Nature Girl

patiently stood beside him as the man extended one arm, aiming the camera back at them. Sammy Tigertail was wearing a fleece zip-up from Patagonia, a woolen navy watch cap from L.L. Bean and heavy khakis from Eddie Bauer, none of which would be considered traditional Seminole garb. Wilson asked Sammy Tigertail if he had one of those brightly beaded jackets and maybe a pair of deerskin moccasins. The Indian said no.

 

Wilson instructed him not to smile and snapped a couple of pictures. Afterward, Sammy Tigertail cranked up the airboat and set out to finish the swamp tour at the highest-possible speed. Because of the cold weather there was practically no wildlife to be observed, but Wilson didn t seem to mind. He d gotten what he came for. Squinting against the wind, he gnawed a stick of dried beef and sipped on a warm Heineken.

 

Sammy Tigertail took a shortcut through a prairie of tall saw grass, which flattened under the airboat s bow as neatly as wheat fields beneath a combine. Without warning, Wilson arose from his seat and dropped the beer bottle, spraying the deck. As Sammy Tigertail backed off the throttle, he saw Wilson begin to wobble and snatch at his own throat. Sammy Tigertail thought the man was gagging on a chunk of jerky, but in fact he was trying to remove from his doughy neck a small banded water snake that had sailed out of the parting reeds.

 

The creature was harmless, but evidently Wilson was in no condition to be surprised by a flying reptile. He dropped stone-dead of a heart attack before his Seminole guide could get the boat stopped.

 

The first thing that Sammy Tigertail did was lift the little snake off the lifeless tourist and release it into the marsh. Then he took Wilson s left wrist and groped for a pulse. Sammy Tigertail felt obliged to unbutton the man s shirt and pou

disappointed. Nature Girl, Hiaasen s latest, keeps his string going in fine fashion ... Hiaasen is not just a good comic writer. He s just a good writer. Newsweek


Just sit back and watch as Carl Hiaasen, with his customary flourish, spins a glittering magic wheel and comes up with another set of characters only he could create ... The book is an island romp. Washington Post Book World


When he s in good form, Hiaasen, like Elmore Leonard, shouldn t be missed. Nature Girl is one of his better efforts ... As usual, Hiaasen throws his colorful characters into an increasingly frenetic mix, and the fun lies in watching how, or if, they ll manage to extricate themselves. One reason Nature Girl works so well is the fact that much of the action is confined to a single island, allowing the characters to intermingle and weave in and out of view. San Francisco Chronicle

Winter reading needn t be without comic hijinks ... Nature Girl is a hilarious romp through the Everglades led by a bipolar divorced mom named Honey Santana, who cooks up a baroque plan to get back at a rude telephone solicitor. Men s Journal

As depicted by the deft pen of Carl Hiaasen, ecoterrorism is not only justified, it s hilarious ... He s at it again in his distinctive, madcap style ... [A] breakneck narrative. Boston Globe

Hilarious ... A lifelong resident of the Sunshine State, [Hiaasen s] novels have always addressed the state s ecological and social ills with scathing satire, ironic comeuppance and an ever-evolving sensibility ... Everybody s airport-reading favorite flies high again. Time Out New York

Zapped during dinner by a telemarketer peddling Florida ranchettes, Honey Santana doesn t just go postal, she devises a get-even scheme of demented brilliance ... in the kind of Floridian follies on which Hiaasen owns the franchise ... The writing is never less than amusing. People

Using his trademark dry, wry humor, Hiaasen shows how bad behavior tears the fabric of society . . . Nature Girl is typical Hiaasen, with a brisk story overflowing with satire, wisecracks and the fear of what society is becoming. The cast is one of his most accessible . . The main characters are as real as your next-door neighbors with a few quirks ... Highly entertaining. South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Old fans and newcomers alike should delight in Hiaasen s eleventh novel, another hilarious Florida romp [with an] engaging and diverse screwball cast ... Hiaasen s humorous touches and his all-too-human characters carry the book to its satisfying close. Publishers Weekly