 First edition cover | |
| Author | Carl Hiaasen |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Alfred A. Knopf |
Publication date | 2016 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Preceded by | Bad Monkey |
| Followed by | Squeeze Me |
Razor Girl is a 2016 novel by Carl Hiaasen.
Merry Mansfield is a free-spirited con artist who assists mobsters in abducting defaulting fugitives by rear-ending their cars on the highway. Unfortunately, after completing one such abduction on the Overseas Highway, Merry discovers that she and her accomplice "Zeto" have snatched the wrong person: Lane Coolman, a Los Angeles talent manager on his way to Key West to supervise a live appearance by his firm's most important client, reality television star Buck Nance. Without Coolman present, Buck, who is unprepared to give an improvised performance, resorts to telling jokes overheard from his brothers which contain racist and homophobic slurs. In fear for his safety, Buck flees and hacks off his trademark beard in the kitchen of a closed restaurant. The beard fragments are reported to health inspector Andrew Yancy, a former police detective.
While waiting for their real target, Merry and Zeto let Coolman call his boss, Jon "Amp" Ampergrodt, who is indifferent to his safety but discreetly asks Monroe County Sheriff Sonny Summers to start a search for Buck. Because of the urgent need to find Buck quickly, Sonny's only detective, Burton, reluctantly asks Yancy for assistance. Meanwhile, Zeto announces his intent to kill Coolman, but Merry takes pity their victim and allows Coolman to escape. She and Zeto abduct their real target, Martin Trebeaux, a beach nourishment hustler who delivered faulty sand to the beach behind a Mafia-controlled hotel in Boynton Beach.
After completing the job, Merry spends the evening in Key West, where she sees Coolman and whimsically decides to spend the evening with him. Coolman is soon called to the scene of a tourist's accidental death and is horrified to learn that the alleged assailant in the incident fits Buck's description. Merry meets Yancy and leaves to have dinner with him, much to Coolman's chagrin. Only a few days later, Merry invites herself to stay at Yancy's home on Big Pine Key, despite his feeble protests that he is already in a relationship. Buck, meanwhile, has been kidnapped by his "biggest fan", an unemployed burglar named Benny "Blister" Krill. Blister's impromptu "tributes" to impress Buck include getting garish tattoos, causing the tourist's death and re-kidnapping Coolman.
In a burst of inspiration, Blister demands that he be written onto Buck's show, Bayou Brethren, as his long-lost twin brother. Buck and Coolman try to humor him until they can escape, but start to seriously consider the ploy after watching the next episode on Blister's TV, which has been filmed without Buck. They present their demands to Amp, who cannot afford to ignore Coolman's threat to make Buck and his "brother" the stars of a rival spin-off that will eclipse Bayou Brethren in popularity.
A tattoo artist leads Yancy and Merry to Blister's apartment, but Blister impulsively stabs Yancy in the abdomen with a knife, forcing Merry to rush him to the hospital. Over the next several days, Yancy tries doggedly to apprehend Blister, a job made more difficult by the fact that Buck and Coolman are shielding him, using him as a decoy to gain a more lucrative contract for Buck. After Blister refuses to accept a "deal" from anyone other than Amp in person, the agency head reluctantly flies to Florida.
Rosa's continued absence eventually makes Yancy give in to Merry's attempts to seduce him, after which she disappears, leaving a note at his house encouraging him to go after Rosa in Oslo. Yancy begins a trip to Oslo, but returns to Florida after he realizes during a layover that he has not resolved his own feelings about the case. Merry goes back to Miami and continues her work for the mob, but realizes that Yancy is likely to continue pursuing Blister and may need her help.
After tracking Buck, Coolman, and Blister to their hideout, being captured, and escaping, Yancy works out a deal with Coolman to take custody of Blister as soon as Amp signs a new contract doubling Buck's salary. When things go awry during the meeting with Amp, Blister abducts Yancy at gunpoint and forces him to drive the group to the airport. They are intercepted by Merry, who disables their car and distracts Blister with her signature move. Blister realizes the danger and recovers his stolen gun, but Buck, who has had enough of Blister's violent behavior, sneaks up behind him and breaks his neck.
The novel incorporates at least three interconnected subplots:
Buck becomes a national hero for his actions in Florida, but he has had enough of celebrity - estranged from his family, harried by his captivity, and badly shaken by the realization that his TV persona has become a role model for violent racists like Blister. He quits Bayou Brethren and moves back to Milwaukee to open a music store.
Yancy is saddened, though not surprised, when Rosa breaks up with him, admitting that she prefers Norway's tranquility to Florida's turbulence. Yancy's emotional blow is greatly softened when he returns home and finds Merry waiting for him, having decided that Yancy is too much fun for her to give up (at least for the immediate future).
Janet Maslin favorably reviewed Razor Girl for the New York Times , stating that the novel "meets [Hiaasen's] usual sky-high standards for elegance, craziness, and mike-drop humor." [1] She also commented that the novel's overriding theme was exceptionally poignant to the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election:
It illustrates the dog-whistle effects of bigotry that take the form of entertainment, with a plot that revolves around a "Duck Dynasty"-type reality show, the sermons delivered by one of its stars and a crazed fan who decides to follow what he thinks are the star’s teachings. Mr. Hiaasen - and probably only Mr. Hiaasen - could weave this into a book that’s still so funny.
...
[T]he one authentic thing about Buck is his prejudice. That’s why he needs to be kept on a short leash. But without Lane at his side, he tells a homophobic joke in Key West, then wonders if the audience didn’t laugh because he used the wrong slur.
...It is in these diatribes that Buck has inveighed against Muslims, Jews, blacks, gays and anyone else who is not a white Christian. Mr. Hiaasen calls him "a septic inspiration to impressionable mouth-breathers" like Blister, who becomes a flagrant racist and deadly menace. It’s what he imagines his hero would have done. And even if Blister is the only crazed fan turned abductor with a shot at having his own role on a hit reality show, the book makes it clear that he is not alone in his delusions. [1]
Michael Schaub, reviewing Razor Girl for NPR, likewise praised Hiaasen's deft interweaving of the seemingly chaotic plot elements, and his ability to find humor even when dealing with serious themes:
The plots of Hiaasen's novels are exceedingly difficult to describe. His stories are as intricate as they are fast-paced, and the sheer number of characters he includes in each book makes summarizing them next to impossible, unless you want to sound like a stoner describing The Big Lebowski to a friend who's never seen it. So let's just say that when all is said and done, the reader has been introduced to countless crooks and lowlifes, an elderly man who dies of a heart attack while trying to scrape an Obama bumper sticker off his neighbor's car, a thief with an ill-tempered pet mongoose, a drug that causes "random tissue deformities and life-threatening erections," and more Gambian pouched rats than you've probably ever read about. (Yes, they are real, and they are terrifying.)... In the hands of another author, Razor Girl could have turned out shambolic and confused. But Hiaasen is a gifted storyteller who knows that the key to keeping readers engaged is a mixture of suspense and humor.... Razor Girl is vintage Hiaasen, in the very best way: darkly funny, unapologetically crazy, and more Florida than a flamingo eating a Cuban sandwich while singing a Jimmy Buffett song. [3]
Booklist reviewed Razor Girl as "the ultimate beach reach for anyone with a taste for Hiaasen's skewed view of a Florida slouching toward Armageddon." [4]
Booklist also praised the audiobook version for its deft handling of the book's myriad plot-lines, and the performance of multiple character voices by the reader, John Rubinstein. [5]
Carl Hiaasen is an American journalist and novelist. He began his career as a newspaper reporter and by the late 1970s had begun writing novels in his spare time, both for adults and for middle grade readers. Two of his novels have been made into feature films.
Sick Puppy is a 2000 novel by Carl Hiaasen.
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Tourist Season is a 1986 novel by Carl Hiaasen. It was his first solo novel, after co-writing several mystery/thriller novels with William Montalbano.
Skinny Dip is a caper novel by Carl Hiaasen first published in 2004. It is his 11th work of fiction for adult readers. It is his fifth book featuring the character known as "Skink" and his second novel including the character Mick Stranahan, a former detective. It involves a murder plot and a subsequent attempt to exact revenge against the backdrop of a threat to Florida's Everglades National Park.
Hoot is a 2002 mystery/suspense novel, recommended for ages 9–12, by Carl Hiaasen. The story takes place in Florida, where new arrival Roy makes two oddball friends and a bad enemy. Roy joins an effort to stop construction of a pancake house which would destroy a colony of burrowing owls who live on the site. The book won a Newbery Honor award in 2003.
Basket Case, published in 2002, is the ninth novel by Carl Hiaasen. It is a crime novel set in Florida that centers on the death of singer Jimmy Stoma, the former lead man of "Jimmy and the Slut Puppies". This novel marks the first time Hiaasen used first-person point of view to deliver the novel. In previous works, he used third-person view.
Strip Tease is a 1993 novel by Carl Hiaasen. Like most of his other novels, it is a crime novel set in Florida and features Hiaasen's characteristic black humor. The novel focuses on a single mother who has turned to exotic dancing to earn enough money to gain legal custody of her young daughter, and ends up matching wits with a lecherous United States Congressman and his powerful corporate backers.
The Traveler is a 2005 novel by American author John Twelve Hawks. A New York Times bestselling novel, It was the first in his The Fourth Realm Trilogy. Book two,The Dark River, was published in July 2007. The final part in the trilogy, The Golden City, was released September 8, 2009. The trilogy has been translated into 25 languages and has sold more than 1.5 million books.
Stormy Weather is a 1995 novel by Carl Hiaasen. It takes place in the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Andrew in South Florida and concerns the tragic effects of the disaster, including insurance scams, street fights, hunt for food and shelter, corrupt bureaucracy, a ravaged environment and disaster tourists.
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Nature Girl is a novel by Carl Hiaasen, published in 2006.
Naked Came the Manatee (ISBN 978-0399141928) is a mystery thriller parody novel published in 1996. It is composed of thirteen chapters, each written by a different Miami-area writer. It was originally published as a serial in the Miami Herald'sTropic magazine, one chapter per issue, and later published as a single novel. Its title is a reference to the literary hoax Naked Came the Stranger. The book was conceived of and edited by Tom Shroder, then editor of Tropic. Dave Barry came up with the first chapter, which was then handed to the next writer, and so on until Carl Hiaasen had to tie all the loose threads together in the final chapter. Each chapter was written on deadline for publication in the magazine.
Native Tongue is a novel by Carl Hiaasen, published in 1991. Like all his novels, it is set in Florida. The themes of the novel include corruption, environmentalism, exploitation of endangered species, and animal rights.
Skin Tight is a novel by Carl Hiaasen. It focuses on a former detective for the Florida State Attorney's office, who becomes the target of a murder plot by a corrupt plastic surgeon.
Star Island is a 2010 novel by Carl Hiaasen, released on Tuesday, July 27, 2010.
Bad Monkey is a 2013 novel by Carl Hiaasen.
Skink - No Surrender is a young adult novel by Carl Hiaasen, published on September 23, 2014. It is described as Hiaasen's first young adult novel. He has authored four previous novels for "young" readers. Like all of his novels, it is set in Hiaasen's native Florida.
Squeeze Me is a novel by Carl Hiaasen released on August 25, 2020.
Bad Monkey is an upcoming American television drama developed and executive produced by Bill Lawrence. A co-production between Warner Bros. Television and Doozer Productions, it is based on the 2013 novel of the same name by Carl Hiaasen. The series is led by Vince Vaughn, Michelle Monaghan, Jodie Turner-Smith, Meredith Hagner, Rob Delaney, Natalie Martinez, L. Scott Caldwell, Ronald Peet, and John Ortiz. Charlotte Lawrence and Alex Moffat also star in recurring roles.