Book Reviews
Any fears that Carl Hiaasen might be mellowing are put to rest by Bad Monkey, another rollicking misadventure in the colorful annals of greed and corruption in South Florida…Hiaasen has a peculiar genius for inventing grotesque creatures—like the monstrous voodoo woman known as the Dragon Queen and Driggs, a scrofulous monkey "with a septic disposition"—that spring from the darkest impulses of the id. But he also writes great heroes like Yancy and Neville.
Marilyn Stasio - New York Times
Hiaasen combines familiar themes with an inspired cast in this exercise in Florida zaniness. Andrew Yancy, who became an ex-cop after publicly assaulting his girlfriend’s husband with a vacuum cleaner attachment...soon gets a chance at redemption.... [A] severed, shark-bitten arm,...some real estate shenanigans, a voodoo witch, and a deranged monkey, and you have another marvelously entertaining Hiaasen adventure.
Publishers Weekly
A severed arm that a visiting angler hooks off Key West kicks off Hiaasen's 13th criminal comedy.... [T]he encounter Andrew Yancy has with Miami Assistant Medical Examiner Rosa Campesino, which ends with him taking the arm back home and parking it in his freezer, starts to change his attitude toward the case. Unfortunately, it doesn't change the fact that he's been suspended from the Sheriff's Department.... Not as funny as Hiaasen's best (Star Island, 2010, etc.), with a title character more vicious than amusing, but still the gold standard for South Florida criminal farce.
Kirkus Reviews
General Praise for Carl Hiaasen
Whenever it seems as if he might be running out of oxen to gore, Hiaasen comes up with fresh victims for his killing wit. [He is] Florida’s most entertainingly indignant social critic.... Outlandish events soar on the exuberance of Hiaasen’s manic style, a canny blend of lunatic farce and savage satire.
Marilyn Stasio - New York Times
Hiaasen’s wasteland is as retributive as Cormac McCarthy’s, but funnier.... [His] pacing is impeccable, and the scenes follow one another like Lay’s potato chips.
John Leland - New York Times Book Review
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.
Dan Lopez - Time Out New York
Carl Hiaasen is a lot like Evelyn Waugh.... Both simmer with rage; both are consumed with the same overwhelming vision...[both] write the funniest English of this century.
Carolyn See - Washington Post
Does anyone remember what we did for fun before Hiaasen began turning out his satirical comedies?
Alan Cheuse - San Francisco Chronicle
Carl Hiaasen isn’t just Florida’s sharpest satirist—he’s one of the few funny writers left in the whole country.... I think of him as a national treasure.
Malcolm Jones - Newsweek