Status
Available
Series
Collection
Publication
Warner Vision Books (2001), Edition: 1st, 513 pages
Description
Fiction. Literature. Thriller. Humor (Fiction.) HTML: When Palmer Stoat notices the black pickup truck following him on the highway, he fears his precious Range Rover is about to be carjacked. But Twilly Spree, the man tailing Stoat, has vengeance, not sport-utility vehicles, on his mind. Idealistic, independently wealthy and pathologically short-tempered, Twilly has dedicated himself to saving Florida's wilderness from runaway destruction. He favors unambiguous political statements -- such as torching Jet-Skis or blowing up banks -- that leave his human targets shaken but re-educated. After watching Stoat blithely dump a trail of fast-food litter out the window, Twilly decides to teach him a lesson. Thus, Stoat's prized Range Rover becomes home to a horde of hungry dung beetles. Which could have been the end to it had Twilly not discovered that Stoat is one of Florida's cockiest and most powerful political fixers, whose latest project is the "malling" of a pristine Gulf Coast island. Now the real Hiaasen-variety fun begins . . . Dognapping eco-terrorists, bogus big-time hunters, a Republicans-only hooker, an infamous ex-governor who's gone back to nature, thousands of singing toads and a Labrador retriever greater than the sum of his Labrador parts -- these are only some of the denizens of Carl Hiaasen's outrageously funny new novel. Brilliantly twisted entertainment wrapped around a powerful ecological plea, Sick Puppy gleefully lives up to its title and gives us Hiaasen at his riotous and muckraking best. BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Carl Hiaasen's Bad Monkey..… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member jgillin
This is the only book by Carl Hiaasen that I couldn't finish.
LibraryThing member andyray
I guess I like this book better the second time around. I may have another John D. MacDonald in my life, a writer who I enjoy so much I can re-read again and again with pleasure. Surely this is the case here. Hiaasen is a smartass, but a kind and loving smartass, and he follows JDM as an
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environmental writer. We need him and we have him and I for one am grateful. There is a lot of busy work going on and within that scope are numerous little dialogue shots, such as Palmer;s inability to get rocknroll line quotes correct, e.g., "happiness is a hot gun" (warm gun, white album, Beatles, 1969). but the good guys win and i foun d but one fault in the book, mainly when Twilly leaves the car with Gash in it, his "lifeles" body was thrown out. The word means he is dead, b ut hed is not dead. As I said, one mistake doesn't ruin the whole. Show Less
LibraryThing member mikedraper
"Sick Puppy" tells the story of a wealthy environmentalist who tries to stop a building project that he thinks will detract from Florida's natural beauty.
It is a story of greedy politicians and builders packed with colorful characters and wacky incidents.
The characters are richly drawn and easy to
Hiassen plays with the reader and gives an amusing tale that is vastly entertaining. It is a good murder mystery mixed with humor.
It is a story of greedy politicians and builders packed with colorful characters and wacky incidents.
The characters are richly drawn and easy to
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imagineas was the unusual situations that they get into.Hiassen plays with the reader and gives an amusing tale that is vastly entertaining. It is a good murder mystery mixed with humor.
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LibraryThing member mochap
What an odd-ball story--completely over the top, but highly entertaining. A bit gross to the extreme sometimes, but worth a gander on the bus to work...
LibraryThing member Brian55
A good read. Several people told me of this book's humor but, I really didn't start getting it till about a third of the way through. The characters were the best part and Hiaasen did a great job of weaving thie quirky behaviors together in a story that was hard to put down. Because of the twists
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the plot took, I was never sure what turns it would take. I didn't see the ending climax coming but, it was worth the wait. The main character, Twilly Spree, was a person that you wanted to like but, I wasn't sure why. He was on a quest to prove some moral issues but, took some very unorthodox methods to accomplish them. He befriends a dog that he kidnaps to make a point, and the dog becomes a crucial sideline character to the rest of the book, and especially the ending. This was my first book of Hiaasen's, and I'm looking forward to more. Show Less
LibraryThing member PghDragonMan
Sick Puppy is my second Carl Hiaasen book. While it follows a formula similar to Nature Girl, it is distinctly different. The setting is still Florida and the theme is still promoting better ecological practices, this book also takes on politics and political lobbyists.
One thing I like about
There’s quite a bit of cartoonish violence, but it is not described in excruciating detail. The same for the sex. There’s a lot of it, but the book could hardly be described as pornographic or even erotic. It is mostly conveyed through innuendo.
Not quite in the same league as Edward Abbey’s Monkey Wrench Gang, the book still tries to make a case for ecoterrorism being justifiable under the right circumstances. This circumstances just happen to be a matter of personal interpretation.
The ending scenes are hardly comedic, yet the overall tone of this book is light. If you enjoy a light approach to a serious topic, this is a good one for you. If you’ve read other adult Hiaasen books, this belongs in your collection. If you’re a fan of clear cut logging and throw your empty wrappers out your SUVs window’s, you’ll hate this book.
One thing I like about
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Hiaasen’s style is he does not come off as pretentious or preachy. Yes, he has a lesson to teach us about respecting Mother Nature, but he slips the message in through a lot of great story telling. You almost don’t realize how strong the message is getting through until you start watching for people throwing trash from their cars.There’s quite a bit of cartoonish violence, but it is not described in excruciating detail. The same for the sex. There’s a lot of it, but the book could hardly be described as pornographic or even erotic. It is mostly conveyed through innuendo.
Not quite in the same league as Edward Abbey’s Monkey Wrench Gang, the book still tries to make a case for ecoterrorism being justifiable under the right circumstances. This circumstances just happen to be a matter of personal interpretation.
The ending scenes are hardly comedic, yet the overall tone of this book is light. If you enjoy a light approach to a serious topic, this is a good one for you. If you’ve read other adult Hiaasen books, this belongs in your collection. If you’re a fan of clear cut logging and throw your empty wrappers out your SUVs window’s, you’ll hate this book.
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LibraryThing member nessreendiana
I thought it was unfunny, but Hiaasen can write.
LibraryThing member jmcilree
Funny, but a little tedious and too fanciful.
LibraryThing member madamejeanie
Another good one, written with Hiaasen's flair for the weird Most of
his books have the same underlying theme, his disgust with the real
estate developers, tourists, and other interlopers in his beloved south
Florida wetlands. In this book, the "hero" is a young man named Twilly
Spree, who is just
the right place. He has a real hatred for people who litter and when
he's following a purple Range Rover with license plates that read
"COJONES" and sees the driver pitch a hamburger box out the window, he
starts to follow him to teach him a lesson. Of course, the guy never
learns and continues to litter. Spree discovers that the offending
litterbug is a political lobbyist who works to obtain government money
to further the cause of real estate development and when Spree realizes
that Mr. COJONES is the moving force behind the planned destruction and
rebuilding of a one of the few pristine islands left along the Florida
coast, he hatches a plot to blackmail him into stopping the planned
construction of a new bridge to the island which he hopes will thwart
the building plans. In the process, Spree dognaps the lobbyist's pet, a
lovable black Lab named Boodle, and manages to kidnap the wife, too. Of
course, she has had a major awakening and realizes what a scum bucket
she's married to, so Spree winds up with a new woman and a dog of his
own by the end of the book.
One of Hiaasen's recurring characters makes a memorable appearance in
this book. Clinton Tyree is the former governor of Florida, a once
charismatic young man with a winning smile and a deep desire to save
Florida from the tourists and real estate developers. Of course, that
doesn't go over politically very well in Florida and Tyree left office,
resigned, and then disappeared into the Florida swamps. Now, 20 years
later, the man is a legend who is rarely seen. He lives on road kill
barbecue, has an abandoned car full of classic books hidden away in a
junk yard, has lost an eye somewhere along the way and sports a glass
eye that doesn't quite fit. He goes by the name of Skink now, and
there's only one man in the entire state that he trusts and calls
friend, a tall black state trooper named Jim Tile who once served on the
governor's security detail. I like these two characters and am always
delighted when they reappear in Hiaasen's novels.
This is a very fun read and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a
change of pace and something light to laugh your way through. You can't
really call these novels "who-dun-its" because you know who's doing it,
but you just want to see how they are going to get away with it. The
bad guys are really deliciously bad, the good guys are always quirky,
and the plot is always convoluted, but I've loved every one of these
that I've read. This one gets a 4.5.
his books have the same underlying theme, his disgust with the real
estate developers, tourists, and other interlopers in his beloved south
Florida wetlands. In this book, the "hero" is a young man named Twilly
Spree, who is just
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about a half bubble off plumb, but his heart is inthe right place. He has a real hatred for people who litter and when
he's following a purple Range Rover with license plates that read
"COJONES" and sees the driver pitch a hamburger box out the window, he
starts to follow him to teach him a lesson. Of course, the guy never
learns and continues to litter. Spree discovers that the offending
litterbug is a political lobbyist who works to obtain government money
to further the cause of real estate development and when Spree realizes
that Mr. COJONES is the moving force behind the planned destruction and
rebuilding of a one of the few pristine islands left along the Florida
coast, he hatches a plot to blackmail him into stopping the planned
construction of a new bridge to the island which he hopes will thwart
the building plans. In the process, Spree dognaps the lobbyist's pet, a
lovable black Lab named Boodle, and manages to kidnap the wife, too. Of
course, she has had a major awakening and realizes what a scum bucket
she's married to, so Spree winds up with a new woman and a dog of his
own by the end of the book.
One of Hiaasen's recurring characters makes a memorable appearance in
this book. Clinton Tyree is the former governor of Florida, a once
charismatic young man with a winning smile and a deep desire to save
Florida from the tourists and real estate developers. Of course, that
doesn't go over politically very well in Florida and Tyree left office,
resigned, and then disappeared into the Florida swamps. Now, 20 years
later, the man is a legend who is rarely seen. He lives on road kill
barbecue, has an abandoned car full of classic books hidden away in a
junk yard, has lost an eye somewhere along the way and sports a glass
eye that doesn't quite fit. He goes by the name of Skink now, and
there's only one man in the entire state that he trusts and calls
friend, a tall black state trooper named Jim Tile who once served on the
governor's security detail. I like these two characters and am always
delighted when they reappear in Hiaasen's novels.
This is a very fun read and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a
change of pace and something light to laugh your way through. You can't
really call these novels "who-dun-its" because you know who's doing it,
but you just want to see how they are going to get away with it. The
bad guys are really deliciously bad, the good guys are always quirky,
and the plot is always convoluted, but I've loved every one of these
that I've read. This one gets a 4.5.
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LibraryThing member ALLLGooD
I picked this up as a book to take on a backpacking trip in the Sequoia National Park. Good ol' Carl does it again. He kept me entertained and laughing.
LibraryThing member miyurose
This was definitely not my favorite Carl Hiaasen. Twilly comes off as a spoiled rich brat who feels justified destroying things when he doesn’t like something, and he really doesn’t grow at all by the end of the book. The “big game hunting” made me sick to my stomach. There was too much
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death. The only remotely likable character in the book was Desie, and she was just window dressing. I barely talked myself into finishing this one. If this had been the first Hiaasen I read, I would never read another. Show Less
LibraryThing member shawnd
I'd hate to say you've read one book by Carl Hiassen you've read them all but I read Sick Puppy after reading Nature Girl and Skinny Dip. There were so many similarities it was kind of like reading a James Bond book, with the repeated character names changed. There was a care-free, outgoing,
Sick Puppy is more in some ways like a Chuck Palahniuk book with lots of almost terrorist acts or anti-social or ad hominem non fighting acts that if that bothers you this book will seem sensationalist. Overall, I think this book is a little labored, and if you read this after other Hiassen books it will get a little tired, even though he goes light on the Save the EverGlades theme he is still in the Save the Florida Nature theme.
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independent minded heroine -- in this case getting sick of the standard selfish guy who sleeps around antagonist, set in Florida, adventure, with a police investigator and some Swamp people, etc. All that said, all of the books singly were enjoyable. The characters were so iconic that rather than seeming cliches they were really refreshing. In this one, rather than using a tom-boy girl, he uses a tom-boy guy as his hero. He writes the outgoing hero (just as he does his heroine in the other books) with a set of characteristics (like he is either so poor or so rich that she can have a WTF attitude and do whatever he wants without any real thought of the consequences) that makes the reader want to be like the hero in terms of not taking life too serious and doing what we have a mind to do/how we wish we'd react in real life situations.Sick Puppy is more in some ways like a Chuck Palahniuk book with lots of almost terrorist acts or anti-social or ad hominem non fighting acts that if that bothers you this book will seem sensationalist. Overall, I think this book is a little labored, and if you read this after other Hiassen books it will get a little tired, even though he goes light on the Save the EverGlades theme he is still in the Save the Florida Nature theme.
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LibraryThing member mramos
Carl Hiaason has got his writting style back. Outrages and funny at times. The characters are colorful and memorable. Even the labador, Boodle. In Sick Puppy we have a an eco-terrorist that has a compulsive drive to make sure that any one that he happens to witness harming the environment, learns
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the error of their ways. Show Less
LibraryThing member sdave001
This was my first Hiaasen book. I bought it in an airport after seeing the intriguing title and started reading it on the flight. I was enjoying it so much I was sad to see the flight end. In fact, I rushed home from the airport to finish the book (which I did in the wee hours of the morning). I
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have been a Hiaasen fan ever since and have been slowly working my way through his works. Highly recommended. Show Less
LibraryThing member jjsreads
My favorite Hiaasen book by far. As soon as I win the lottery I'll become Twilly.
LibraryThing member miketroll
Entertaining black comedy out of the same mould as Stormy Weather and Basket Case.
Hiaasen is always fun to read. He savagely satirises the venality of Florida politics and big business. His characters tend to be black and white, with the hero a cross between the Lone Ranger and a wicked juvenile
Hiaasen is always fun to read. He savagely satirises the venality of Florida politics and big business. His characters tend to be black and white, with the hero a cross between the Lone Ranger and a wicked juvenile
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prankster - the kind of fantasy that appeals to me, at least! Show Less
LibraryThing member karynkan
Save the island from development - interesting, amusing story with a environmental message.
LibraryThing member verenka
there's nothing new to say. It's just another funny, sick, quick Carl Hiaasen book. I had no idea Skink is a regular in his novels - I like that!
LibraryThing member elonole
This book is filled with canned wild game hunts, eco-terrorism, and the cast of characters only Florida has to offer!
(Basket Case aside) the Hiaasen books on this list have 2-3 reoccurring characters, but he introduces them every book so there is no real need for a specific order. rsr
(Basket Case aside) the Hiaasen books on this list have 2-3 reoccurring characters, but he introduces them every book so there is no real need for a specific order. rsr
LibraryThing member SimonW11
typical Hiaasen, suffers from being the next novel on the conveyor belt.
LibraryThing member weird_O
Carl Hiaasen certainly does create Mayhem, with a capital "m". In Sick Puppy, first published at the end of the last century, he touches off barely contained chaos that skips up and down both Florida coasts, from the Keys to Fort Lauderdale, to Gainesville, to Tallahassee, to…ah...Toad Island.
The main characters:
Palmer Stoat: Greedy, loathsome, totally amoral, largely clueless, a top-flight lobbyist with $$$ clients
Desirata Stoat: Young, attractive, wanna-be…maybe…free of her husband
Twilly Spree: Free-spirited, independently wealthy, good-guy eco-terroist
Boodle, a.k.a. McGuinn: Your typical black Lab
Robert Clapley: Former drug runner and dealer; current real estate developer (and lifelong Barbie fetishist)
Darian Lee Gash a.k.a. Mr. Gash: Clapley's hit man, a carry-over from his drug-dealing days
Dick Artemus: Salesman turned Toyota mega-dealer turned governor
Lisa June Peterson: The governor's very young, very smart, quite attractive administrative assistant
Clinton Tyree a.k.a. Skink: War hero, populist, former governor, resigned and disappeared…almost
Lt. Jim Tile: Veteran state trooper, Tyree's security chief, still tenuously in touch his old boss
Doyle Tyree: War hero, war victim, brother of the former governor
Kayla Gudonov and Tish Karpinski: Sex-bombs being surgically transformed into Clapley's Barbie Twins
Karl Krimmler: On-site project supervisor directing the bulldozing of Toad Island
Dr. Steven Brinkman: Biologist doing pre-development environmental inventory on Toad Island for Clapley
Willie Vasquez-Washington: Multi-racial state senator from Miami…a wrench in the works
To launch the plot: Clapley wants to transform sparsely populated Toad Island into Shearwater Resort. But he needs the state to rip out the existing but rickety one-lane wooden bridge and replace it with a modern multi-lane span. How to get the $28 million project approved? Pay Palmer Stoat, lobbyist extraordinaire, to pull some strings. But Stoat's littering ways have attracted the ire of Twilly Spree, who dumps a load of garbage into Mrs. Stoat's BMW convertible, funnels swarms of dung beetles into Stoat's Range Rover, invades Stoat's home and carefully arranges, on Stoat's desk, the glass eyes he plucks from trophy heads lining the walls. Ultimately, he kidnaps the Lab, and also, kinda sorta, Desie Stoat. His price for backing off: unfund the bridge project, which will end Clapley's awful development.
And that's just the beginning! It's mayhem all the way. Tremendously entertaining.
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Only three murders, and they are largely incidental. Two accidental deaths, surely Darwinian. Lots of characters: some whacky, some creepy, some loathsome, some clueless, but only a few genuinely lethal. The main characters:
Palmer Stoat: Greedy, loathsome, totally amoral, largely clueless, a top-flight lobbyist with $$$ clients
Desirata Stoat: Young, attractive, wanna-be…maybe…free of her husband
Twilly Spree: Free-spirited, independently wealthy, good-guy eco-terroist
Boodle, a.k.a. McGuinn: Your typical black Lab
Robert Clapley: Former drug runner and dealer; current real estate developer (and lifelong Barbie fetishist)
Darian Lee Gash a.k.a. Mr. Gash: Clapley's hit man, a carry-over from his drug-dealing days
Dick Artemus: Salesman turned Toyota mega-dealer turned governor
Lisa June Peterson: The governor's very young, very smart, quite attractive administrative assistant
Clinton Tyree a.k.a. Skink: War hero, populist, former governor, resigned and disappeared…almost
Lt. Jim Tile: Veteran state trooper, Tyree's security chief, still tenuously in touch his old boss
Doyle Tyree: War hero, war victim, brother of the former governor
Kayla Gudonov and Tish Karpinski: Sex-bombs being surgically transformed into Clapley's Barbie Twins
Karl Krimmler: On-site project supervisor directing the bulldozing of Toad Island
Dr. Steven Brinkman: Biologist doing pre-development environmental inventory on Toad Island for Clapley
Willie Vasquez-Washington: Multi-racial state senator from Miami…a wrench in the works
To launch the plot: Clapley wants to transform sparsely populated Toad Island into Shearwater Resort. But he needs the state to rip out the existing but rickety one-lane wooden bridge and replace it with a modern multi-lane span. How to get the $28 million project approved? Pay Palmer Stoat, lobbyist extraordinaire, to pull some strings. But Stoat's littering ways have attracted the ire of Twilly Spree, who dumps a load of garbage into Mrs. Stoat's BMW convertible, funnels swarms of dung beetles into Stoat's Range Rover, invades Stoat's home and carefully arranges, on Stoat's desk, the glass eyes he plucks from trophy heads lining the walls. Ultimately, he kidnaps the Lab, and also, kinda sorta, Desie Stoat. His price for backing off: unfund the bridge project, which will end Clapley's awful development.
And that's just the beginning! It's mayhem all the way. Tremendously entertaining.
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LibraryThing member khuben
I have heard so many good things about Hiaasen that I was looking forward to reading one of his books. Sadly, this wasn't the one. I never could really get into the plot nor did I find any of the characters particularly appealing. I'm going to try another of his, just to see if this was an unlucky
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first choice. Show Less
LibraryThing member StewartAJ
Possibly Hiassen's best, for me. I love Twilly and hate Stoat, and there are all the usually misfits and reprobates, and of course a guest spot from Skink. The wonderful Mr. Gash and a plot that just takes off and goes everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Typical Hiassen hijinks with a serious
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edge. I look this one. Show Less
LibraryThing member pagemasterZee
Carl Hiaasen has such a way with character descriptions. Such unique characters. Most of his books - actually all of his books can be compared to literature on crack - fast paced and chaotic. Keeps the readers on there toes because you never know the direction he's going to take next. I love this
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authors books and am sad because i have not read them all yet. - i love that the main characters (hero/heroine) all seem to be environmental fanatics bordering on crazy. If you are crazy green - read these. Show Less
LibraryThing member Bookmarque
I have a weakness for Carl Hiaasen. Mostly it’s because of Skink. I love that guy. But it’s also because of his brief, but I believe intense, friendship with Warren Zevon. Every time I read a book I look for little glimpses and glimmers of Zevon’s mad genius. By now I’ve read most of the
These are my fall-back, feel-good books that are funny and surprise me in subtle ways. I like the language and what Hiaasen continues to try to do - to show how corrupt and insane the people who govern Florida are. How they’ve destroyed a unique ecosystem and how the state is filled with the lowest of the low. But he manages to avoid being completely bleak and, like Skink, he can’t seem to leave, no matter how bad it gets.
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books so I know how it will go. In Florida, two people are thrown together and fall in love or connect because of the evil, underhanded and decidedly un-environmentally sound practices of some corrupt politicians/businessmen. Some pristine parcel of property will be threatened with an insipid golf resort or other mindlessly pointless attraction for the rich and idiotic. There will be mild violence, sex and language. Twisted henchmen pursue, threaten and assault the pair in the name of their handlers, the eco-criminals/politicians. There will be quirky hangups and/or handicaps on the parts of the heros and the villains - in short, freaks abound (remember Chemo?! Yeah, that’s about the size of it.) There will be weird coincidences and comeuppances. People will die in fiendishly appropriate ways. If we’re lucky, Skink will be our fist of justice and maybe he’ll find a new glass eye and some tasty roadkill. All with an excellent rock and roll soundtrack.These are my fall-back, feel-good books that are funny and surprise me in subtle ways. I like the language and what Hiaasen continues to try to do - to show how corrupt and insane the people who govern Florida are. How they’ve destroyed a unique ecosystem and how the state is filled with the lowest of the low. But he manages to avoid being completely bleak and, like Skink, he can’t seem to leave, no matter how bad it gets.
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Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1999
Physical description
6.75 inches
ISBN
0446604666 / 9780446604666