Double Whammy by Carl Hiaasen

Carl Hiaasen is one of those authors that Ryan has been trying to get me to read virtually since the day we met. I've picked up his first book, Tourist Season, several times, but haven't been able to get traction on it. Hiaasen's YA material, however, is another story. I love it all. It's fast paced, features engaging characters, and deals with environmental issues in a savvy responsible way. One of those, Skink: No Surrender, features a character that started out in his non-YA books. So, this is backtracking to the first appearance of Skink.

Double Whammy is about bass fishing. No, really. Bass fishing. I know know more about bass fishing than I ever wanted to. R.J. Decker is a down on his luck private eye with an anger issue. He's hired by a sportsman named Gault to catch some cheaters in the act. This isn't an amorous thing, this is about cheating at big fishing tournaments. It's weird, but pretty straightforward. At least it is until dead bodies start showing up.

Decker meets up with Skink as a sort of local guide. Skink is big, hairy, and slightly crazy, but he has a nice smile and a quick mind. As odd-ball as he is, he takes to Decker's case and soon finds reasons of his own to help out.

I've never really understood people who watch fishing shows for entertainment. I get why fishing is appealing, but the idea of watching people fish on T.V. dumbfounds me. This is a view that Hiaasen seems to share. There's a snarky sarcastic angle to all this where the main characters seem to be bemused on some level that anyone would bother this much for sport fishing that appeals to me.

Skink is a draw too. For such a bizarre character, he's fun to watch. It's like watching disaster walking around in human skin. He's a survivalist who seems to live off of fresh road kill and a manic conviction that the world would be better off without humans. I like him.

Obviously, this isn't intended for a young audience, but I can think of plenty of teens that would love this.

Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff

This is a Ryan recommendation. I've read Matt Ruff before and his books are stunningly diverse. With most writers, there is a definite feel to their work that links it all together. Each book of Ruff's that I've read, has had a unique writing style. This isn't a bad thing, but it does mean that you never know what you'll get picking up one of his books.

Bad Monkeys is a strange book. Part of it is that I'm reading a lot of YA with a lot of very young protagonists, Jane Charlotte is in her 40's. Most of it is that Jane Charlotte is an unreliable narrator and a not terribly likable one.

This is a psychological thriller. The story begins with Jane Charlotte in the psych ward attached to a prison. She's guilty of murder and being evaluated by a psychologist. During this evaluation, she tells her story. The plot then alternates chapters between the psychologist and the events of her story.

Jane Charlotte insists that she is part of a secret society guiding human culture. She's part of the unit that eliminates irredeemable members of society, those that cause widespread harm. Before long, she encounters a group with the opposing purpose to cause widespread chaos and harm.

Clearly, these groups are in conflict.

It's rare to read something that creeps me out so completely. That's a compliment actually. I believe that any book that can cause a strong emotional reaction is by that factor alone a good book. So by that metric, this was a very good book.

I will never be reading it again.