: Hiaasen newbies are advised to read Strip Tease. Yet Hiaasen fans might very well enjoy Double Whammy, especially if they are into bass fishing.
Rating:
Summary: People With Closed Fists, Fish With Big Mouths
Review: Carl Hiaasen's "Double Whammy" takes as its backdrop the world of professional large-mouth bass fishing, but as his readers know the real plot involves sleazy politicians, sleazier lobbyists, and environmental degradation. There's about as much violence here as in Hiaasen's other books, but I think it was more thoughtfully applied, and gave the book more humor. Hiaasen fans will welcome the entry of "Skink" into the plot; first-timers, this would be a great starter book.
Rating:
Summary: Engrossing and hilarious novel of murder and bass fishing.
Review: Carl Hiassen lures you into this tale of bass tournaments, corruption and murder with the skill of a champion angler. There's something to hook you on every page: Convincing protagonists, hilarious supporting characters, local color, and an engrossing story of murder and environmental destruction. To tell much of the tale would be to spoil the book's many surprises and twists. Set against the backdrop of cut-throat professional bass angling, Hiassen tells a tale off a private investigator, in over his head as he visits the murky waters of Deep South lakes and bayous. No one there is quite what they seem, whether that's Skink, a half-mad hermit the size of a bear, or a silver tongued, enormously rich televangelist trying to sell 20,000 condos before the next meeting of the board of directors. Double Whammy is packed with action, humor, plotting and double crosses. As he proved in his novel Striptease, Hiassen has a deft touch with Florida politics, business and crime. In the end, Hiassen slips an environmental message into this enormously pleasurable read, but the moral is a soft-sell, working perfectly with his tale of homicidal rednecks and bass master wanna-bees.
Rating:
Summary: A fun comedy/thriller with memorable characters
Review: Double Whammy is an action packed comedy/thriller with memorable characters..plenty of.low-lifes and villains who are trying to make it big in bass fishing. Hiassen is reminiscient of Elmore Leonard except he adds more humor. It's a very enjoyable read.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic
Review: Double Whammy is by far, the best Hiaassen has written. Just great enough to keep you reading into the wee hours and heading to the book store for more!
|
