Fever Beach

What to say about Carl Hiaasen's new book? It is the very definition of schadenfreude -- taking pleasure in the suffering of others. And we get to indulge this as Dale Figgo, ardent white supremacist, and his merry --and usually drunk or high-- band of brothers take a drubbing from the weather, a group of transgender performers, and wealthy eco-warrior Twilly Spree. Additional cast members are described by Booklist : "Dale Figgo, a right-wing nutcase who was too crazy for the Proud Boys; Viva Morales, who's renting a room from Dale, and whose bosses, a pair of alleged philanthropists [the Minks], are almost certainly up to no good; an ambitious and deeply corrupt congressman [Clure Boyette, "an apparent caricature of Matt Gaetz, though somewhat tame by comparison" according to the NYT]; Dale's mom, who isn't thrilled about what her son is doing with his life; and a bunch of other delightfully weird characters." They go on to close their review: "There is a serious story to be told about right-wing conspiracists, corrupt politicians, and shady philanthropists, and Hiaasen is sort of telling that story, but mostly he's making us laugh... This could be his funniest book yet."  Boyette plans to use the grant money received from the Minks to fund Figgo's group in a voter intimidation scheme, hiding this behind the public face of a home building scheme using child workers. The New York Times notes that Florida beat Hiaasen to the punch  as "the satire arrives pre-obsolesced by a reality even stupider and more depraved than the author dared imagine: The Florida Legislature recently considered a bill to legalize child labor to replace the holes in the work force left by waves of deportation." was somewhat more measured in their review, saying the book is "both feverish and beachy: a bottomless margarita...'Fever Beach' becomes finally a test of the reader’s own appetite for sanctimony and schadenfreude. As with the bottomless margarita, you’ll have to decide for yourself when enough is enough." Kirkus values what the book has to offer: "The perfect antidote for anyone who doomscrolls daily headlines: more crazed, rollicking, sharply written sendups like this." And Publishers Weekly concurs, "This funhouse-mirror satire offers welcome opportunities to laugh at the absurdities of 21st-century politics. It’s Hiaasen at his finest."