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Andrew Yancy, late of the Miami Police, soon-to-be-late of the Key West Police, has a human arm in his freezer. There is a logical explanation for that, but not for how and why it parted from its owner. Yancy thinks the boating-accident/shark-luncheon explanation is full of holes, and if he can prove murder, his commander might relieve him of Health Inspector duties, aka Roach Patrol. But first Yancy will negotiate an ever-surprising course of events, from the Keys to Miami to a Bahamian out island, with a crew of equally ever-surprising characters, including: the twitchy widow of the frozen arm; an avariciously idiotic real estate developer; a voodoo witch whose lovers are blinded-unto-death by her particularly peculiar charms; Yancy's new love, a kinky medical examiner; and the eponymous Bad Monkey.… (more)
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The story follows Andrew Yancy, disgraced former Miami
Yancy is not the most upstanding guy, and the pranks he pulls on the developer who's trying to build a large mansion next door (obstructing Yancy's view of the gorgeous Miami sunsets) are less than kind, but I found myself rooting for him the whole time, and laughing out loud at his one-liners.
I enjoyed how Hiassen brought his cast of characters into the story. The action jumps from one person to the next, and while it's not always clear how these snippets will come together, Hiassen manages to bring it all to a head with a twist that I didn't see coming.
I can't wait to discuss this book with the ladies of my book club in a few weeks (although I imagine some of them will be put off by the language and sexual exploits of some of the characters!). I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a fun crime story that doesn't take itself too seriously.
But the warm waters off the Florida Keys offer up salvation in the form of a severed arm, middle finger extended as if to say, well you know. Seems the arm belonged to a wealthy crook, who scammed various medical insurance companies for millions, only to die in a boating accident, leaving the arm behind to be hooked by a tourist on a fishing charter. But in Hiaasen’s world things are never as they seem. Not even close.
The police want the missing arm case as well as a murder and a suicide (or not) to go quietly into the archives. But, Yancy doesn’t buy it. He sees nefarious activity in the shadows. And he has a plan. Solve the murder, disprove the suicide, and prove that the wife offed the arm’s previous owner. Or did she? Tie up all these loose ends and they’ll have to return his badge. Won’t they?
This story is totally Hiassen. It bounces around the Keys, South Florida, and the Bahamas. Reminiscent of his earlier works such as SKINNY DIP, STORMY WEATHER, and STRIP TEASE, BAD MONKEY is filled with easy one-liners, believably unbelievable occurrences, and odd ball characters: love interest Dr. Rosa Campesino, a medical examiner with a penchant for sex on the dissecting table; The Egg, a homicidal brute who has Yancy in his sites; the Dragon Queen, a Bahamian scooter-riding VooDoo witch who delights in kinky sex and casting black spells; and of course Driggs, the “bad monkey.” Bad doesn’t quite cover it. Maybe petulant, combative, or recalcitrant. No, vile. That’s the word. What else could you say about a monkey who attacks without warning and tends toward flinging excrement on a whim? Yeah, vile works.
As if all this didn’t fill Yancy’s plate, his neighbor is constructing a massive mansion that will block Yancy’s view of the water. Yancy’s attempts to waylay those plans are numerous and insane (in a Hiassen sort of way).
Through solving murders, tracking down folks who have gone missing, messing with his neighbor’s head, and avoiding The Egg and Driggs as best he can, Yancy attempts to develop a real relationship with the good Dr. Campesino.
You’ll need a scorecard to keep up with all the characters, many having a couple of aliases, and all the scams within scams, but the pages will fly by. For Hiaasen fans (like me) this book will cause more than a few laugh-out -loud moments and for new fans, welcome to his world. It’s a fun, fast read and a wild ride.
DP Lyle, award-winning author of the Dub Walker and Samantha Cody thriller series
The author has his usual biases thrown in throughout the book ( for those who are not familiar with this author he either dislikes or doesn't trust; Republicans, conservatives, real estate developers, bankers/finance people).
Is the book good? Yes is it one of his best? Not by a long shot. I really wish both he and Tim Dorsey another Florida author of outlandish books that take place in Florida, would leave out their personal political biases from their books, since it only serves to detract from the story. I know they are millionaire liberal hypocrites in their personal life they don't need to remind the reader of this in their books.
Andrew Yancy is a Detective for the Sheriff's office in Key West. He's on suspension for an unspeakable act involving a vacuum cleaner he committed against
Shortly thereafter, as part of a plea bargain for the assault which Yancy viewed as an act of chivalry, he was fired from the position of Detective and began working as roach inspector for the health department. But when the owner of the arm turned up, or at least the widow of the arm's previous owner, Yancy couldn't let it go. In part because he took his (former) job as a Detective seriously, but more because he saw it as a way to get back to work on real crime, to prove his value to the Sheriff, he started his own investigation.
The characters in Bad Monkey are colorful, crazy, and comical. A displaced Bahamian and his pet monkey; a not so grief stricken widow; a beautiful Miami medical examiner who likes to try new things; a washed up drug smuggling pilot looking to relive his glory days; an oversexed voodoo Queen; two stoic FBI Agents. And of course Mr. Yancy: obsessed with the cleanliness of his food (thanks to his new occupation), finding a killer that may not exist, and in his spare time sabotaging the efforts of the monstrous vacation home being built next door, ruining his view of a perfect Florida Keys sunset.
True to his style, Hiaasen keeps the plot moving quickly, each twist in the story more outrageous than the last. But readers won't mind, and most will appreciate the way Bad Monkey differs from the more traditional mystery fiction novel.
While I enjoyed Bad Monkey, it is similar to Hiaasen's previous books. Several other books feature an amputee; many others have a sub-plot about the destruction of the natural beauty of southern Florida; and the larger than life characters are standard fare.
But even with that mild criticism, I always look forward to a new Hiaasen book, enjoy and empathize with his protagonists, and laugh out loud as I read. Bad Monkey was no different.
In another part, a man from the Islands hires a voodoo practitioner to put a spell on a builder who demolished his moderate home by the water and
There were the requisite hi-jinx, and low-jinx, corrupt officials, skeezy crooks, quirky romances, schemes, plots, plans, and a monkey. While I did laugh out loud at some things, I have to say this is not my favorite of his books. But for a quick summer read, it was just grand.
But that's as far as I'll go. There was just a little too much formula in it and the bad guys were just a little too two-dimensional to make it one of his best.
A pleasant
I have been a fan of Mr. Hiaasen’s every since I read “Strip Tease” way back when. I loved all of his early work, but fell out of touch with his writing a few years ago. When I saw this book and read the synopsis, I thought that the old Hiaasen, who could write a
Don’t get me wrong, this is still a funny book although not as funny as his earlier books and there is still a message to be found. However, it no longer feels as if the author was really taking the time to give his full attention to the plot, the characters or even the outcome.
In this book, we find Andrew Yancy about to be kicked off the police force for doing something unmentionable with a hand held vacuum to his lovers’ husband and having a film of it play on YouTube. To make a long story short, Yancy has been demoted to being a health inspector. I can honestly say that this part of the book was the most fascinating and horrifying out of the entire thing. This part of the book was well researched and frankly, because of this I may never eat out again.
Now if you read the recap you know that Yancy is in ‘custody’ of a severed arm. There really is a sort of logical reason for this, but you will have to stretch your imagination to believe it. This arm is what the gist of what the book is about. Yancy comes to believe a murder has been committed, and he is correct. I think if Mr. Hiaason had concentrated more on the murder and a tad less on the sub-plots, he may have really had something that would grab you by the throat, just like in the old days.
I will say that there is an event in the last quarter or so of this book really did take me by surprise and I am glad that I kept reading instead of giving up at about the 60% mark.
Of course, Karma is eventually served and they all live happily ever after.
Key West Detective Andrew Yancy gets knocked down to restaurant health inspector after assaulting his former lover's husband. Meanwhile, tourists who are out fishing pull up
I thought the writing was good and quite frequently humorous. The sub-plots were well fleshed out and didn't seem to be used as filler. And I loved how effectively he wrote the Bahamian dialect. It sometimes took a second read to get the phonetics, but it was very well done.