Star Island (Skink)

by Carl Hiaasen

[ibeforem]

If you love Carl Hiaasen, there’s no surprises here. It’s your usual mix of wacky characters put into a wacky situation that more often than not, is the result of their own despicable actions. In the midst of all the less-than-savory characters is your beacon of shining hope: Ann DeLusia. All Ann wants is to be an actress, but the novelty of pretending to be Cherry Pye is getting old. She’s already trying to figure out how to extract herself from her job when she’s mistakenly nabbed by Bang Abbot, a paparazzo who becomes obsessed with Cherry after a brief, but intimate, encounter with the inebriated starlet. He has dreams of cementing Cherry’s legacy with a Marilyn Monroe-esque photo collection, and it turns out that Ann is his ticket in.

While the story is mostly solid, there were some weak points. I really couldn’t muster up a care for the Jackie Sebago/real-estate scam storyline, which really just seemed like a reason to bring Detective Reilly into it. I also thought the ending was weak. After Ann is rescued (sort of) and the scheming to keep her quiet begins, I really expected her to go out with a bit more of a bang. The final confrontation in the nightclub is pretty bleh.

But, Hiaasen is still one of my go-to authors for humor and adventure. His characters are over-the-top without being fantastical, and you usually can find some sort of message amidst the chaos. This was well worth the listen.