Pretty typical Hiaasen romp, but enough pot shots at D. T. to make me happy.
I enjoyed it. ( )

Entertaining as always, Carl, thanks! ( )

There are flashes of classic Hiaasen: oddball characters, snarky wit, uniquely crazy situations and mayhem mixed with a central mystery or two. This, however, is not classic Hiassen. Where he aims to make a statement--shots at politicians and politics, being pro-environment, and being pro immigrant—he is ham-fisted and dreary. When he goes to his strengths—building insane characters—he falls short. It starts out well enough, letting the air out of the rich by having one of them devoured by a snake at a heartless charity function setting up a mini-mystery. Unfortunately that story line peters out about half way into the book. Reading perks along okay to that point then seems to go into a holding pattern looking for a runway. We keep treading air until the last 50 pages or so then it picks up some and has a decent landing. My favorite Hiassen character from his books (and one of my favorites from any book) is Skink—former Governor of Florida. This marvelous creation is trotted out here but given too little to do. The point of it all seems to be taking shots at Donald Trump, never named but quite obviously present. Initially I thought it would be a hoot to have him deservedly skewered, but by the end it just made me sad. Maybe it’s too soon to pull down the devil’s drawers. Or maybe treating him like a buffoon is less appropriate than treating him like a menace. Trump certainly feels like a Hiassen creation—a cartoonish remorseless, self-absorbed loudmouth—maybe he should have been the center of the book instead of a wacky side character. If you want to read better Hiassen—my favorite is TOURIST SEASON. SKIN TIGHT and DOUBLE WHAMMY are also quite good. ( )

Carl Hiaasen's Squeeze me is an excellent read, as almost all Carl Hiaasen books are. I give it four stars rather than five since Hiaasen is clearly swept up by Trump Derangement Syndrome. Even without the unnecessarily harsh satirizing the book had me roaring with laughter on numerous occasions. Other reviews on Goodreads stated that the book may offend those who support Trump to a certain extent. I certainly am not offended, though I am still torn on how I will vote in early voting next weekend.

What I can't figure out is, if Florida is such a dystopia why does he stay. But that mystery persists through 27 years of reading Hiaasen. ( )

Nicer characters; the Trump and Melania spoofs were amusing. ( )