My Review of ‘Bad Monkey’

REVIEW: BAD MONKEY
AUTHOR: Carl Hiaasen

Andrew Yancy, busted down from detective to “roach patrol” in the Florida Keys, is determined to get his job back. When a man’s left arm is found afloat after a boating accident, Yancy jumps at the chance to 1) solve what he senses is a murder and 2) employ the services of Miami-Dade medical examiner Rosa Campesino to assist in his noble cause and because he just digs her.

What Yancy doesn’t realize is that, between the bizarre exploits of his married lover (whose husband Yancy attacked from the rear – so to speak – with a vacuum) and the twisted tale of lies surrounding the man once connected to the arm, he’s stepping into a rat’s nest of trouble.

To say more about the plot would reveal too much. Suffice it to say that the novel is one of Hiaasen’s best. From his vivid description of Florida’s fauna and flora to his tart-tongued disdain for greedy developers, Hiaasen pours on the laughs and creates a story that’s criminally funny.