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Andrew Yancy #1
Bad Monkey
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Humor (2013)From "the funniest important writer in America" comes a tale that is gleefully zany and incisively sharp ( Miami Herald ) -- coming as an Apple Original series starring Vince Vaughn.
Andrew Yancy-late of the Miami Police and soon-to-be-late of the Monroe County sheriff's office-has a human arm in his freezer. There's a logical (Hiaasenian) explanation for that, but not for how and why it parted from its shadowy owner. Yancy thinks the boating-accident/shark-luncheon explanation is full of holes, and if he can prove murder, the sheriff might rescue him from his grisly Health Inspector gig (it's not called the roach patrol for nothing).
But first-this being Hiaasen country-Yancy must negotiate an obstacle course of wildly unpredictable events with a crew of even more wildly unpredictable characters, including his just-ex lover, a hot-blooded fugitive from Kansas; the twitchy widow of the frozen arm; two avariciously optimistic real-estate speculators; the Bahamian voodoo witch known as the Dragon Queen, whose suitors are blinded unto death by her peculiar charms; Yancy's new true love, a kinky coroner; and the eponymous bad monkey-who just may be one of Carl Hiaasen's greatest characters.
Andrew Yancy-late of the Miami Police and soon-to-be-late of the Monroe County sheriff's office-has a human arm in his freezer. There's a logical (Hiaasenian) explanation for that, but not for how and why it parted from its shadowy owner. Yancy thinks the boating-accident/shark-luncheon explanation is full of holes, and if he can prove murder, the sheriff might rescue him from his grisly Health Inspector gig (it's not called the roach patrol for nothing).
But first-this being Hiaasen country-Yancy must negotiate an obstacle course of wildly unpredictable events with a crew of even more wildly unpredictable characters, including his just-ex lover, a hot-blooded fugitive from Kansas; the twitchy widow of the frozen arm; two avariciously optimistic real-estate speculators; the Bahamian voodoo witch known as the Dragon Queen, whose suitors are blinded unto death by her peculiar charms; Yancy's new true love, a kinky coroner; and the eponymous bad monkey-who just may be one of Carl Hiaasen's greatest characters.
400 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 11, 2013
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28768 people want to read
About the author
Carl Hiaasen
99 books9,911 followersCarl Hiaasen was born and raised in Florida. After graduating from the University of Florida, he joined the Miami Herald as a general assignment reporter and went on to work for the newspaper’s weekly magazine and prize-winning investigations team. As a journalist and author, Carl has spent most of his life advocating for the protection of the Florida Everglades. He and his family live in southern Florida.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 5,537 reviews
July 29, 2013
Reading a Carl Hiaasen novel is a lot like watching a master pool player put nine balls into a rack, then casually chalk his cue. When he’s ready, he lines up his shot and then expertly smacks that little white cue ball into the other nine. You never know which balls are going to go where, and guessing isn’t going to help. What you want to do is just sit back and watch the master run the board.
‘Bad Monkey’ is Carl Hiaasen at his best. The satire flows in every paragraph, the word choices (and especially the adjectives) convey Hiaasen’s justifiable contempt for a large swath of humanity. Like me, Hiaasen is a native Floridian and, also like me, he is appalled by what greed and empty-minded boosterism has done to the state. When Hiaasen sits down to write, you can be reasonably certain that there are crooked politicians and avaricious developers among the cast of characters. There is also frequently a hurricane. Readers of this book will not be disappointed on any of those counts.
That pool rack of humanity in ‘Bad Monkey’ includes an honest cop who was fired from the Miami PD for being honest, a Bahamian voodoo queen, a fugitive former school teacher from Kansas who is not quite firing on all cylinders, a coroner with a taste for sex in unusual places, a Bahamas man whose home has been sold out from underneath him, a widow who has to conjure up thoughts of her squashed turtle to generate tears for her recently deceased husband, and a capuchin monkey named Driggs who may or may not have had a cameo appearance in Pirates of the Caribbean.
The cue ball that Hiassen drives into this group is the discovery of a human arm, hauled in by a couple from Wisconsin honeymooning in the Florida Keys. Had the arm been landed in Miami, it would have been tossed in with the hundreds of other limbs that accumulate annually from drug deals gone bad or other illegal misadventures. And so as not to tarnish the Keys’ reputation as a wholesome family destination, Andrew Yancey of the Monroe County sheriff’s department (and late of the Miami PD) is tasked with foisting the arm on Miami’s law enforcement establishment.
Thus begins a wonderful tale of good intentions – and not-so-good ones – gone horribly awry. There are no saints in this story (Hiaasen has no use for them). Yancey has been busted from the Monroe County force for wielding a powerful hand vacuum as an extremely dangerous weapon. His punishment is to become a restaurant inspector, and Hiaasen’s description of what Yancey finds in the course of his new job may put readers off dining out for an extended period.
Part of the pleasure of reading Hiaasen is learning about things. ‘Bad Monkey’ provides a tutorial on Medicare fraud, ocean flycasting, the Dead Sailfish Scam, and the inner workings of the simian mind, among other tidbits of knowledge.
The fun is in watching these individual story threads develop and play themselves out. As a reader, you know they’re going to merge; you just don’t know how, when, or with what result.
--------
Neal Sanders is the author of six fun mysteries. You can read reviews of them here on Goodreads or Amazon.com, and read first chapters at www.TheHardingtonPress.com.
‘Bad Monkey’ is Carl Hiaasen at his best. The satire flows in every paragraph, the word choices (and especially the adjectives) convey Hiaasen’s justifiable contempt for a large swath of humanity. Like me, Hiaasen is a native Floridian and, also like me, he is appalled by what greed and empty-minded boosterism has done to the state. When Hiaasen sits down to write, you can be reasonably certain that there are crooked politicians and avaricious developers among the cast of characters. There is also frequently a hurricane. Readers of this book will not be disappointed on any of those counts.
That pool rack of humanity in ‘Bad Monkey’ includes an honest cop who was fired from the Miami PD for being honest, a Bahamian voodoo queen, a fugitive former school teacher from Kansas who is not quite firing on all cylinders, a coroner with a taste for sex in unusual places, a Bahamas man whose home has been sold out from underneath him, a widow who has to conjure up thoughts of her squashed turtle to generate tears for her recently deceased husband, and a capuchin monkey named Driggs who may or may not have had a cameo appearance in Pirates of the Caribbean.
The cue ball that Hiassen drives into this group is the discovery of a human arm, hauled in by a couple from Wisconsin honeymooning in the Florida Keys. Had the arm been landed in Miami, it would have been tossed in with the hundreds of other limbs that accumulate annually from drug deals gone bad or other illegal misadventures. And so as not to tarnish the Keys’ reputation as a wholesome family destination, Andrew Yancey of the Monroe County sheriff’s department (and late of the Miami PD) is tasked with foisting the arm on Miami’s law enforcement establishment.
Thus begins a wonderful tale of good intentions – and not-so-good ones – gone horribly awry. There are no saints in this story (Hiaasen has no use for them). Yancey has been busted from the Monroe County force for wielding a powerful hand vacuum as an extremely dangerous weapon. His punishment is to become a restaurant inspector, and Hiaasen’s description of what Yancey finds in the course of his new job may put readers off dining out for an extended period.
Part of the pleasure of reading Hiaasen is learning about things. ‘Bad Monkey’ provides a tutorial on Medicare fraud, ocean flycasting, the Dead Sailfish Scam, and the inner workings of the simian mind, among other tidbits of knowledge.
The fun is in watching these individual story threads develop and play themselves out. As a reader, you know they’re going to merge; you just don’t know how, when, or with what result.
--------
Neal Sanders is the author of six fun mysteries. You can read reviews of them here on Goodreads or Amazon.com, and read first chapters at www.TheHardingtonPress.com.
October 5, 2023
This isn't a bad story, it's just too goddamn long.
A tourist on a charter fishing boat catches a severed arm & ex-cop Yancy ends up with it in his freezer.
Sounds legit. <--for Florida
Hiaasen has carved a niche for himself as the Florida Man storyteller, and he's earned it. As someone who grew up in the Sunshine State and would willingly defend its honor to this day, I can say that he captures the colorful and often wacky inhabitants with loving perfection.
But Bad Monkey badly needed an editor who wasn't afraid to tell him to cut out a chunk of his looping nonsense at the end. Once you know what happened, you really only need to tie up loose ends. As an audiobook listener, I kept thinking it was wrapping up any minute now, only to discover that I had another few hours to go.
I could feel myself aging as this book went on and on and on...
The "bad monkey"? Eh. He was a gimmick. Some people are going to think it's hilarious that a scabby monkey throws poop and bites dicks - if the story hadn't been dragging ass, I think I might have giggled a bit more - but I just wanted Hiaasen to wrap it up already.
I did love Andrew Yancy, though. So this probably won't be the last of his books that I'll choke down.
A tourist on a charter fishing boat catches a severed arm & ex-cop Yancy ends up with it in his freezer.
Sounds legit. <--for Florida
Hiaasen has carved a niche for himself as the Florida Man storyteller, and he's earned it. As someone who grew up in the Sunshine State and would willingly defend its honor to this day, I can say that he captures the colorful and often wacky inhabitants with loving perfection.
But Bad Monkey badly needed an editor who wasn't afraid to tell him to cut out a chunk of his looping nonsense at the end. Once you know what happened, you really only need to tie up loose ends. As an audiobook listener, I kept thinking it was wrapping up any minute now, only to discover that I had another few hours to go.
I could feel myself aging as this book went on and on and on...
The "bad monkey"? Eh. He was a gimmick. Some people are going to think it's hilarious that a scabby monkey throws poop and bites dicks - if the story hadn't been dragging ass, I think I might have giggled a bit more - but I just wanted Hiaasen to wrap it up already.
I did love Andrew Yancy, though. So this probably won't be the last of his books that I'll choke down.
August 19, 2013
If I ever visit Key West, I’ll smuggle aboard enough food rations to last me twice as long as my planned stay, refrain from eating at any restaurant within a sixty-mile radius, catch my own fish from my hotel balcony, and cook them from my own grill on said balcony, setting off all smoke detectors in a three-room radius. To that end, I’ll probably increase my life expectancy by six years, and I won’t go to sleep with cockroach-filled nightmares.
If writing zany characters were an occupation unto itself, Carl Hiaasen would have fit the requirements long ago and placed himself firmly within its trenches. This go round we are treated to a hairless capuchin monkey that was fired from Pirates Of The Caribbean and who developed an unhealthy attachment to Johnny Depp, hurls his own feces, and is addicted to Dunhill tobacco. He also subsists on conch fritters and other fried foods, most of which have his cholesterol levels shooting through the roof and have aided in his current hairless ailment; a daughter who sees dollar signs and would sell her soul to the devil himself for a million dollars instead of grieving over her deceased pa; a child sex offender named Plover Chase who exchanged grades in AP English for bedroom antics of a more than questionable nature; a Dragon Queen who likes to fornicate on a Rollie scooter; an assistant medical examiner who likes to have sex on her operating table amid sixty or so stiffs and in the middle of a hurricane; one sodomized surgeon; and a restaurant inspector who counts cockroaches with a homemade roach-vacuuming concoction.
There’s enough satire and madness and mayhem to satisfy the attention span of a gnat with a Medicare scam large enough to interest the FBI, one spec house up in flames faster than a blowtorch applied to rice paper, questionable corpses, scorned ex-lovers, dubious alliances, and the ever lingering environmental issues found in many of his tales…You know, your typical Carl Hiaasen novel.
While I can only speculate on his writing methods, it wouldn’t surprise me to learn he sits at his desk chair in a straitjacket pecking at his keyboard with the tip of his nose or dictating his stories into a voice recorder to be later typed by his secretary. And he does it all with a large grin and swag smile, inching up the chaos with each turn of the page. Because that’s exactly what happens here.
While BAD MONKEY certainly held my attention and had more than its share of laugh out loud moments, I couldn’t help but compare this novel to his earlier work, and I felt like he came up a little short. But on the bright side, there’s more than enough fuckwads and shitweasels to occupy an entire wing at an insane asylum. And in the end, that was enough for me to like this tale.
Cross-posted at Robert's Reads
If writing zany characters were an occupation unto itself, Carl Hiaasen would have fit the requirements long ago and placed himself firmly within its trenches. This go round we are treated to a hairless capuchin monkey that was fired from Pirates Of The Caribbean and who developed an unhealthy attachment to Johnny Depp, hurls his own feces, and is addicted to Dunhill tobacco. He also subsists on conch fritters and other fried foods, most of which have his cholesterol levels shooting through the roof and have aided in his current hairless ailment; a daughter who sees dollar signs and would sell her soul to the devil himself for a million dollars instead of grieving over her deceased pa; a child sex offender named Plover Chase who exchanged grades in AP English for bedroom antics of a more than questionable nature; a Dragon Queen who likes to fornicate on a Rollie scooter; an assistant medical examiner who likes to have sex on her operating table amid sixty or so stiffs and in the middle of a hurricane; one sodomized surgeon; and a restaurant inspector who counts cockroaches with a homemade roach-vacuuming concoction.
There’s enough satire and madness and mayhem to satisfy the attention span of a gnat with a Medicare scam large enough to interest the FBI, one spec house up in flames faster than a blowtorch applied to rice paper, questionable corpses, scorned ex-lovers, dubious alliances, and the ever lingering environmental issues found in many of his tales…You know, your typical Carl Hiaasen novel.
While I can only speculate on his writing methods, it wouldn’t surprise me to learn he sits at his desk chair in a straitjacket pecking at his keyboard with the tip of his nose or dictating his stories into a voice recorder to be later typed by his secretary. And he does it all with a large grin and swag smile, inching up the chaos with each turn of the page. Because that’s exactly what happens here.
While BAD MONKEY certainly held my attention and had more than its share of laugh out loud moments, I couldn’t help but compare this novel to his earlier work, and I felt like he came up a little short. But on the bright side, there’s more than enough fuckwads and shitweasels to occupy an entire wing at an insane asylum. And in the end, that was enough for me to like this tale.
Cross-posted at Robert's Reads
March 25, 2020
There's a lot going on in this novel. Some funny, some tragic and some puzzling. As a fan of Carl Hiaasen, this is not one of his better works as he is unable to cleanly put this jumbled hodgepodge together in a rewarding way. 4 of 10 stars!
March 26, 2025
“There’s a karmic symmetry you’ve got to appreciate. Not quite Shakespearean, but close.”
It has been a while since I have read any Carl Hiaasen. A recent beach trip seemed like a nice time for a reunion. BAD MONKEY is a fine book to entertain, just don’t get caught up in some of the more ridiculous details. I didn’t, and I was happy with the experience.
BAD MONKEY has a clever premise, a smart aleck protagonist, and a fun build up and falling action. It is a little zany, and way too convenient in its conclusions, but for what it is, it is perfect fun.
An issue, there are one or two subplots that seem to have no real bearing or point in the larger story, and Hiaasen stretches to try to tie them in. They are not needed, and the book could easily have been 40 pages or so shorter.
Quotes:
* “That such a small, shabby crime could cause so much heartache was a revelation, and he thought of how often it happened every day.”
* “Sending her off to meet with a pair of murderers was one way to spice up a date weekend, but experimenting with variable-speed sex toys in a bounce house would have been safer.”
* “She’s got something way more lethal than a gun. You know what they say- p#$$* is undefeated. That’s from Merle Haggard himself.”
Hiaasen has written a second book featuring this novel’s protagonist (ex-cop, turned restaurant inspector Andrew Yancy) and at some point (probably on a vacation) I will be reading it.
It has been a while since I have read any Carl Hiaasen. A recent beach trip seemed like a nice time for a reunion. BAD MONKEY is a fine book to entertain, just don’t get caught up in some of the more ridiculous details. I didn’t, and I was happy with the experience.
BAD MONKEY has a clever premise, a smart aleck protagonist, and a fun build up and falling action. It is a little zany, and way too convenient in its conclusions, but for what it is, it is perfect fun.
An issue, there are one or two subplots that seem to have no real bearing or point in the larger story, and Hiaasen stretches to try to tie them in. They are not needed, and the book could easily have been 40 pages or so shorter.
Quotes:
* “That such a small, shabby crime could cause so much heartache was a revelation, and he thought of how often it happened every day.”
* “Sending her off to meet with a pair of murderers was one way to spice up a date weekend, but experimenting with variable-speed sex toys in a bounce house would have been safer.”
* “She’s got something way more lethal than a gun. You know what they say- p#$$* is undefeated. That’s from Merle Haggard himself.”
Hiaasen has written a second book featuring this novel’s protagonist (ex-cop, turned restaurant inspector Andrew Yancy) and at some point (probably on a vacation) I will be reading it.
January 1, 2018
Old reviews went missing. How does save not working? In late 2017, the read dates are missing as well so are all reading progress. Will have to guess dates for so many books.
This was my first Carl Hiaasen book. This is the book that got me into reading again. It is in my favorite shelf and I'm sad the review wasn't there when I looked.
This was my first Carl Hiaasen book. This is the book that got me into reading again. It is in my favorite shelf and I'm sad the review wasn't there when I looked.
June 28, 2013
When I was about thirteen, I picked LUCKY YOU off the library shelves. I liked the bright colors and kicky title, no other reason than that. I've been a fan of Carl Hiaasen ever since. I've even converted other fans, most notably my mother who wanted me to read my copy of BAD MONKEY faster so that she could read it.
BAD MONKEY takes Hiaasen slightly out of his wheelhouse without removing his most noticeable touches. It takes place in South Florida, of course, but also moves to the Bahamas for a memorable storm. None of his reoccurring characters make an appearance, but surely leading man Andrew Yancy will make another appearance. Due to an angry attack on his mistress's husband, he's been busted from policeman to restaurant inspector. He's becoming quite thin as a result. But he thinks an arm hooked by a tourist could be the case to get him back on the force.
The appeal of Hiaasen to me is how he mixes the perverse and the moral, the high brow and the low brow, and other opposites to such great effect. His protagonist have their flaws, but they're never anything on the villains. And those greedy, violent schemers always get what's coming to them in the craziest ways. The path to the comeuppance is labyrinthine, but easy to follow because the humor and subject matter lighten it up and keep the story moving. Hiaasen makes me think of a Chuck Palahniuk who is less in love with his shock value and ever so slightly more optimistic about the human condition.
Getting back to the characters, I wasn't all that interested in the eponymous monkey at first. His owner, I liked, but the monkey I wasn't so sure about. But Hiaasen eventually changed my mind and I loved him by the end. As for the women in the novel, I don't want to give too much away. However, I loved that one of them did something I didn't expect at all. It was a nice bit of redirection and sweet in a very illegal way.
If you're not already a Hiaasen fan, here's your chance to become one. This is his first adult novel since STAR ISLAND in 2010, which was fun but not his best. I think BAD MONKEY stands up with his best novels. I'm not saying it's as good as SKIN TIGHT, but I think I'd put it in the top five. So read what the cool kids will have on the beach this summer: BAD MONKEY.
BAD MONKEY takes Hiaasen slightly out of his wheelhouse without removing his most noticeable touches. It takes place in South Florida, of course, but also moves to the Bahamas for a memorable storm. None of his reoccurring characters make an appearance, but surely leading man Andrew Yancy will make another appearance. Due to an angry attack on his mistress's husband, he's been busted from policeman to restaurant inspector. He's becoming quite thin as a result. But he thinks an arm hooked by a tourist could be the case to get him back on the force.
The appeal of Hiaasen to me is how he mixes the perverse and the moral, the high brow and the low brow, and other opposites to such great effect. His protagonist have their flaws, but they're never anything on the villains. And those greedy, violent schemers always get what's coming to them in the craziest ways. The path to the comeuppance is labyrinthine, but easy to follow because the humor and subject matter lighten it up and keep the story moving. Hiaasen makes me think of a Chuck Palahniuk who is less in love with his shock value and ever so slightly more optimistic about the human condition.
Getting back to the characters, I wasn't all that interested in the eponymous monkey at first. His owner, I liked, but the monkey I wasn't so sure about. But Hiaasen eventually changed my mind and I loved him by the end. As for the women in the novel, I don't want to give too much away. However, I loved that one of them did something I didn't expect at all. It was a nice bit of redirection and sweet in a very illegal way.
If you're not already a Hiaasen fan, here's your chance to become one. This is his first adult novel since STAR ISLAND in 2010, which was fun but not his best. I think BAD MONKEY stands up with his best novels. I'm not saying it's as good as SKIN TIGHT, but I think I'd put it in the top five. So read what the cool kids will have on the beach this summer: BAD MONKEY.
June 12, 2017
Police procedural/crime, Floridian style.
Solid, fun read.
Solid, fun read.
August 6, 2014
This was actually my first foray into the works of
Carl Hiaasen
*gasp* – I know, it's hard to believe. I can't say I wasn't forewarned† that
Bad Monkey
might not make a great first impression for Carl (beloved by many whose opinions I hold in high regard). But, I've been known to disregard good advice before, so I forged onward.
"Have you ever been to Florida? It's a criminal population. It's America's Australia." - Jack Donaghy
This is just one of the many facts about life I learned from Jack Donaghy (30 Rock); and, seriously, in case you don't follow the exploits of the faux superhero, Florida Man *, it's kind of true. And, in many ways, this book is just one long series of Florida Man tropes, made extra special (for us literary folk) by their being located in Key West .
Our protagonist, Andrew Yancy , is a (former) cop, demoted to the position of food/health inspector, and trying to get back in good standing by hunting down the murderous source of an arm reeled in by tourists on a fishing charter. There are cheating wives (of the money grubbing type) on the lookout for new paramours and good plastic surgeons, sleazy real estate developers, voodoo queens, and, of course, the titular Bad Monkey, Driggs (who may or may not have played opposite Johnny Depp in "those pirate movies").
It was funny at times, but I just couldn't latch on to the characters for better or for worse. I'm not writing off Hiaasen (as mentioned, I was forewarned, and if GR did half stars I'd give it a 2.5 ), but it felt like a parody that was drawn out just a bit too long.
So, I guess I'll leave you with one parting 30 Rock jab (enter Jack, dialing the Everglade State's 9-1-1):
† Yes, I am aware that I have used a double negative- it was intentional, and I will sacrifice a lamb, or vegan shoes or whatever to the grammar gods as needed.
* His "adventures" consist entirely of the (sur)real headlines that come out of the Sunshine State (e.g. "Florida man arrested for throwing dog poop at pregnant girlfriend" [1]; "Florida man attempts to pay water bill with crack cocaine" [2]; "Florida man stabs brother after macaroni and cheese goes missing" [3])
"Have you ever been to Florida? It's a criminal population. It's America's Australia." - Jack Donaghy
This is just one of the many facts about life I learned from Jack Donaghy (30 Rock); and, seriously, in case you don't follow the exploits of the faux superhero, Florida Man *, it's kind of true. And, in many ways, this book is just one long series of Florida Man tropes, made extra special (for us literary folk) by their being located in Key West .
Our protagonist, Andrew Yancy , is a (former) cop, demoted to the position of food/health inspector, and trying to get back in good standing by hunting down the murderous source of an arm reeled in by tourists on a fishing charter. There are cheating wives (of the money grubbing type) on the lookout for new paramours and good plastic surgeons, sleazy real estate developers, voodoo queens, and, of course, the titular Bad Monkey, Driggs (who may or may not have played opposite Johnny Depp in "those pirate movies").
It was funny at times, but I just couldn't latch on to the characters for better or for worse. I'm not writing off Hiaasen (as mentioned, I was forewarned, and if GR did half stars I'd give it a 2.5 ), but it felt like a parody that was drawn out just a bit too long.
So, I guess I'll leave you with one parting 30 Rock jab (enter Jack, dialing the Everglade State's 9-1-1):
"Thank you for calling Florida's emergency services. If this is regarding an anaconda in a crawl space, press 1. If a sinkhole full of Indian bones has appeared in your living room, press 2. If you want to know why JAG wasn't on this week, press 3."______________________________________
† Yes, I am aware that I have used a double negative- it was intentional, and I will sacrifice a lamb, or vegan shoes or whatever to the grammar gods as needed.
* His "adventures" consist entirely of the (sur)real headlines that come out of the Sunshine State (e.g. "Florida man arrested for throwing dog poop at pregnant girlfriend" [1]; "Florida man attempts to pay water bill with crack cocaine" [2]; "Florida man stabs brother after macaroni and cheese goes missing" [3])
July 30, 2017
Andrew Yancey is a police detective for the Florida Keys police department. When he accidentally assaults the woman he like's husband with a vacuum cleaner hose, he loses his badge and has to become a restaurant inspector. He then finds out that someone accidentally reeled in a dead man's arm and that the police department he had worked at won't do anything about it. Can he solve the murder of the arm or is there some monkey business going on? Read on and find out for yourself.
This was a pretty good and funny little murder mystery thriller as well as my first ever read by Carl Hiaasen. Full of quirky characters, action, and more this book is perfect for fans of comedies and thrillers. Definitely look for this book at your local library and wherever books are sold.
This was a pretty good and funny little murder mystery thriller as well as my first ever read by Carl Hiaasen. Full of quirky characters, action, and more this book is perfect for fans of comedies and thrillers. Definitely look for this book at your local library and wherever books are sold.
April 6, 2017
A severed arm, a voodoo lady, and a detective on the roach patrol — and, oh yes, a very bad monkey
I miss Skink.
Skink, as you may be aware if you’re a Carl Hiaasen fan, is the deranged ex-Governor of Florida who now lives as a hermit in the Everglades and descends on environmental evil-doers of all stripes to wreak justice upon their bodies and souls alike, never to be forgotten. Skink is Justice personified. Yet there’s not a whiff of Skink — oh, yes, you can smell him from far away — in Hiaasen’s 17th novel for grown-ups, Bad Monkey.
Bad Monkey is a story of environmental crime in Florida only in passing. More properly, it’s a murder mystery and detective story. Hiaasen’s protagonist, Andrew Yancy, finds himself on the “roach patrol,” a restaurant health inspector, having been fired from the Miami PD (the result of reporting his sergeant for corruption) and then from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department (the result of an inspired but indecorous outburst of sadism effected upon his lover’s husband, unfortunately in public).
Here’s Hiaasen delicately referring to that incident: “Bonnie Witt, Yancy’s future former girlfriend, was prepared to testify that he’d assaulted her husband of fourteen years with a portable vacuum cleaner, specifically a tubular attachment designed for upholstery crevices. Clifford Witt had required some specialized medical care but he was more or less ambulatory within a week.”
Yancy, confined to the comforts of his lover and the bottle, suddenly finds himself the missing link of sorts to a gruesome incident at sea when the human arm in his freezer turns out not to be evidence of suicide but rather of . . . drum roll, please: murder.
Don’t ask how that arm got into Yancy’s freezer. You’ll have to read the book to find out. Suffice it to say that possession of the arm leads Yancy to make the acquaintance of a strikingly beautiful Cuban-American Miami coroner named Dr. Rosa Campesino, a more than worthy substitute for his now ex-lover, who turns out to be a fugitive from a felony count in Oklahoma. Yancy and Rosa team up to find the truth that lies behind the ghastly artifact, only to become involved in another murder. As the bodies pile up, the daring duo encounters the suspicious young widow of the armless deceased, his greedy estranged daughter, a Bahamian fisherman, a man-eating voodoo lady, and assorted no-goodniks and ne’er-do-wells throughout the Florida Keys and the Bahamas, plus one very bad monkey named Driggs. It’s all a spectacular clusterf***, and very funny. Structured as a murder mystery, it’s also full of suspense, brought on by a demonically clever plot.
Hiaasen’s view of officialdom in South Florida isn’t bright. “The new sheriff of Monroe County,” he writes, “was a local bubba named Sonny Summers who won office because he was the only candidate not in federal custody, the two front-runners having been locked up on unconnected racketeering charges eight days before the election.”
Truth be told, the author’s opinion of the assorted low-life to be found on the beaches of the keys isn’t much better. Writing about a beach bum who’d been bragging all over town about his $3,000 windfall (from committing a felony, of course), Hiaasen opines, in the voice of the now-deceased bum’s girlfriend, “‘Nobody said he was Alvin Einstein.’ Yancy thought it was fortunate that [the pair] hadn’t pooled their genes.”
Previously I’ve reviewed one of Carl Hiaasen’s adult novels, Star Island, and one of the four he has written for young adults, Chomp. However, I’m a Hiaasen fan from way back, having earlier read a number of his other books as well, and Bad Monkey will keep me coming back for more — even though Skink never showed his face in the book.
I miss Skink.
Skink, as you may be aware if you’re a Carl Hiaasen fan, is the deranged ex-Governor of Florida who now lives as a hermit in the Everglades and descends on environmental evil-doers of all stripes to wreak justice upon their bodies and souls alike, never to be forgotten. Skink is Justice personified. Yet there’s not a whiff of Skink — oh, yes, you can smell him from far away — in Hiaasen’s 17th novel for grown-ups, Bad Monkey.
Bad Monkey is a story of environmental crime in Florida only in passing. More properly, it’s a murder mystery and detective story. Hiaasen’s protagonist, Andrew Yancy, finds himself on the “roach patrol,” a restaurant health inspector, having been fired from the Miami PD (the result of reporting his sergeant for corruption) and then from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department (the result of an inspired but indecorous outburst of sadism effected upon his lover’s husband, unfortunately in public).
Here’s Hiaasen delicately referring to that incident: “Bonnie Witt, Yancy’s future former girlfriend, was prepared to testify that he’d assaulted her husband of fourteen years with a portable vacuum cleaner, specifically a tubular attachment designed for upholstery crevices. Clifford Witt had required some specialized medical care but he was more or less ambulatory within a week.”
Yancy, confined to the comforts of his lover and the bottle, suddenly finds himself the missing link of sorts to a gruesome incident at sea when the human arm in his freezer turns out not to be evidence of suicide but rather of . . . drum roll, please: murder.
Don’t ask how that arm got into Yancy’s freezer. You’ll have to read the book to find out. Suffice it to say that possession of the arm leads Yancy to make the acquaintance of a strikingly beautiful Cuban-American Miami coroner named Dr. Rosa Campesino, a more than worthy substitute for his now ex-lover, who turns out to be a fugitive from a felony count in Oklahoma. Yancy and Rosa team up to find the truth that lies behind the ghastly artifact, only to become involved in another murder. As the bodies pile up, the daring duo encounters the suspicious young widow of the armless deceased, his greedy estranged daughter, a Bahamian fisherman, a man-eating voodoo lady, and assorted no-goodniks and ne’er-do-wells throughout the Florida Keys and the Bahamas, plus one very bad monkey named Driggs. It’s all a spectacular clusterf***, and very funny. Structured as a murder mystery, it’s also full of suspense, brought on by a demonically clever plot.
Hiaasen’s view of officialdom in South Florida isn’t bright. “The new sheriff of Monroe County,” he writes, “was a local bubba named Sonny Summers who won office because he was the only candidate not in federal custody, the two front-runners having been locked up on unconnected racketeering charges eight days before the election.”
Truth be told, the author’s opinion of the assorted low-life to be found on the beaches of the keys isn’t much better. Writing about a beach bum who’d been bragging all over town about his $3,000 windfall (from committing a felony, of course), Hiaasen opines, in the voice of the now-deceased bum’s girlfriend, “‘Nobody said he was Alvin Einstein.’ Yancy thought it was fortunate that [the pair] hadn’t pooled their genes.”
Previously I’ve reviewed one of Carl Hiaasen’s adult novels, Star Island, and one of the four he has written for young adults, Chomp. However, I’m a Hiaasen fan from way back, having earlier read a number of his other books as well, and Bad Monkey will keep me coming back for more — even though Skink never showed his face in the book.
December 4, 2013
I don't think Hiaasen likes women very much. Let's recap our cast of lovely ladies in this novel, shall we?
The VooDoo Queen
She'll take cash but prefers sexual favors in lieu of big hoodoo, mon. Refusing her sexual advances will lead you to an early poison-riddled death and her stoned monkey throw poo at you while holding a crack pipe in his other hand.
Treacherous Gold Digging Wife
Her husband is missing and only an arm is found, but it's okay. She's got one heck of an insurance policy about to be paid out and a hatchet in the dishwasher.
Greedy Daughter
Easily persuaded to drop the case for some hard green, this recovering junkie is just fine with her father's murder as long as she is a beneficiary.
The Classroom Pedophile
Our main character's former mistress, married to a doctor who is preoccupied with the thrills of auto-erotic asphyixiation, is a fugitive on the run for seducing her former English lit student.
The Mortician
Our protagonist's main squeeze gets a thrill out of gurney-shaking sex in the frigid depths of the county morgue, right alongside the stiffs.
There wasn't one redeeming female but some of the men were just fine.
I'm sure this book is for some people, but it just wasn't for me. It was a painfully uncomfortable read for me.
The VooDoo Queen
She'll take cash but prefers sexual favors in lieu of big hoodoo, mon. Refusing her sexual advances will lead you to an early poison-riddled death and her stoned monkey throw poo at you while holding a crack pipe in his other hand.
Treacherous Gold Digging Wife
Her husband is missing and only an arm is found, but it's okay. She's got one heck of an insurance policy about to be paid out and a hatchet in the dishwasher.
Greedy Daughter
Easily persuaded to drop the case for some hard green, this recovering junkie is just fine with her father's murder as long as she is a beneficiary.
The Classroom Pedophile
Our main character's former mistress, married to a doctor who is preoccupied with the thrills of auto-erotic asphyixiation, is a fugitive on the run for seducing her former English lit student.
The Mortician
Our protagonist's main squeeze gets a thrill out of gurney-shaking sex in the frigid depths of the county morgue, right alongside the stiffs.
There wasn't one redeeming female but some of the men were just fine.
I'm sure this book is for some people, but it just wasn't for me. It was a painfully uncomfortable read for me.
April 7, 2025
Carl Hiaasen has been on my radar for years and I finally pulled the trigger on reading one of his adult crime fiction books and I’m glad I finally did and even more glad that I have so many more of his books to go.
This 2013 novel introduces us to his pseudo anti hero Andrew Yancy. Yancy was a Miami detective until he ran afoul of some rules and maybe some laws and there was an incident with a vacuum hose …
Anyway, our hero finds himself now employed as a food inspector, on roach patrol as his former colleagues describe his duties but he’s trying to solve a complicated case to gain favor with the powers that be so that he’ll get his badge back.
What makes this work is Hiaasen’s cool writing, his humorous style and for some outrageous story building. This gets weighed down some by too much going on but honestly, as chaotic as it became, I found all the backstories and sub-plots more endearing than tedious.
I love when a character steals scenes and Cody, the now 30 year old who had a relationship with his HS teacher has some of the best lines in the book.
And, there is a lot of sex going on and that was fun too.
Finally, I see that there is a series starring Vince Vaughan and though I will likely not watch it, I think his casting was probably spot on.
Lots of fun and I’ll be reading more from Hiaasen.
This 2013 novel introduces us to his pseudo anti hero Andrew Yancy. Yancy was a Miami detective until he ran afoul of some rules and maybe some laws and there was an incident with a vacuum hose …
Anyway, our hero finds himself now employed as a food inspector, on roach patrol as his former colleagues describe his duties but he’s trying to solve a complicated case to gain favor with the powers that be so that he’ll get his badge back.
What makes this work is Hiaasen’s cool writing, his humorous style and for some outrageous story building. This gets weighed down some by too much going on but honestly, as chaotic as it became, I found all the backstories and sub-plots more endearing than tedious.
I love when a character steals scenes and Cody, the now 30 year old who had a relationship with his HS teacher has some of the best lines in the book.
And, there is a lot of sex going on and that was fun too.
Finally, I see that there is a series starring Vince Vaughan and though I will likely not watch it, I think his casting was probably spot on.
Lots of fun and I’ll be reading more from Hiaasen.
January 20, 2022
4 Stars for Bad Monkey: Andrew Yancy, Book 1 (audiobook) by Carl Hiaasen read by Arte Johnson.
Another classic Hiaasen story. Lots of great characters getting themselves into crazy situations.
Another classic Hiaasen story. Lots of great characters getting themselves into crazy situations.
December 4, 2013
4.5 Stars
Searching for a book with a REAL cast of characters? Well, look no further friends ‘cause this one has them all – an ex-policeman turned roach-patrol food inspector, a beauty of a medical examiner, a timid sheriff, an evil stepmother, her new boyfriend and a greedy stepdaughter to complete the trio, a “Mary Kay Letourneau” and her (not-so) young boy-toy, a beekeeper, a voodoo priestess, unsavory restaurateurs, grave robbers, part of a dead body and, dare I omit, one bad monkey.
The story begins when a routine boating accident churns up nothing but the victim’s arm. Andrew Yancy – Key West Detective demoted to food inspector – is ordered by the local sheriff to babysit the arm in order to avoid unwanted publicity on the department. However, when Yancy starts sniffing around, he begins to believe this accidental death really stinks – and the smell only BEGINS with the shark bait he’s been hiding in his freezer.
Of all the books in all the gin joints in all the world that have become a series – PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASE let this be one. I haven’t had so much fun with a murder mystery in FOREVER. After reading all of the “hot” new psychological thrillers that have been inundating the bookshelves, “Bad Monkey” was a refreshing change of pace. So quick, so hilarious, so many characters! And I did it all from the comfort of my Hoveround Scooter ; )
July 6, 2017
Laughing too hard to make a review--just enjoy it-LOL !!
September 29, 2024
The “bad monkey” is a scabrous capuchin named Driggs, and he's here to throw a monkey wrench into a range of ill-conceived plans hatched by the colorful miscreants inhabiting this quasi-mystery. I call this a quasi-mystery because the real draw is Hiaasen's entertaining jaunt touching on corrupt officials, self-important but credulous tourists, sketchy real estate developers, and inventive scammers — all driven by unbridled greed. The most dangerous sharks are the ones residing on land! Welcome to Key West.
Hiaasen has created a vivid portrait of the area. The main character Andrew Yancy is an ex-officer of the Miami Police Department, and soon to be ex-officer of the Monroe County Sheriff's Department. Yancy has a strong self-righteous streak paired with impulse control issues. His boss, Sheriff Sonny Summers, dispatches him to the Miami-Dade medical examiner with a severed arm. His hope is to pass the arm off to their jurisdiction — the unfortunate floatsam of a boating accident that drifted downstream. Yancy points out with cool acumen: “Factor in the wind and currents, the odds of that arm floating from Miami all the way down here are pretty damn slim — unless it was paddling itself.” (p.9) The arm was the “catch of the day” of a tourist on a deep-sea fishing charter, became the centerpiece of the tourist's vacation log on facebook, traveled to Miami in Yancy's cooler alongside the popsicles and blue crabs, and waits for a claimant inside Yancy's home freezer. All of this transpires within the first few pages of the book.
Needless to say, the arm was not the remains of some boating mishap. Aberrant features arouse the curiosity of both Yancy and the attractive doctor in the M.E.'s office, Rosa Campesino. Most of the action, all of it outsized, alternates between Key West and Andros Island in the Bahamas.
This is the first book by Carl Hiaasen that I've read. I had heard of him from the NPR radio show, “Wait wait, Don't Tell Me.” Then, a couple of Goodreads readers mentioned him. I'm glad. This book was a welcome relief from the sombre books I have been reading recently.
NOTES:
Interview with Carl Hiaasen on :Fresh Air" podcast: https://www.npr.org/2024/09/20/120055...
Hiaasen has created a vivid portrait of the area. The main character Andrew Yancy is an ex-officer of the Miami Police Department, and soon to be ex-officer of the Monroe County Sheriff's Department. Yancy has a strong self-righteous streak paired with impulse control issues. His boss, Sheriff Sonny Summers, dispatches him to the Miami-Dade medical examiner with a severed arm. His hope is to pass the arm off to their jurisdiction — the unfortunate floatsam of a boating accident that drifted downstream. Yancy points out with cool acumen: “Factor in the wind and currents, the odds of that arm floating from Miami all the way down here are pretty damn slim — unless it was paddling itself.” (p.9) The arm was the “catch of the day” of a tourist on a deep-sea fishing charter, became the centerpiece of the tourist's vacation log on facebook, traveled to Miami in Yancy's cooler alongside the popsicles and blue crabs, and waits for a claimant inside Yancy's home freezer. All of this transpires within the first few pages of the book.
Needless to say, the arm was not the remains of some boating mishap. Aberrant features arouse the curiosity of both Yancy and the attractive doctor in the M.E.'s office, Rosa Campesino. Most of the action, all of it outsized, alternates between Key West and Andros Island in the Bahamas.
This is the first book by Carl Hiaasen that I've read. I had heard of him from the NPR radio show, “Wait wait, Don't Tell Me.” Then, a couple of Goodreads readers mentioned him. I'm glad. This book was a welcome relief from the sombre books I have been reading recently.
NOTES:
Interview with Carl Hiaasen on :Fresh Air" podcast: https://www.npr.org/2024/09/20/120055...
November 27, 2024
“These days every movie has a monkey,” she said. “Monkeys are the bomb.”
Apple TV subscribes to the theory this year 2024, with a new streaming series based on the riotous Hiaasen original story. I saw the movie before reading the book, and my experience was strongly influenced by the actors and the script changes the writers have gone for. I liked the series a little bit better as a result, but the whole shebang would not be so good if it wasn’t for the quality entertainment and the less strict adherence to political correctness in the novel.
This is not my first Carl Hiaasen adventure, so I knew what to expect from my visit to Florida.
Pro-tip : please avoid Stoney Crab Palace if you plan to eat out in the Florida Keys. Listen to Andrew Yancy, suspended local cop, demoted down to roach patrol, AKA health inspector of local eateries.
These days he was imagining crawlers everywhere, a dispiriting occupational hazard.
In an attempt to ingratiate himself with his former boss, Yancy agrees to move a severed human arm that was just fished out of the Gulf Stream out of the Keys jurisdiction and into Miami.
Did you know? : Florida is the world’s capital in loose body parts found in dumpsters, land-fills or the ocean.
The following investigation is too tangled and screwy for any decent, non X-rated synopsis. Andrew Yancy has a bit of an anger management problem and a bit of girlfriend-related trouble. In fact, he was suspended from the force for assaulting the husband of his current lover with a vacuum cleaner extension, and not for pushing his cart into the sea, as in the TV version. The funniest and longest running joke in the book is the inventive and cruel way Yancy sabotages the monstrous villa raised near his property by a predatory land developer.
Taking the severed arm to the morgue in Dade County introduces us to the lovely and delightfully kinky doctor Rosa Campesino [ “It’s like screwing Shrek!” ], who will eventually compensate our free lance investigator for his professional and sentimental entanglements.
Because Andrew Yancy refuses to throw away the incriminating severed arm, hiding it in his own fridge until somebody actually shows up to claim it: the bereaved widow Eve Stripling, who returns from a Paris vacation to find her husband and his boat lost at sea. The arm is all that is left to identify the missing, presumed dead Nicholas Stripling.
Eventually, the investigation will move to Andros island in the Bahamas, where another predatory land developer has just evicted a local fisherman named Neville from his beach-front shack in order to build a luxury new tourist resort.
Neville is the owner of Driggs, a white-faced capuchin that is reputed to have once partnered Johnny Depp in one of his Pirate movies. Driggs is mangy and has a worse temper than Andrew Yancy. He is also addicted to tobacco, alcohol and shit flinging at passers-by. Somehow Driggs will become the missing link between the lost arm and the lost at sea husband when Andrew and Neville finally meet on Andros
Both were beset by greedy intruders destroying something rare, something that couldn’t be replaced.
This environmental and social engagement is probably my favorite part of any given Hiaasen yarn. His satire is never gratuitous or cheap. Medicare fraud, mismanagement of land, systemic corruption and the threat of extinction for native fauna, like the Keys deer, are always a major concern for the author, whose sharp arrows always hit home.
Andrew Yancy is a good addition to the author’s list of eco-warriors led by the infamous Skink. It’s good to know he will appear in further novels, in or out of the Keys police department.
Meanwhile, let’s not disparage the tireless civil servants who keep our public dining establishments free from vermin.
Apple TV subscribes to the theory this year 2024, with a new streaming series based on the riotous Hiaasen original story. I saw the movie before reading the book, and my experience was strongly influenced by the actors and the script changes the writers have gone for. I liked the series a little bit better as a result, but the whole shebang would not be so good if it wasn’t for the quality entertainment and the less strict adherence to political correctness in the novel.
This is not my first Carl Hiaasen adventure, so I knew what to expect from my visit to Florida.
Pro-tip : please avoid Stoney Crab Palace if you plan to eat out in the Florida Keys. Listen to Andrew Yancy, suspended local cop, demoted down to roach patrol, AKA health inspector of local eateries.
These days he was imagining crawlers everywhere, a dispiriting occupational hazard.
In an attempt to ingratiate himself with his former boss, Yancy agrees to move a severed human arm that was just fished out of the Gulf Stream out of the Keys jurisdiction and into Miami.
Did you know? : Florida is the world’s capital in loose body parts found in dumpsters, land-fills or the ocean.
The following investigation is too tangled and screwy for any decent, non X-rated synopsis. Andrew Yancy has a bit of an anger management problem and a bit of girlfriend-related trouble. In fact, he was suspended from the force for assaulting the husband of his current lover with a vacuum cleaner extension, and not for pushing his cart into the sea, as in the TV version. The funniest and longest running joke in the book is the inventive and cruel way Yancy sabotages the monstrous villa raised near his property by a predatory land developer.
Taking the severed arm to the morgue in Dade County introduces us to the lovely and delightfully kinky doctor Rosa Campesino [ “It’s like screwing Shrek!” ], who will eventually compensate our free lance investigator for his professional and sentimental entanglements.
Because Andrew Yancy refuses to throw away the incriminating severed arm, hiding it in his own fridge until somebody actually shows up to claim it: the bereaved widow Eve Stripling, who returns from a Paris vacation to find her husband and his boat lost at sea. The arm is all that is left to identify the missing, presumed dead Nicholas Stripling.
Eventually, the investigation will move to Andros island in the Bahamas, where another predatory land developer has just evicted a local fisherman named Neville from his beach-front shack in order to build a luxury new tourist resort.
Neville is the owner of Driggs, a white-faced capuchin that is reputed to have once partnered Johnny Depp in one of his Pirate movies. Driggs is mangy and has a worse temper than Andrew Yancy. He is also addicted to tobacco, alcohol and shit flinging at passers-by. Somehow Driggs will become the missing link between the lost arm and the lost at sea husband when Andrew and Neville finally meet on Andros
Both were beset by greedy intruders destroying something rare, something that couldn’t be replaced.
This environmental and social engagement is probably my favorite part of any given Hiaasen yarn. His satire is never gratuitous or cheap. Medicare fraud, mismanagement of land, systemic corruption and the threat of extinction for native fauna, like the Keys deer, are always a major concern for the author, whose sharp arrows always hit home.
Andrew Yancy is a good addition to the author’s list of eco-warriors led by the infamous Skink. It’s good to know he will appear in further novels, in or out of the Keys police department.
Meanwhile, let’s not disparage the tireless civil servants who keep our public dining establishments free from vermin.
Read
October 7, 20163 stars
Well, heck. Dunno who or what to blame for my somewhat tepid reaction to Bad Monkey:
Blame Mother Nature's awful timing? (It's hard to laugh at pithy "Hurricane sex is the best!" comments or find humor in wussily-named Hurricane Françoise being a bit player in Hiaasen's comedic stylings when you're--still at this very moment--wondering if the real-life Hurricane Matthew (whose death toll is already in the multiple hundreds) is going to pull a Hurricane Sandy and destroy the Eastern US seaboard).
Blame the scabrous, bediapered, meerschaum-puffing, weenie-chomping, almost-movie-star titular evil capuchin? (No, Driggs the monkey is the best thing going for this Bahamian/Floridian yuck-fest, plus bonus: Driggs's CV as stand-in for Depp/Barbossa's monkey Jack in Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean films provides Hiaasen another opportunity to rip on "Mousewitz"--aka Disney--a topic always dependable for Hiaasenian laffs).
Blame the "new guy", former Miami PD detective and former Monroe County (Key West) investigator-turned restaurant "roach patroller" Andrew Yancy? (Yeah, getting a little closer to the root of my ho-hum 3-star rating: For Carl Hiaasen, it's all about sticking to his formula: Damaged-goods cops investigating wacky Florida criminals. Andrew Yancy = Mick Stranahan = fill-in-the-blank-Hiaasen-protag. Hiaasen shines when he tweaks his formula; when he clings to the tried-and-true, it just provides a trite and stale reading experience for the fans of his oeuvre.)
----------------
So, yeah, Yancy (soon to lose his second detective job in a row thanks to anger management issues; totally incongruous behavior for a pothead, but whatever) tries to inveigle his way off his restaurant inspector job and back onto the Key West Sheriff's Department when he hears of a tourist on a day-fishing excursion boat reeling in a severed arm. Yancy (when not railing against his neighbor's unscrupulous efforts to build a 7500 square-foot spec McMansion next door to his home in the Keys...a subject I swear it seems Hiaasen has inserted in nearly every one of his novels) tries to curry favor with the Sheriff by solving the severed arm case on his own. Bizarre boating accident? Or homicide? His off-the-books investigations lead him 200 miles off the coast(s) of the Keys to the Bahamas. where hijinks (involving shady land development dealings, voodoo mamas, a hurricane and a really nasty monkey) ensue.
Good enough, I suppose, but each time I read one of these cookie-cutter paint-by-numbers Hiaasen novels I want to abandon ship and pick up a Tim Dorsey novel instead. (though he, too, in satirizing the wacky Florida-crime scene, has gotten formulaic and predictable).
Enough silliness for now: gotta make sure Hurricane Matthew isn't laying waste to my friends along the Atlantic.
Well, heck. Dunno who or what to blame for my somewhat tepid reaction to Bad Monkey:
Blame Mother Nature's awful timing? (It's hard to laugh at pithy "Hurricane sex is the best!" comments or find humor in wussily-named Hurricane Françoise being a bit player in Hiaasen's comedic stylings when you're--still at this very moment--wondering if the real-life Hurricane Matthew (whose death toll is already in the multiple hundreds) is going to pull a Hurricane Sandy and destroy the Eastern US seaboard).
Blame the scabrous, bediapered, meerschaum-puffing, weenie-chomping, almost-movie-star titular evil capuchin? (No, Driggs the monkey is the best thing going for this Bahamian/Floridian yuck-fest, plus bonus: Driggs's CV as stand-in for Depp/Barbossa's monkey Jack in Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean films provides Hiaasen another opportunity to rip on "Mousewitz"--aka Disney--a topic always dependable for Hiaasenian laffs).
Blame the "new guy", former Miami PD detective and former Monroe County (Key West) investigator-turned restaurant "roach patroller" Andrew Yancy? (Yeah, getting a little closer to the root of my ho-hum 3-star rating: For Carl Hiaasen, it's all about sticking to his formula: Damaged-goods cops investigating wacky Florida criminals. Andrew Yancy = Mick Stranahan = fill-in-the-blank-Hiaasen-protag. Hiaasen shines when he tweaks his formula; when he clings to the tried-and-true, it just provides a trite and stale reading experience for the fans of his oeuvre.)
----------------
So, yeah, Yancy (soon to lose his second detective job in a row thanks to anger management issues; totally incongruous behavior for a pothead, but whatever) tries to inveigle his way off his restaurant inspector job and back onto the Key West Sheriff's Department when he hears of a tourist on a day-fishing excursion boat reeling in a severed arm. Yancy (when not railing against his neighbor's unscrupulous efforts to build a 7500 square-foot spec McMansion next door to his home in the Keys...a subject I swear it seems Hiaasen has inserted in nearly every one of his novels) tries to curry favor with the Sheriff by solving the severed arm case on his own. Bizarre boating accident? Or homicide? His off-the-books investigations lead him 200 miles off the coast(s) of the Keys to the Bahamas. where hijinks (involving shady land development dealings, voodoo mamas, a hurricane and a really nasty monkey) ensue.
Good enough, I suppose, but each time I read one of these cookie-cutter paint-by-numbers Hiaasen novels I want to abandon ship and pick up a Tim Dorsey novel instead. (though he, too, in satirizing the wacky Florida-crime scene, has gotten formulaic and predictable).
Enough silliness for now: gotta make sure Hurricane Matthew isn't laying waste to my friends along the Atlantic.
September 9, 2013
First and foremost -- do not read this book if you have any intention to eat in a public dining establishment within 3 weeks of opening the book. Just -- don't.
But that's not why I disliked the book. The plot was paper-thin, and telegraphed from a mile away. The characters' motivations made no sense (maybe my understanding of law enforcement is faulty, but it seems unlikely that multiple police forces would be actively uninterested in pursuing evidence of a murder and would try to avoid such evidence because the investigation would constitute "work"). The main character is unlikeable. I read this because Amazon.com suggested it for people who liked "Gone,Girl." Um, no.
The writing in Bad Monkey is good, and my problem with the book simply that I appreciate a different style and taste of book, not with the wordsmithing quality (the 2 stars are for the writing itself). I just don't go for farcical police investigations involving penis-biting monkeys, medical examiners who want to have sex in the morgue, detectives who think it's ok to shove a vacuum cleaner up their romantic rival's anus and turn it on, and detailed descriptions of horrific roach, weevil, and other infestations in restaurant kitchens. If you do, maybe this is the book for you.
But that's not why I disliked the book. The plot was paper-thin, and telegraphed from a mile away. The characters' motivations made no sense (maybe my understanding of law enforcement is faulty, but it seems unlikely that multiple police forces would be actively uninterested in pursuing evidence of a murder and would try to avoid such evidence because the investigation would constitute "work"). The main character is unlikeable. I read this because Amazon.com suggested it for people who liked "Gone,Girl." Um, no.
The writing in Bad Monkey is good, and my problem with the book simply that I appreciate a different style and taste of book, not with the wordsmithing quality (the 2 stars are for the writing itself). I just don't go for farcical police investigations involving penis-biting monkeys, medical examiners who want to have sex in the morgue, detectives who think it's ok to shove a vacuum cleaner up their romantic rival's anus and turn it on, and detailed descriptions of horrific roach, weevil, and other infestations in restaurant kitchens. If you do, maybe this is the book for you.
July 27, 2013
I have heard really good things about Hiassen, and wanted to like this book. I am hoping that this was just a swing and a miss for him. This was a suspense mystery that was severely lacking in suspense and mystery. It is as if he opened the book of tired clichés and started with page one. On the second page of the book we learn that the protagonist, Andrew Yancy is a detective that is currently on suspension. Haven't heard that one before. He has a problem with authority. Shocking. And (gasp) he likes seducing married women and (no way!)he's a heavy drinker and smokes weed. And the only reason he gets involved in the murder mystery is to get his badge back. There are many more clichés I would like to share, but I will avoid plot spoilers here. Every plot twist was telegraphed, and the plot tired quickly. Not sure I will venture to read Hiassen again.
Read
July 30, 2013I have an embarrassing admission…
I’ve never read anything by Carl Hiaasen before. I’ve never read Hoot or Skinny Dip or Native Tongue. And I honestly didn’t know what I was getting myself into when I picked up his newest novel, Bad Monkey. With reviewers calling the novel a “misadventure” and described Hiaasen as a “premier humorist”, my expectations were high. I was not disappointed.
Bad Monkey introduces Andrew Yancy, a former Miami Police detective and soon to be former Monroe County sheriff’s officer, who now spends his days counting the cockroaches in local restaurants as a restaurant inspector. Wanting to leave behind his “roach patrol” duties, Yancy believes he may have found his way back onto the force when a tourist fisherman pulls in a human arm and the scandal adverse county sheriff declares the arm’s loss an accident. Yancy believes that there is more going on than meets the eye, so he begins his own investigation.
There is a lot going on in this book, but it never feels weighted down or overly ambitious. The stories weave together in a way that feels natural, and Yancy is perfectly imperfect in the way of all the best anti-heroes. Employing a dark sense of humor, Bad Monkey is moralistic without ever coming off as preachy and weird without forgetting reality. Revenge fantasy at it’s best, Bad Monkey, is a seriously fun read. I feel kind of lucky that I have such a backlog of Hiaasen books to read until his next book is released.
I’ve never read anything by Carl Hiaasen before. I’ve never read Hoot or Skinny Dip or Native Tongue. And I honestly didn’t know what I was getting myself into when I picked up his newest novel, Bad Monkey. With reviewers calling the novel a “misadventure” and described Hiaasen as a “premier humorist”, my expectations were high. I was not disappointed.
Bad Monkey introduces Andrew Yancy, a former Miami Police detective and soon to be former Monroe County sheriff’s officer, who now spends his days counting the cockroaches in local restaurants as a restaurant inspector. Wanting to leave behind his “roach patrol” duties, Yancy believes he may have found his way back onto the force when a tourist fisherman pulls in a human arm and the scandal adverse county sheriff declares the arm’s loss an accident. Yancy believes that there is more going on than meets the eye, so he begins his own investigation.
There is a lot going on in this book, but it never feels weighted down or overly ambitious. The stories weave together in a way that feels natural, and Yancy is perfectly imperfect in the way of all the best anti-heroes. Employing a dark sense of humor, Bad Monkey is moralistic without ever coming off as preachy and weird without forgetting reality. Revenge fantasy at it’s best, Bad Monkey, is a seriously fun read. I feel kind of lucky that I have such a backlog of Hiaasen books to read until his next book is released.
December 23, 2013
Satire is funny and entertaining. This book is not.
I've read and enjoyed Carl Hiassen before. I knew coming into it it would take place in Florida, have a pro-environmental theme, and have lots of quirky characters. I don't know if I felt like this book tried too hard or if it didn't try at all. Quirky mostly works when it isn't the norm, but with this book everyone was a bit too colorful. The book ended up being a cast of characters that weren't interesting and I didn't find myself caring about what happened with any of them.
The writing felt erratic and the author didn't really bring together any scenes or imagery. It read like some poorly designed Mad Lib that failed to be funny. There were points of the book that were so obvious in their effort to disgust or offend that it was reminiscent of a comic on stage bombing badly with the audience. If I didn't know that this book was already a best seller and did well for the author, I'd almost feel bad for him. Had it not been for being a book club selection I would have put this down weeks ago.
If you want some satire, Vonnegut or Christopher Moore (or even earlier Hiassen) would be better options.
I've read and enjoyed Carl Hiassen before. I knew coming into it it would take place in Florida, have a pro-environmental theme, and have lots of quirky characters. I don't know if I felt like this book tried too hard or if it didn't try at all. Quirky mostly works when it isn't the norm, but with this book everyone was a bit too colorful. The book ended up being a cast of characters that weren't interesting and I didn't find myself caring about what happened with any of them.
The writing felt erratic and the author didn't really bring together any scenes or imagery. It read like some poorly designed Mad Lib that failed to be funny. There were points of the book that were so obvious in their effort to disgust or offend that it was reminiscent of a comic on stage bombing badly with the audience. If I didn't know that this book was already a best seller and did well for the author, I'd almost feel bad for him. Had it not been for being a book club selection I would have put this down weeks ago.
If you want some satire, Vonnegut or Christopher Moore (or even earlier Hiassen) would be better options.
July 15, 2015
I've never really bought into the idea of a "summer read," but this makes the perfect one. Fast-paced detective story combined with snarky, sarcastic comedy kept my mind engaged without making me think too hard. Atmospheric, a little kinky and darkly funny, it's as if Dennis Lehane and Christopher Moore got together and this is the book that resulted.
Glad my book club chose it.
Glad my book club chose it.
May 11, 2013
Carl Hiaasen has been writing the same book for twenty years, and I can't get enough. Bad Monkey denotes a return to form. He's written some YA novels and a book on golfing, but this is what he does best.
Here once again is a hero with a strong sense of righteousness that is evinced in unpredictable not always savory ways, unredeemable villains who are despoiling whatever our hero holds dear, and a supporting cast of rascals and gorgeous women. Several years ago, I heard Hiassen explain that the villainous actions described in his book were for the most part the product of his access to Miami police and newspaper files, that he didn't have to look further than his native state for inspiration, that he couldn't possibly make up their nefarious deeds. So I had to ask, just how do you come up with the way your bad guys meet their ends? Always hilarious. Usually with an ironic twist of poetic justice, and he replied that that was the hard part. And he always manages. Welcome back.
Here once again is a hero with a strong sense of righteousness that is evinced in unpredictable not always savory ways, unredeemable villains who are despoiling whatever our hero holds dear, and a supporting cast of rascals and gorgeous women. Several years ago, I heard Hiassen explain that the villainous actions described in his book were for the most part the product of his access to Miami police and newspaper files, that he didn't have to look further than his native state for inspiration, that he couldn't possibly make up their nefarious deeds. So I had to ask, just how do you come up with the way your bad guys meet their ends? Always hilarious. Usually with an ironic twist of poetic justice, and he replied that that was the hard part. And he always manages. Welcome back.
December 9, 2025
This novel answers the question "what if that Florida man meme had a plot?" Or better yet, what if all those Florida man headlines were part of an overarching plot that tells a zany, trippy, but still coherent story?
Written by a Florida man himself--excuse me, let me start over. Written by a man from Florida, not a Florida man, because the distinction here is important. By all accounts, Carl Hiaasen has not made the news as another Florida man. Yet? There still time, yeah? Because no one is immune in Florida. Must be something in the water.
Anyhow. This was a fun read and not what I expected from this author. Some years ago, I tried to give one of his more politically leaning satires a go. It didn't go and I had to quit early; the timing wasn't right and I was too close, chronologically speaking, to the scandal(s) in question to enjoy the satire or the author's spin on it. This time, though, the mood was right and the book choice was right. I will definitely read more by Hiaasen, but maybe not right away.
No offense to anyone from Florida, but this is what your state looks like from the outside looking in.
The north woods, WI
Written by a Florida man himself--excuse me, let me start over. Written by a man from Florida, not a Florida man, because the distinction here is important. By all accounts, Carl Hiaasen has not made the news as another Florida man. Yet? There still time, yeah? Because no one is immune in Florida. Must be something in the water.
Anyhow. This was a fun read and not what I expected from this author. Some years ago, I tried to give one of his more politically leaning satires a go. It didn't go and I had to quit early; the timing wasn't right and I was too close, chronologically speaking, to the scandal(s) in question to enjoy the satire or the author's spin on it. This time, though, the mood was right and the book choice was right. I will definitely read more by Hiaasen, but maybe not right away.
No offense to anyone from Florida, but this is what your state looks like from the outside looking in.
The north woods, WI
March 13, 2019
The link below to another and better reviewer on Goodreads says everything there is to say about this light humorous summer beach read. The novel follows the usual bunch of police ne'er-do-wells and criminal screw-ups, who are Hiaasen's normal focus, that appear to be unbelievable to most normal middle-class readers. For those of us somewhat familiar with these types of real-life knuckleheads we know they are absolutely true to life, if funnier. Sensitive and Romance readers will find it offensive, as it has lots of (non-graphic) unmarried sex, violence, murders, bodies and body parts, and a very disgusting bald monkey.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
If you are a Carl Hiaasen fan, this is as comfy and familiar as your broken-in slippers and a cup of hot chocolate before bed. If this is the first you've ever heard of him, I suggest reading the earlier books rather than this one because they possess a touch more energy and ferocious humor and satire than this one.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
If you are a Carl Hiaasen fan, this is as comfy and familiar as your broken-in slippers and a cup of hot chocolate before bed. If this is the first you've ever heard of him, I suggest reading the earlier books rather than this one because they possess a touch more energy and ferocious humor and satire than this one.
May 26, 2013
If I lived in Florida, I'd try and draft Carl Hiaasen to run for Congress so he can represent the Florida he loves so dearly, and continue his quixotic quest to call attention to the Medicare fraudsters, environmental abusers, real estate developing swindlers and other denizens who prey on his state. The hearings won't be as much fun as his books, but they would be a damned site more entertaining than they are now...This latest book is tons of whacked out fun - I can't believe it's been so long since I savored one of Hiaasen's books - it won't be such a long hiatus til the next one! I was thrilled to get this book from Amazon Vine; I had forgotten how wicked yet brilliant the action, humor and dialogue were in his mystery/humor/farces? I'm not exactly sure what category he fits in, but who cares? I love his dialogue, I love that his lead characters are very real, average joes, not supermen, and I love that his bad guys are truly diabolical human beings yet get their fair share of very funny lines so while you can enjoy their "stage time", when the end comes and cosmic justice is meted out, you can savor it without regret, no matter how gruesome a form it takes...
I really enjoyed this story of down-and-out suspended cop Andrew Yancy trying desperately to get his badge back. A Key West tourist snags a human arm while fishing and Yancy ends up with the job of taking it to to the Miami coroner - Yancy's boss has political aspirations and floating body parts lead to too many questions and scare away the tourists. Miami won't take it so Yancy stores it in his freezer and starts investigating what he suspects is a murder - he hopes to get his job back, but stumbles, in true Hiaasen style, into massive Medicare fraud, tourist hustles, and a voodoo witch.
Yancy is also trying to derail the plans of a developer destroying the sunset views next door with an obscene, 7000-square-foot behemoth of a spec house. No spoilers, but as another review pointed out here there is a lot going on, and most of it sounds insane if you don't read it for yourself - so crack open a cold one and savor this hilarious beach read this summer!
I really enjoyed this story of down-and-out suspended cop Andrew Yancy trying desperately to get his badge back. A Key West tourist snags a human arm while fishing and Yancy ends up with the job of taking it to to the Miami coroner - Yancy's boss has political aspirations and floating body parts lead to too many questions and scare away the tourists. Miami won't take it so Yancy stores it in his freezer and starts investigating what he suspects is a murder - he hopes to get his job back, but stumbles, in true Hiaasen style, into massive Medicare fraud, tourist hustles, and a voodoo witch.
Yancy is also trying to derail the plans of a developer destroying the sunset views next door with an obscene, 7000-square-foot behemoth of a spec house. No spoilers, but as another review pointed out here there is a lot going on, and most of it sounds insane if you don't read it for yourself - so crack open a cold one and savor this hilarious beach read this summer!
December 15, 2013
I think I have just tired of his shtick. Compared to his most recent books, this one is better, but given that Star Island was atrocious, it wasn't a high bar. This one does have a decent story, good locales, and more interesting and believable side characters.
It would have been fine if Hiaasen wasn't determined to hit you over the head with the "everything has to be absurd" routine. Why can't the hero just have sucker punched his girlfriend's husband? Why do we have to be reminded every 40 pages that instead he sodomized him - without any rationale - with a dust buster? Who does that? No one. So don't make it a recurring theme. Also, not every tourist or non-native Floridian has to be a sunburned half wit. I get that that's Hiaasen's thing, but his stories would be so much better if he employed even a small measure of subtlety instead of cramming as much silliness as he can into each episode. Needless to say, maybe the first 3 or 4 times you read Hiaasen it all comes across as hilariously different, but by the 10th time? meh.
It would have been fine if Hiaasen wasn't determined to hit you over the head with the "everything has to be absurd" routine. Why can't the hero just have sucker punched his girlfriend's husband? Why do we have to be reminded every 40 pages that instead he sodomized him - without any rationale - with a dust buster? Who does that? No one. So don't make it a recurring theme. Also, not every tourist or non-native Floridian has to be a sunburned half wit. I get that that's Hiaasen's thing, but his stories would be so much better if he employed even a small measure of subtlety instead of cramming as much silliness as he can into each episode. Needless to say, maybe the first 3 or 4 times you read Hiaasen it all comes across as hilariously different, but by the 10th time? meh.
June 24, 2013
Classic zany writing by Carl Hiaasen. Andrew Yancy is demoted from being a detective in the Florida Keys to a food inspector for publicly sodomizing his girlfriend's husband with a vacuum cleaner. When asked to dispose of an arm to avoid scaring tourists, Yancy decides to solve the murder, hoping to get back to policing people, rather than restaurants. Yancy hooks up with a sex-crazed Miami coroner to find out what happened to the rest of the body of the arm he found. I thought the Bahamas plotline was awfully goofy, with a voodoo woman and the "bad monkey," but lots of laughs along the way as always. Fun, fun, fun.
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