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Tales from the Beach House
Tales from The Beach House is a satiric work of fiction that sharply captures the “Man-Bites-Dog” world of contemporary South Florida. The Beach House, a crumbling old motel, is home to a collection of eccentric residents. Amongst their ranks; are a tennis pro at the end of his game, a mortuary scientist whose love life has flat-lined, a paparazzo photographer searching for scoops, a bawdy duo fronting an improbable Ponzi enterprise, a beauty from “The Islands” with a dark secret, a fried-out TV weather man who claims to channel God, a middle school principal with a soft spot for Crack, a Rod Stewart cover artist searching for redemption, and a waitress serving a side order of erotic fiction. Each member of this cohort is in search of something – fast money, an easy hustle, fleeting romance, enduring love, fame, power, dignity, happiness… a place they can call home. As well as facing their own tender, tragic, and often hilarious personal circumstances, this eclectic gang is compelled by necessity to band together when a sinister developer threatens the very existence of The Beach House.
Tales from The Beach House is carefully crafted in the spirit of Carl Hiaasen’s career-long deconstruction of South Florida. Each chapter focuses on one of The Beach House’s individual apartments. These standalone stories possess interwoven subplots reminiscent of Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, Paul Theroux’s Hotel Honolulu, and Thornton Wilder’s classic novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Tales from The Beach House is written in a fast-paced tabloid style, reflecting both the author’s transatlantic sensibilities and his two-decade career in the rough and tumble trenches of celebrity journalism.
James Aylott was previously a Hollywood paparazzo photographer and staffer at an American supermarket tabloid. This is the author’s first work of fiction, although he was often creative in his career of entertainment newsgathering and hated letting the truth interfere with a good story.
1st Place Winner at the Midwestern Book Awards (MIPA)
Gold Medal Winner at the Royal Palm Literary Awards (Florida Writer's Association) Honorable mention at the 2020 Readers Favorite Book Awards.
Tales from The Beach House is carefully crafted in the spirit of Carl Hiaasen’s career-long deconstruction of South Florida. Each chapter focuses on one of The Beach House’s individual apartments. These standalone stories possess interwoven subplots reminiscent of Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, Paul Theroux’s Hotel Honolulu, and Thornton Wilder’s classic novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Tales from The Beach House is written in a fast-paced tabloid style, reflecting both the author’s transatlantic sensibilities and his two-decade career in the rough and tumble trenches of celebrity journalism.
James Aylott was previously a Hollywood paparazzo photographer and staffer at an American supermarket tabloid. This is the author’s first work of fiction, although he was often creative in his career of entertainment newsgathering and hated letting the truth interfere with a good story.
1st Place Winner at the Midwestern Book Awards (MIPA)
Gold Medal Winner at the Royal Palm Literary Awards (Florida Writer's Association) Honorable mention at the 2020 Readers Favorite Book Awards.
281 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 14, 2019
218 people are currently reading
390 people want to read
About the author
James Aylott
2 books82 followersJames Aylott is a former sharp-elbowed Hollywood paparazzo and ruthless supermarket tabloid photo editor. His award-winning debut novel, Tales from The Beach House, was both critically acclaimed and a hit. His follow-up work of fiction, Tales of Whiskey Tango from Misery Towers is set in St. Louis, Missouri, one of America’s most dangerous cities. The author took inspiration not only from the colorful characters he met while embedding himself in the real estate business but also from the mayhem of everyday life on the wild streets of St. Louis. James Aylott is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, and King’s College, London. He is happy to call a leafy suburb of St. Louis, Missouri his home.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews
June 7, 2023
(Audiobook Edition) Tom Taverna performed marvels on this audio version of my debut novel! I could not be happier and highly recommend his services!
December 2, 2019
James Aylott's Tales From The Beach House- a whacky romp with several Floridian misfits!
Have you ever thought what it might be like to live in a small apartment complex in Southwestern Florida where it's always hot and the people there know each other perhaps a little too well? No? Well, sit back and relax and begin reading TALES FROM THE BEACH HOUSE by JAMES AYLOTT. I know you can't wait to be that fly on the wall in Apartment 5 while Bessie and Gabriel are planning their next move to restore order in the complex. Perhaps you'd like to eavesdrop on Sally in number 11 while she's busy late in the evening "entertaining" a guest or two, or three? Hint, they are not discussing politics or having tea and crumpets. Those are just a few of the wacky residents; there are 10 more apartments.
James Aylott, always a journalist at heart, I think, has crafted something uniquely different. Each chapter is headed by a bazaar news article, Florida Man Killed Testing Bulletproof Vest, for example. While each chapter tells the story of an apartment and its residents, it also interweaves each resident with the others as they go about their daily routines, no matter how mundane or off-the-wall.
You might think THE BEACH HOUSE is just a series of loosely related short stories written by a man who writes via the King's English but that is not the case. Each chapter leads up to a life-shattering finale. While reading you might ask yourself... Will this band of merry misfits come together in the end to do the right thing?
JAMES AYLOTT's first novel TALES FROM THE BEACH HOUSE has an eye-pleasing simple front cover. Who doesn't love pink flamingos? His back cover blurb is easy to read thanks to large high-contrast print. His choice of font and correct spacing make the book very readable and fun at the same time. Jim, keep writing.; I loved your mixture of old and new whacky Florida. I can't wait to read your next story.
Have you ever thought what it might be like to live in a small apartment complex in Southwestern Florida where it's always hot and the people there know each other perhaps a little too well? No? Well, sit back and relax and begin reading TALES FROM THE BEACH HOUSE by JAMES AYLOTT. I know you can't wait to be that fly on the wall in Apartment 5 while Bessie and Gabriel are planning their next move to restore order in the complex. Perhaps you'd like to eavesdrop on Sally in number 11 while she's busy late in the evening "entertaining" a guest or two, or three? Hint, they are not discussing politics or having tea and crumpets. Those are just a few of the wacky residents; there are 10 more apartments.
James Aylott, always a journalist at heart, I think, has crafted something uniquely different. Each chapter is headed by a bazaar news article, Florida Man Killed Testing Bulletproof Vest, for example. While each chapter tells the story of an apartment and its residents, it also interweaves each resident with the others as they go about their daily routines, no matter how mundane or off-the-wall.
You might think THE BEACH HOUSE is just a series of loosely related short stories written by a man who writes via the King's English but that is not the case. Each chapter leads up to a life-shattering finale. While reading you might ask yourself... Will this band of merry misfits come together in the end to do the right thing?
JAMES AYLOTT's first novel TALES FROM THE BEACH HOUSE has an eye-pleasing simple front cover. Who doesn't love pink flamingos? His back cover blurb is easy to read thanks to large high-contrast print. His choice of font and correct spacing make the book very readable and fun at the same time. Jim, keep writing.; I loved your mixture of old and new whacky Florida. I can't wait to read your next story.
January 6, 2020
Wow, what a fun book this was to read.
An old Florida motel turned into condos and populated with a bunch of eccentrics. Each chapter is about a different occupant and then a story begins to take shape involving everyone.
I hope the author writes another book
An old Florida motel turned into condos and populated with a bunch of eccentrics. Each chapter is about a different occupant and then a story begins to take shape involving everyone.
I hope the author writes another book
February 14, 2020
Smart, witty, insightful and totally blows the lid off the secret life of Floridians!
I may never have stepped foot in Delray Beach, as West Palm was where my grandparents chose to 'retire' in style... but I feel as if I just spent a few months there, living intimately with the quirky, eccentric but quite lovable residents of The Beach House. The characters are so skillfully drawn, I might as well have been sitting by the pool with a Long Island Iced Tea right along with all the residents. Their sad tales of misfortune, unfulfilled dreams and pure lust are offered up in a juicy and delicious collection of tales, woven together seamlessly and masterfully by James Aylott, author extraordinaire and former paparazzo. Truly so much fun, I can't wait to read it again.
I may never have stepped foot in Delray Beach, as West Palm was where my grandparents chose to 'retire' in style... but I feel as if I just spent a few months there, living intimately with the quirky, eccentric but quite lovable residents of The Beach House. The characters are so skillfully drawn, I might as well have been sitting by the pool with a Long Island Iced Tea right along with all the residents. Their sad tales of misfortune, unfulfilled dreams and pure lust are offered up in a juicy and delicious collection of tales, woven together seamlessly and masterfully by James Aylott, author extraordinaire and former paparazzo. Truly so much fun, I can't wait to read it again.
October 11, 2025
Well described characters of person/people living in each unit of an apartment/condo building.
Location: Delray Beach, Florida.
Time period: Early 1990s.
Writing Style: Carl Hiaasen imitation.
Satire/Funny with some truth & sarcasm.
I had to read this book because I live in Southeast Florida.
I did enjoy it, too.
Location: Delray Beach, Florida.
Time period: Early 1990s.
Writing Style: Carl Hiaasen imitation.
Satire/Funny with some truth & sarcasm.
I had to read this book because I live in Southeast Florida.
I did enjoy it, too.
July 20, 2019
A roller coaster ride with a slow start but a fast paced ending! Dark and twisted at times but I liked it.
April 8, 2020
A quirky, light read. Great for sitting on the deck and social distancing!
June 8, 2020
Tales is an excellent read, it starts out with a bang, (a loud one) and then gets Florida crazy. A smooth cocktail, shaken not stirred, of Hiaasen and Shames. The ending is coconut telegraphed but it really doesn't matter. It's a fun fun read. Enjoy it!
April 22, 2020
All the president’s men…and women
When most people, who’ve never been to America, think of the US, they visualise Mickey Mouse rather than Mount Rushmore. That’s because its neo-colonial impact has been more successful via trash culture than the principles of the Founding Fathers.
And yet today the world’s greatest superpower is floundering thanks to a president for whom there’s not enough granite in South Dakota to sculpt his comb-over.
There has never been a US president in history who has been globally ridiculed and if you want to find out who elected this man, then Tales From The Beach House, is a must-read, or as the author, James Aylott, would say, a ‘go-to’ novel.
The Beach House is a breeze-block condominium erected on a poor plot of Floridian pineapple-grower’s land that even the man from Del Monte said ‘No’ to.
Inside live a bunch of maladjusted misfits, lecherous losers, and delusional daydreamers, the intimate details of whose sordid lives we are not spared as they prey on one another.
In this deeply cynical, deranged dystopia, Aylott has welded a brilliant black comedy posing as a love story, with a Runyonesque-style argot which gives it pace, although I could have done with a glossary.
The one thing this bunch have in common, apart from a touch of racism, and a smidgeon of anti-semitism, is misogyny.
Even the women hate women, or rather themselves, as they pose for blue movies, turn to prostitution or drink themselves into oblivion.
The hero, or rather anti-hero, Pete Alexander, a scandal sheet photographer, stalks the love of his life, Angel Mancine, a mortician, by desperately rifling through her rubbish trying to discover something about her he can turn into a winning chat-up line, as he’s too inadequate to approach her in a straight-forward manner.
The men are all fantasists and the women try to match what’s expected of them, even talking in a way they hope men will find alluring.
The common denominator which finally draws them all together is not respect, religion or rectitude, but real estate. When The Beach House is about to be demolished and replaced by luxury apartments by a Mafia syndicate, the plot thickens…
Aylott based the characters in his debut novel on real folks he knew while living and working in America’s tackiest state.
As a foil to show they are not exaggerated he starts each chapter with a real newspaper clipping ie: ‘Florida Man Dumps Cup Full of Semen on Woman in Restaurant.’
You could say, with the current incumbent of the White House, we are in deep shit, but with Harvey Weinstein jailed after the publication of this book, perhaps America’s dreadfulness has finally bottomed out.
Perhaps.
When most people, who’ve never been to America, think of the US, they visualise Mickey Mouse rather than Mount Rushmore. That’s because its neo-colonial impact has been more successful via trash culture than the principles of the Founding Fathers.
And yet today the world’s greatest superpower is floundering thanks to a president for whom there’s not enough granite in South Dakota to sculpt his comb-over.
There has never been a US president in history who has been globally ridiculed and if you want to find out who elected this man, then Tales From The Beach House, is a must-read, or as the author, James Aylott, would say, a ‘go-to’ novel.
The Beach House is a breeze-block condominium erected on a poor plot of Floridian pineapple-grower’s land that even the man from Del Monte said ‘No’ to.
Inside live a bunch of maladjusted misfits, lecherous losers, and delusional daydreamers, the intimate details of whose sordid lives we are not spared as they prey on one another.
In this deeply cynical, deranged dystopia, Aylott has welded a brilliant black comedy posing as a love story, with a Runyonesque-style argot which gives it pace, although I could have done with a glossary.
The one thing this bunch have in common, apart from a touch of racism, and a smidgeon of anti-semitism, is misogyny.
Even the women hate women, or rather themselves, as they pose for blue movies, turn to prostitution or drink themselves into oblivion.
The hero, or rather anti-hero, Pete Alexander, a scandal sheet photographer, stalks the love of his life, Angel Mancine, a mortician, by desperately rifling through her rubbish trying to discover something about her he can turn into a winning chat-up line, as he’s too inadequate to approach her in a straight-forward manner.
The men are all fantasists and the women try to match what’s expected of them, even talking in a way they hope men will find alluring.
The common denominator which finally draws them all together is not respect, religion or rectitude, but real estate. When The Beach House is about to be demolished and replaced by luxury apartments by a Mafia syndicate, the plot thickens…
Aylott based the characters in his debut novel on real folks he knew while living and working in America’s tackiest state.
As a foil to show they are not exaggerated he starts each chapter with a real newspaper clipping ie: ‘Florida Man Dumps Cup Full of Semen on Woman in Restaurant.’
You could say, with the current incumbent of the White House, we are in deep shit, but with Harvey Weinstein jailed after the publication of this book, perhaps America’s dreadfulness has finally bottomed out.
Perhaps.
September 6, 2020
Delicious read!
As a Florida resident I must say the author nailed it! Characters are vile, loveable and uniquely Floridian. Pandemic reading is hard. Great way to get the reading motor running again!
As a Florida resident I must say the author nailed it! Characters are vile, loveable and uniquely Floridian. Pandemic reading is hard. Great way to get the reading motor running again!
January 2, 2021
What a great book to say sayonara to 2020 and kick off 2021 to. It shows you the powers of what twelve poor decision-making misfits living within the confines of an old Floridian condo can achieve when backed into a corner and forced towards a common goal. I’m going to South Florida in 2 weeks and it was definitely the perfect read to put me in the mood. Great debut book. Please keep it up.
April 12, 2020
Fun, quirky read
This is a terrific tale of the weirdness that skitters through Florida's less than perfect side streets. Sex, drugs, rock&roll, bone saws, mafia love stories. This book has it all. Enjoy!
This is a terrific tale of the weirdness that skitters through Florida's less than perfect side streets. Sex, drugs, rock&roll, bone saws, mafia love stories. This book has it all. Enjoy!
June 17, 2020
Really enjoyed the writing style, character development, and twists in the plot. An easy, entertaining read, perfect for spending time in a hammock with a cocktail, preferably a Long Island Iced Tea.
July 22, 2020
I really enjoyed this book. Great summer vacation book. Sequel?
February 6, 2020
Fun Florida read.
September 16, 2019
Absolutely Brilliant! Such likable characters. I'm looking forward to reading your next novel!
October 2, 2019
The Beach House is a rundown motel in Delray Beach Florida where quite a unique set of inhabitants have come together. From the former and now broke tennis coach to a young forensic examiner at the local morgue, from a paparazzi fotographer to the always making trouble couple, from a Rod Steward double to an secretive business woman - you‘ll find everything life has to offer, especially when it comes to unfulfilled dreams. This strange and bizarre assortment of characters seems not to have much in common, but when their little island of happiness is threatened, they need to stand side by side to save this precious save haven.
I fell immediately for James Aylott‘s residents of The Beach House. They all had their high hopes and also seen the downs of life but nevertheless, they are loveable - maybe except for Gabriel and Bessie Garlech from apartment # 5 - and you simply have to feel pity for what is going to happen to them. Yet, not only the characters have an immediate appeal, it is much more the author‘s style of writing that got me immediately. He masterly puts his story into words and thus makes you laugh out loud more than once.
A wonderful read that is satirical and funny as well as bittersweet at the same time. The individual stories are smoothy linked to add up to a story even though I found the presentation of their backstories much more interesting and entertaining than the actual plot. I also loved the news stories at the beginning of each chapter which highlighted that Florida creates news that surely surpass any imagination.
I fell immediately for James Aylott‘s residents of The Beach House. They all had their high hopes and also seen the downs of life but nevertheless, they are loveable - maybe except for Gabriel and Bessie Garlech from apartment # 5 - and you simply have to feel pity for what is going to happen to them. Yet, not only the characters have an immediate appeal, it is much more the author‘s style of writing that got me immediately. He masterly puts his story into words and thus makes you laugh out loud more than once.
A wonderful read that is satirical and funny as well as bittersweet at the same time. The individual stories are smoothy linked to add up to a story even though I found the presentation of their backstories much more interesting and entertaining than the actual plot. I also loved the news stories at the beginning of each chapter which highlighted that Florida creates news that surely surpass any imagination.
January 30, 2021
Fun book
Great fun book to spend a few days with. Great plot twist if u like interesting good book this is it
Great fun book to spend a few days with. Great plot twist if u like interesting good book this is it
January 2, 2020
Tales From the Beach House is a fun read, for sure. It's quick paced and packed with quick wit. Aylott does a wonderful job developing each character who calls The Beach House home and he does it with colorful, British humor. Many times I found myself thinking, "I can't believe he just said that", but he DID say it and his vivid writing style is what makes this book such fun to read. Florida Fiction was a genre I'd never heard of and The Beach House is a perfect fit for it. Eclectic characters with messed up lives that are full of twists and turns. You won't regret reading this book!
November 26, 2019
Loved the book but sure glad I never lived at The Beach House!
October 19, 2019
From the Author:
Florida man, Florida woman and the everyday mayhem that occurs around the State of Florida inspired this work of fiction. The initial genesis came during a moment of clarity bobbing in the warm waters of Delray Beach while drinking cocktails with the late Tim Anderson. The story outline was drafted at The Beach House during its final days of existence.
Aylott, James. Tales from The Beach House: A Novel (p. 324). Beautiful Arch. Kindle Edition.
I live in Florida about 100 miles north of Delray Beach. I had to read this book!! There are 12 units in the Beach House and the reader gets to know each resident though James Aylott's eyes. Never read a book quite like this before. It is full of risque details. Each section is headlined by a newspaper article describing events too gross to be true. But the book made me laugh and I do appreciate Aylott's unique writing style.
Just one question, though, James: Where did you get this way of phrasing?
"He had no idea that he was sat across the street from Ivana Trump’s mansion."
Shouldn't it be "was sitting"?
4 stars
Florida man, Florida woman and the everyday mayhem that occurs around the State of Florida inspired this work of fiction. The initial genesis came during a moment of clarity bobbing in the warm waters of Delray Beach while drinking cocktails with the late Tim Anderson. The story outline was drafted at The Beach House during its final days of existence.
Aylott, James. Tales from The Beach House: A Novel (p. 324). Beautiful Arch. Kindle Edition.
I live in Florida about 100 miles north of Delray Beach. I had to read this book!! There are 12 units in the Beach House and the reader gets to know each resident though James Aylott's eyes. Never read a book quite like this before. It is full of risque details. Each section is headlined by a newspaper article describing events too gross to be true. But the book made me laugh and I do appreciate Aylott's unique writing style.
Just one question, though, James: Where did you get this way of phrasing?
"He had no idea that he was sat across the street from Ivana Trump’s mansion."
Shouldn't it be "was sitting"?
4 stars
June 27, 2019
t's a tale of a series of interlocking stories and characters who make up the run down beach house apartment complex in South Florida, There’s an ex Tennis Pro, The Mortuary Scientist, a Paparazzo, A Rod Stewart cover artist.... and more.
Each apartment and character, has his or her own tale and reason for now inhabiting this cheap and broken down motel, some are darkly comic and some just dark.
The stories are seamlessly linked and converge into something where instead of just being about their own doomed tale, they come together to ensure a future..
A satirical, often funny and at times , bittersweet look at this micro community.
A superbly crafted work, I really enjoyed this book, the writing style is so different and refreshing and I love the snippets of news at the start of each chapter describing very random events in the Florida area.
I would encourage anyone to pick up this book, I would like nothing more to see it reach a big audience.
5 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Each apartment and character, has his or her own tale and reason for now inhabiting this cheap and broken down motel, some are darkly comic and some just dark.
The stories are seamlessly linked and converge into something where instead of just being about their own doomed tale, they come together to ensure a future..
A satirical, often funny and at times , bittersweet look at this micro community.
A superbly crafted work, I really enjoyed this book, the writing style is so different and refreshing and I love the snippets of news at the start of each chapter describing very random events in the Florida area.
I would encourage anyone to pick up this book, I would like nothing more to see it reach a big audience.
5 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
July 10, 2020
The Beach House is a 12 unit motel that was converted into apartment/condos. It is rundown and has seen better days. The quirky weirdos that live there imbibe with a lot of alcohol, smoking & sexual activity. The walls are thin, so occupants kind of know everybody else’s business.
You have an aging tennis pro, a TV weatherman turned into a fake man of God. A mortician and a book author who has slept her way through college and across the country to create a bestseller with her sexual escapades. The St. Louis school principal who is in rehab for his addiction to crack, and a Rod Stewart look-a-like cover singer, and the bartender and waitress who work at the local watering holes.
With all the shenanigans these dwellers create, the owners of the building just want to sell out and allow the place to be bulldozed for newer luxury townhomes. Can this cast of screwballs save their home? You’re in for a crazy story with the background being the beachfront in DelRay Florida.
I did enjoy this adventure.
You have an aging tennis pro, a TV weatherman turned into a fake man of God. A mortician and a book author who has slept her way through college and across the country to create a bestseller with her sexual escapades. The St. Louis school principal who is in rehab for his addiction to crack, and a Rod Stewart look-a-like cover singer, and the bartender and waitress who work at the local watering holes.
With all the shenanigans these dwellers create, the owners of the building just want to sell out and allow the place to be bulldozed for newer luxury townhomes. Can this cast of screwballs save their home? You’re in for a crazy story with the background being the beachfront in DelRay Florida.
I did enjoy this adventure.
February 21, 2025
A good story to follow the characters at the Beach House.
Mr. Aylott does a great job tying all the people who live in the Beach House to each other.
The Beach House is perfect for the misfits and the two or three people who have full-time jobs. Some people own the small apartments and some people rent.
The building is falling apart but it is home for the residence.
All is going along fine, sort of, then they find out that their home is being demolished to make way for a developer to build expensive apartments for the rich and famous. The developer is known for his style of aggressive tactics in taking over a property.
Now even more fun starts when the residents band together and make a plan to talk to Developer about the Beach House.
Mr. Aylott does a great job tying all the people who live in the Beach House to each other.
The Beach House is perfect for the misfits and the two or three people who have full-time jobs. Some people own the small apartments and some people rent.
The building is falling apart but it is home for the residence.
All is going along fine, sort of, then they find out that their home is being demolished to make way for a developer to build expensive apartments for the rich and famous. The developer is known for his style of aggressive tactics in taking over a property.
Now even more fun starts when the residents band together and make a plan to talk to Developer about the Beach House.
March 10, 2020
5 stars for a first good book and another fun beach read! Reminded me a bit of Carl Hiassen and Lawrence Shames but with the authors own unique touch. Fun, witty and a bit edgy at times, this story is a great expose of the wacky and weird although in many ways “normal” characters we have come to expect from Florida. The tale revolves around the lives of the residents of a small vintage Florida apartment/mini-condo block, weaving their stories into the overall plot. Well-crafted and looking forward to more from this author. Love the wacky Florida news excerpts at the beginning of each chapter!
February 15, 2020
A tale of crazy, out there Florida characters that live in the Beach House apartments.
An old Florida Motel that is not in the greatest shape but is home.
A funny satire in the same category as Carl Haaisen or Tim Dorsey.
Forced to work together to fend off a developer who plans on tearing down the hotel, and putting up town homes.
If you enjoy a bit of weird, crazy and strange in your stories along with humor-give it a try.
First book by a new author.
An old Florida Motel that is not in the greatest shape but is home.
A funny satire in the same category as Carl Haaisen or Tim Dorsey.
Forced to work together to fend off a developer who plans on tearing down the hotel, and putting up town homes.
If you enjoy a bit of weird, crazy and strange in your stories along with humor-give it a try.
First book by a new author.
January 22, 2020
I really enjoyed this book - I am a fan of Carl Hiaasen and it was similar but honestly, I loved it because it was more genuine. It was very humorous but not as "totally out there crazy" as Mr. Hiaasen sometimes goes. The characters were all very likeable, some loveable, and had interesting stories and baggage. I read it in two sittings - it was very entertaining!
December 3, 2020
Entertaining and well organized, each chapter describes the residents in each apartment in the building. The Beach House is in Delray Beach, almost across the street from the beach, just North of Atlantic. It mentions Boca Raton and some other local towns also. The residents get together at the end and scheme a plot to save the building. It makes fun of HOAs...
August 8, 2025
I have never read a more accurate representation of Florida in written literature, like, ever. Each of the characters felt like people my mom would hang around—even ones she probably HAD hung around let’s be real. So incredibly used to this type of tomfoolery that I was cracking up in laughter so often.
September 5, 2019
Living in Delray Beach, FL I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it's characters. If you can overlook a few grammatical errors you will find this book funny and quirky. Hope to read more from this author.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews