Carl Hiaasen Popular Books
Carl Hiaasen Biography & Facts
Carl Hiaasen (; born March 12, 1953) 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. Hiaasen's adult novels are humorous crime thrillers set in Florida. They feature casts of eccentric, sometimes grotesque characters and satirize aspects of American popular culture. Many of the novels include themes related to environmentalism and political corruption in his native state. Early life and education The first of four children born to Odel and Patricia Hiaasen, Hiaasen was born in 1953 of Norwegian and Irish ancestry. Raised in Plantation, Florida, then a rural suburb of Fort Lauderdale, he started writing at age six when his father gave him a typewriter for Christmas. After graduating from Plantation High School in 1970, he entered Emory University, where he contributed satirical humor columns to the student newspaper The Emory Wheel. In 1972, he transferred to the University of Florida, where he wrote for The Independent Florida Alligator. Hiaasen graduated in 1974 with a degree in journalism. Journalism Hiaasen was a reporter at TODAY (Cocoa, Florida) for two years before being hired in 1976 by the Miami Herald, where he worked for the city desk, Sunday magazine and award-winning investigative team. Hiaasen was a columnist for the newspaper from mid-1985 until he retired in March 2021. His columns have been collected in three published volumes, Kick Ass (1999), Paradise Screwed (2001) and Dance of the Reptiles (2014), all edited by Diane Stevenson. His only brother was Rob Hiaasen, an editor and columnist at The Capital newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland, who was killed in the mass shooting at the newspaper's office on June 28, 2018. Carl Hiaasen's 1991 novel Native Tongue carries the dedication "For my brother Rob." Novelist After becoming a reporter, Hiaasen began writing novels in his spare time. The first three were co-authored with his friend and fellow journalist William Montalbano: Powder Burn (1981), Trap Line (1982), and A Death in China (1984). His first solo novel, Tourist Season (1986), featured a group of ragged eco-warriors who kidnap the Orange Bowl Queen in Miami. The book's main character was whimsically memorialized by Jimmy Buffett in a song called "The Ballad of Skip Wiley," which appeared on his Barometer Soup album. Twenty-one of Hiaasen's novels and nonfiction books have been on the New York Times Best Seller lists. His work has been translated into 34 languages. In 2016, his novel Razor Girl was short-listed for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse award for comic fiction in England. An earlier Hiaasen novel, Strip Tease, was adapted into the 1996 feature film Striptease starring Demi Moore and Burt Reynolds. Another book, Bad Monkey, is being adapted for a series on Apple TV. It will star Vince Vaughn and is being written and executive produced by Bill Lawrence, who co-created Ted Lasso. The series is tentatively scheduled to begin airing in the summer of 2024. Hiaasen's first venture into writing for younger readers was the 2002 novel Hoot, which was named a Newbery Medal honor book. It was adapted as a 2006 film of the same name (starring Logan Lerman, Brie Larson and Luke Wilson). The movie was written and directed by Wil Shriner. Jimmy Buffett provided songs for the soundtrack, and appeared in the role of Mr. Ryan, a middle school teacher. Hiaasen's subsequent children's novels are Flush; Scat; Chomp; Skink - No Surrender, which introduces one of his most popular adult characters to younger readers; Squirm; and the latest, Wrecker. In 2014, Skink was long-listed for a National Book Award in Young People's Literature. Hiaasen's books for young readers feature environmental themes, eccentric casts and adventure-filled plots. Squirm, which is set in Florida and Montana, was published in fall 2018 and opened at #4 on the New York Times bestseller list for middle-grade novels. Wrecker, released on September 26, 2023, is set in Key West during the COVID-19 pandemic. Kirkus Reviews called it, "A batten-down-the-hatches thriller anchored by critical real-life themes". Booklist wrote, "Wielding his writing talents and wit, Hiaasen seamlessly incorporates...disparate elements into one heck of a ride". Wrecker debuted at number one on The New York Times Children's Middle Grade Hardcover Best Sellers List. His latest adult book, Squeeze Me, was published on August 25, 2020, and debuted at #2 on the New York Times Combined Print and E-Book Print Best Sellers List. The novel takes place during the glitzy Palm Beach social season, and features wild pythons and a fictional, well-fed U.S. president who has a vacation mansion on the island. Amazon and the Washington Post listed Squeeze Me among the best novels of 2020. Hiaasen's most recent nonfiction work is Assume the Worst: The Graduation Speech You'll Never Hear, which was published in April 2018 and illustrated by Roz Chast, known for her cartoons in The New Yorker. Songwriting During the 1990s, Hiaasen co-wrote the lyrics of three songs with his friend and L.A. rocker Warren Zevon. "Rottweiler Blues" and "Seminole Bingo" appeared on Zevon's Mutineer album in 1995. The third song they wrote together, "Basket Case," was done in conjunction with Hiaasen's novel of the same name, and appeared in 2001 on Zevon's album My Ride's Here. Hiaasen co-wrote "Fish Porn" on Jimmy Buffett's final album, Equal Strain on All Parts, with Buffett and Mac McAnally. Personal life Hiaasen is a fly fisherman who has six times won the Invitational Fall Fly Bonefish Tournament in Islamorada, fishing with guide Tim Klein. Works Fiction Adult fiction Tourist Season (1986) Double Whammy (1987) Skin Tight (1989) Native Tongue (1991) Strip Tease (1993) (filmed in 1996 as Striptease by Andrew Bergman, starring Demi Moore and Burt Reynolds) Stormy Weather (1995) Naked Came the Manatee (1996) (A Mystery Thriller Parody with 12 other authors) Lucky You (1997) Sick Puppy (2000) Basket Case (2002) Skinny Dip (2004) Nature Girl (2006) Star Island (2010) Bad Monkey (2013) Razor Girl (2016) Squeeze Me (2020) With William Montalbano Powder Burn (1981) Trap Line (1982) A Death in China (1984) Fiction for young readers Hoot (2002) (released as a movie in May 2006 by director Wil Shriner) Flush (2005) Scat (2009) Chomp (2012) Skink - No Surrender (2014) (young adult novel featuring a recurring hero from his adult fiction series) Squirm (2018) Wrecker (2023) Short stories "Tart of Darkness" (2003, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue) The Edible Exile (2013) Non-fiction Team Rodent: How Disney Devours the World (1998) Kick Ass: Selected Columns (1999) Paradise Screwed: Selected Columns (2001) The Downhill Lie (2008) Dance of the Reptiles: Selected Columns (2014) Assume the Worst: The Graduation Speech You'll Never Hear (2018) Collecti.... 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Best Seller Carl Hiaasen Books of 2024
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Then She Vanished
T. Jefferson ParkerWhat if the client who's hired you can't be trusted...and the woman you're looking for doesn't want to be found? With Then She Vanished, threetime Edgar Award winner and New York T...
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Murder at Crime Manor
Fergus CraigTHE MANOR HOUSE MURDER MYSTERY AS YOU'VE NEVER SEEN IT . . . DETECTIVE ROGER LECARRE IS BACK!!!'What's better than a good crime novel? I'll tell you a spoof crime novel, by the ab...
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The Thin Man
Dashiell HammettNick Charles seems to find trouble wherever he goes. He thinks his sleuthing days are behind him when Julia Wolf, a former acquaintance, turns up dead. Nickthanks to some persuasio...
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Snatch
Gregory McdonaldWhether it’s a Middle East oil crisis in the 1970s or the London Blitz during WWII, world events have a way of breeding trouble on the home front, too. That’s how Toby Rinaldi, son...
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The Books That Changed My Life
Bethanne PatrickOne hundred of today’s most prominent literary and cultural icons talk about the books that hold a special place in their heartsthat made them who they are today.Leading authors, p...
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The Downhill Lie
Carl HiaasenOriginally drawn to the game by his father, Carl Hiaasen wisely quit golfing in 1973. But some ambitions refuse to die, and as the years–and memories of shanked 7irons faded, it ...
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Tourist Season
Carl HiaasenTake a trip to exotic South Florida with this dark, funny book that established Carl Hiaasen as one of the top mystery writers in the game.The first sign of trouble is a Shriner's ...
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Stormy Weather
Carl HiaasenNATIONAL BESTSELLER A hilarious and scathing novel from the author of Squeeze Me about a crazed and determined man who has devoted his strange existence to saving southern Florida...
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Strip Tease
Carl HiaasenNATIONAL BESTSELLER From “Florida’s most entertainingly indignant social critic” (New York Times Book Review)an inventive tale yet of savage appetites and sweet justice. Only in A...
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Navigate Your Stars
Jesmyn WardA revelatory, uplifting, and gorgeously illustrated meditation on dedication, hard work, and the power of perseverance from the beloved, New York Times bestselling, and twotime Nat...
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Skin Tight
Carl HiaasenBestselling author Carl Hiaasen serves up a humorous helping of "taut, fastpaced action...crisp and hot” (The New York Times). After dispatching a pistolpacking intruder fro...
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Cactus Jack
Brad SmithA delight from paddock to finish line." Booklist (STARRED REVIEW) Brad Smith “rivals Elmore Leonard at his best” (Publishers Weekly). His latest novel, for fans of Richard Russo ...
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Double Whammy
Carl Hiaasen“Follow the adventures of a newsphotographerturnedprivateeye as he seeks truth, justice, and an affair with his exwife” (The New York Times) in this hilarious caper from bestsellin...
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Snuff
Chuck PalahniukIn the crowded greenroom of a pornmovie production, hundreds of men mill around in their boxers, awaiting their turn with the legendary Cassie Wright. An aging adult film star, C...
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To the Land of Long Lost Friends
Alexander McCall SmithIn the latest book in the widely beloved No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, Precious Ramotswe takes on a case for a childhood acquaintance and finds that family relationships a...
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Skinny Dip
Carl HiaasenChaz Perrone might be the only marine scientist in the world who doesn’t know which way the Gulf Stream runs. He might also be the only one who went into biology just to make a k...
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Music for Love or War
Martyn Burke"Music for Love or War is slashandburn funny, but also unexpectedly touching and wise. Few writers can take you in one breath from the hills of Afghanistan to the gates of the Play...
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Squeeze Me
Carl HiaasenNEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER A hilarious novel of social and political intrigue, set against the glittering backdrop of Florida’s gold coast, from the author of Skinny Dip and ...
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Nine Women, One Dress
Jane L. RosenA charming, hilarious, irresistible romp of a novel that brings together nine unrelated women, each touched by the same little black dress that weaves through their lives, bringing...
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Knockemstiff
Donald Ray Pollock"More engaging than any new fiction in years." Chuck PalahniukAn unforgettable work of fiction that peers into the soul of a tough Midwestern American town to reveal the sad,...
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Carl Hiaasen 4-Book Collection
Carl HiaasenDiscover the funny side of Florida with #1 New York Times bestselling author Carl Hiaasen in this collection of four books: Hoot, Flush, Scat and Chomp."It's classic Hiaasenlaughou...
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Razor Girl
Carl HiaasenThe new fulltilt, unstoppably hilarious and entertaining novel from the bestselling author of Skinny Dip and Bad MonkeyWhen Lane Coolman's car is bashed from behind on the roa...
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Paradise Screwed
Carl Hiaasen & Diane Stevenson"Along with Kick Ass, this is one of the best collections of occasional journalism published in recent years."Booklist (starred review)
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Make Something Up
Chuck PalahniukTwenty one stories and one novella from Chuck Palahniuk, literature's favorite transgressive author, Make Something Up is a compilation that disturbs and delights in equa...
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Bad Monkey
Carl HiaasenA wickedly funny novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Squeeze Me in which the greedy, the corrupt, and the degraders of what’s left of pristine Floridanow, of the Ba...
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The Rules of Attraction
Bret Easton EllisFrom the New York Times bestselling author or Less Than Zero and American Psychoa startlingly funny, kaleidoscopic novel about three students at a small, affluent liberalarts colle...
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Morality for Beautiful Girls
Alexander McCall SmithFans around the world adore the bestselling No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series and its proprietor, Precious Ramotswe, Botswana’s premier lady detective. In this charming series,...
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The Death and Life of Bobby Z
Don WinslowFROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE CARTEL.When Tim Kearney, a smalltime criminal, slits the throat of a Hell's Angel and draws a life sentence in a prison full of gang members, he ...
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The Power of Positive Idiocy
David FehertyDavid Feherty, expro golfer and current commentator at NBC Sports and the Golf Channel, delivers a laughoutloud funny and totally uncensored collection of rants sure to surprise an...
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The Sinners
Ace AtkinsIn this novel from New York Timesbestselling crime master Ace Atkins, violence comes in many forms...and this time it may be more than Quinn Colson can handle.The Pritchards had ne...
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44 Scotland Street
Alexander McCall Smith44 SCOTLAND STREET Book 1 The residents and neighbors of 44 Scotland Street and the city of Edinburgh come to vivid life in these gently satirical, wonderfully perceptive serial n...
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The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine
Alexander McCall SmithFans around the world adore the bestselling No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series and its proprietor, Precious Ramotswe, Botswana’s premier lady detective. In this charming series,...
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Wrecker
Carl Hiaasen#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Wrecker needs to deal with smugglers, grave robbers, and pooping iguanasjust as soon as he finishes Zoom school. Welcome to another wild adventur...
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Dead Solid Perfect
Dan JenkinsThe legendary golf novel, rereleased in a special edition with a new foreword by the author. Don Imus said it best: "Dan Jenkins is a comic genius." And nowhere is that genius more...
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Depth of Winter
Craig Johnson“It’s the sceneryand the big guy standing in front of the scenerythat keeps us coming back to Craig Johnson’s lean and leathery mysteries.” The New York Times Book ReviewWalt...
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A Case of Exploding Mangoes
Mohammed HanifA Washington Post, Rocky Mountain News, Boston Globe Best Book of the YearIntrigue and subterfuge combine with bad luck and good in this darkly comic debut about love, betrayal, ty...
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Native Tongue
Carl HiaasenFrom the New York Times bestselling author comes a novel in which dedicated, if somewhat demented, environmentalists battle sleazy real estate developers in the Florida Keys. "Rips...
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Carl Hiaasen 5-Book Collection
Carl HiaasenThis collection features five of Carl Hiaasen's hilarious, awardwinning classics!Take a trip to Carl Hiaasen's Floridawhere the animals are wild and the people are wilderwith ...
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Amsterdam
Ian McEwanBOOKER PRIZE WINNER NATIONAL BESTSELLER A sharp contemporary morality tale, cleverly disguised as a comic novel, Amsterdam is "a dark tour de force, perfectly fashioned...
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Swamp Story
Dave BarryPulitzer Prize–winning and New York Times bestselling authorand actual Florida ManDave Barry returns with a “hilariously funny” (Steve Martin) caper full of oddballs and more twist...
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Lucky You
Carl HiaasenFrom the New York Times bestselling author of Squeeze Meand “Florida’s most entertainingly indignant social critic” (New York Times Book Review)a novel starring three lottery winne...
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The House of Unexpected Sisters
Alexander McCall SmithPrecious Ramotswe learns valuable lessons about first impressions and forgiveness in this latest installment of the beloved and bestselling No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series....
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The Children Act
Ian McEwanA brilliant, emotionally wrenching novel from the Booker Prize winner and bestselling author of Atonement about a leading High Court judge who must resolve an urgent caseas well as...