Photo by Quinn Hiaasen Carl Hiaasen was born and raised in Florida, where he still lives with his family. A graduate of the University of Florida, at age 23 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. Since 1985 Hiaasen has been writing a regular column, which at one time or another has pissed off just about everybody in South Florida, including his own bosses. Today his column appears on most Sundays in The Herald’s opinion-and-editorial section, and may be viewed online.
Hiaasen began writing novels in early 1980s with his good friend and fellow journalist, William D. Together they wrote three mystery thrillers – Powder Burn, Trap Line and Death in China – which borrowed heavily from their reporting experiences. Tourist Season, published in 1986, was Hiaasen’s first solo novel. GQ magazine called it “one of the 10 best destination reads of all time,” though it failed to frighten a single tourist away from Florida. His next effort, Double Whammy, was the first (and possibly only) novel ever written about sex, murder and corruption on the professional bass-fishing tour.
Since then, Hiaasen has published Skin Tight, Native Tongue and nine national bestsellers – Strip Tease, Stormy Weather, Lucky You, Sick Puppy, Basket Case, Skinny Dip, Nature Girl, Star Island and Bad Monkey. All the novels are set in Florida, for obvious reasons. Hiaasen is also the author of several popular novels for young readers: Hoot, which won a Newbery Honor, Flush, Scat and, most recently, Skink – No Surrender, which introduces one of the wildest characters in his adult books to a teen audience.
The film version of Hoot came out in 2006. It was directed by Wil Shriner, and produced by Jimmy Buffett and Frank Marshall. Buffett plays a teacher in the movie, while the author himself makes a forgettable cameo. Hiaasen has also written two nonfiction books. The first, Team Rodent, is a wry but unsparing rant against the Disney empire and its grip on American culture. In 2008 came The Downhill Lie, which chronicles Hiaasen’s ill-advised return to the sport of golf after a “much-needed” 32-year hiatus. Together, his books have been published in 34 languages, which is 33 more than he can read or write.
The London Observer has called him “America’s finest satirical novelist,” while Janet Maslin of the New York Times has compared him to Preston Sturges, Woody Allen and S.J. Carl's new full-tilt, razor-sharp, unstoppably hilarious and entertaining novel, is now available in paperback.
When Lane Coolman's car is bashed from behind on the road to the Florida Keys, what appears to be an ordinary accident is anything but. Behind the wheel of the other car is Merry Mansfield-the eponymous Razor Girl – and the crash scam is only the beginning of events that spiral crazily out of control while unleashing some of the wildest characters Hiaasen has ever set loose on the page.
Now available in paperback:, Carl's first book for teens, spent five weeks on the New York Times Best Sellers List. It was recently selected for the 2015 edition of, by the Bank Street College Center for Children’s Literature. Nine weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List.
Now available as a trade paperback. With, Carl Hiaasen is back doing what he does best: spinning a wickedly funny, fiercely pointed tale in which the greedy, the corrupt, and the degraders of pristine land get their comeuppance.
Game Show With Double Whammy Carlson
, Carl’s new collection of newspaper columns, opened at #15 on the It’s available in trade paperback, audio and e-book. Read Carl's long-lost, formerly unpublished short story – available for the first time ever at and. Banned in Texas Carl's novel is now forbidden in Texas prisons.
The Whammy Show
Read details in Carl’s reaction: “I’m flattered.” opened at number 2 on the, and scored excellent reviews in and on. Carl discusses humor as a tool to fight injustice on For the latest news about Carl, sign up for Knopf Doubleday's in Studio 360's show about Disney Theme Parks.
In Florida Trend. (1 MB PDF download).
On NPR’s Here & Now. Read them here, free: of. Check out Random House's. Read Carl's in the Miami Herald. Author of The Handmaid's Tale and Oryx and Crake. From Garden and Gun magazine. Watch Carl Hiaasen profiled on.
Three middle schoolers take on greedy land developers, corrupt politicians, and clueless cops in this mystery adventure based on Carl Hiaasen’s Newbery Honor-winning book.
Putnam, 1987, 320 pages 'Robert Clinch loved his boat more that anything else in the world.more than his wife.his kids.his girlfiend.even more than the largemouth bass he was pursuing.' Thus begins a twisted tale of murder in the world of big-stakes bass fishing tournaments. Filled with ex-wives, evangelists, and an armed pit-bull, this is a story that could only be concocted by Carl Hiaasen, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, New York Times best-selling author, and czar of Florida noir fiction. Carl Hiaasen makes Florida sound like one dangerously crazy place. This 1987 mystery revolves around the world of bass sports fishing. The protagonist, a man named Decker, is a former photographer turned private investigator who has been hired by a rich man to catch his rival, a big-name bass fisherman, cheating.
Game Show With Double Whammy Carlsbad Nm
Apparently most pros cheat in competitive fishing tournaments, and the rich guy has become obsessed with taking down a celebrty who has his own cable TV show. Decker, however, soon finds he's been set up, and the plot zigs, zags, and does backflips, involving Decker's ex, a televangelist trying to sell Florida real estate, a former Governor now living as a mad hermit, a black state trooper assigned to the most racist hick backwaters of the state, a Cuban police detective who has to learn to fish, and a would-be assassin who spends the latter part of the book staggering around with a rotting pit bull's head clamped onto his arm, like a deranged redneck version of Anton Chigurh. Even Mickey Mouse gets a mention. I'm only surprised there were no alligators.
Double Whammy is fun and well-plotted; as zany as the plot twists may seem, Hiaasen actually brings it all together, weaving these strange, loony, venal, and oddly noble characters together into a story about timeshares, fishing, and murder. The fact that Hiaasen actually knows Florida and obviously did copious research on the subject of bass fishing just makes the details shine, though it's the characters and the twists that will really hold your attention. While a bit dated now (the book was written in 1987, as you can tell by all the problems that come up that would be solved nowadays by a cell phone), it was a good read. I've read two books by Carl Hiaasen now, and he has a gift for making Florida sound like the weirdest place on Earth and then sticking an almost-plausible plot into it. Rating: 8/10 Also by Carl Hiaasen: My review of.