At one time, I was a Carl Hiaasen fanatic. Once I discovered him, I read every piece of fiction he'd written and some of his nonfiction before taking a break... and then I realized that the only problem with Carl Hiaasen is that, in big doses, his work all kind of runs together. In fact, there've been two or three times I've started one of his novels only to get halfway through and realize, "Wait; this isn't a similar plot to [insert title here]...I've read this before!" However, Hiaasen never said readers should go on a frenzy and consume all of his work at once-- and you really shouldn't. His novels are best in small doses where you can appreciate the bizarre turns of events, the ridiculousness that is South Florida, and his idiosyncratic characters. And that is exactly what Star Island, Hiaasen's latest novel, delivers. I'm so glad I've taken a few years off from Hiaasen, because it allowed me to enjoy Star Island to the fullest extent. My favorite recurring character, Clinton Tyree, the former governor of FL, has a starring role in this novel and he's every bit as entertaining and eccentric as usual. There's a mutilated bodyguard complete with a prosthetic weedwhacker for an arm, a drugged-out, sex-crazed teen starlet, and several other memorable characters who fit perfectly into the South Beach scene Hiaasen depicts. I don't think this is necessarily Carl Hiaasen's best piece of fiction, but it was entertaining, familiar, and served to remind me of what had drawn me to his novels in the first place: Hiaasen knows Florida, and loves it in spite of all the drama and flash trying to overtake the natural. Through his characters, he can bitch and moan about the rich snowbirds, the pretentious starlets, the obscene real estate going-ons, but he still manages to show Florida as a place where there's hope for the wilderness and the people who fiercely want to protect it. He paints a picture of a land untamed and untameable, and in the end of his novels(here's one Hiaasen formula I like), sanity always wins out.
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