Speed Week - Hardcover

Date, S. V.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0399145133 ISBN 13: 9780399145131

Publisher: Putnam Adult, 1999

Synopsis

With his multi-million-dollar RaceWorld theme park threatened by his estranged wife Barbie's efforts to save the sea turtles, Nick Van Horne decides to eliminate the problem by having her killed and embarks on a murder-for-hire scheme that leads to a host of unusual surprises. 17,500 first printing.

About this title

About the Author

S. V. Date covers the Florida statehouse for The Palm Beach Post.

Reviews

Set on Florida's Racing Riviera during "Speed Week"Athe celebrated annual running of the NASCAR Daytona 500Athis zany hardcover debut by a veteran Florida journalist (Final Orbit) is an unabashed ripoff of fellow journalist Carl Hiaasen's razor-sharp spoofs on life among the high-rise condos and titty bars of South Florida. Here, the action turns on the plight of sleazy Nick Van Horne, middle-aged speedway heir, and his widowed stepmother, Joanna (one year his junior), who are scheming to build a Raceworld theme park on the beach. Nick's estranged wife, Barbie, a former nude poster girl now a self-styled bunny-hugger, is suing to stop them from defiling nesting grounds of endangered sea turtles. Stepmom gives Nick 50 Gs to have Barbie bumped off, but dimwitted Nick decides to find a cut-rate hitman. This ill-considered plan escalates into a Monty Python fiasco as Nick and his money-grubbing girlfriend try to contract a biker Neanderthal and a dopey beach bum pornographer. Factor in an opportunistic crystal-gazer, assorted pool-hustling babes in thong bikinis, a state legislator on the take and good-neighbor Nolin, a lawyer who has a voyeuristic fixation on long-nippled, long-legged Barbie. Date brazenly (but respectfully) pays tribute to the character of Skint, Hiaasen's memorable character, in the persona of chimerical Randall Romer, a former state attorney, ex-navy SEAL war hero who metamorphoses into an avenging crusader, using a trained mako shark named Bruce to exact retribution on eco-despoiling tourists. Taking on Hiaasen's domain is a bold move, and Date's version of dystopic Florida isn't as masterfully styled, though readers may enjoy the plentiful erotica and the antics of these goofy gold diggers.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Beach bums, bimbos, and assorted other sordid schemers caper madly during a ludicrously festive week of jet-ski, powerboat, and stock-car racing in Daytona Beach. In his second outing, Palm Beach Post reporter Date (the paperback Final Orbit) essentially clones the darkly comic, over-the-top satires of Miami Herald columnist Carl Hiaasen. Here, the fat, stupid, cravenly corrupt rich villain is J.R. ``Nick'' Van Horne, wealthy heir to three stock-car speedways, including Daytona's. Nick can't seem to get out from under the thumb of his shrewish, surgically enhanced stepmother, Joanna, who is not only younger than Nick but has her heart set on turning a few miles of pristine beachfront into a $120-million, racing-oriented theme park, financed by $80 million in illicitly diverted government funds. With the local newspaper and politicians in their pocket, the Van Horne family's only obstacle is Nick's estranged wife, Barbie, a preposterously sexy New Age airhead who sells slinky sports clothes from a boardwalk boutique. Convinced she was a sea turtle in a past life, Barbie leads a hapless crusade to have the beachfront permanently protected from off-road vehicles and any other kind of development. Because the Van Hornes don't believe in divorce, Nick goes shopping for a contract killer and finds an assortment of oddballs willing to help him get rid of Barbie. Among them: Nick's girlfriend, Amee, a bikini-clad poolroom hustler; Jamie, a hilariously inept beach bum who wants to be a race-car driver; Crawdad, a depraved biker who hopes to sell Barbie into slavery; and the enigmatic Romer, a demented, former state attorney whose best friend is a very hungry man-eating shark named Bruce. The one vaguely nice guy is Nick's lawyer, Nolin, who ditches his client to become Barbie's unlikely champion after a sudsy romp in her hot tub. A funny, fast-moving farce that revels in the sex, sleaze, and greed of wacky nincompoops driven mad by the Florida sun. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Nick Van Horne's father made his millions in stock-car racing and, near the end of his life, married Joanna, a much-younger woman, to whom he left everything. Now, in order to have any access to the family fortune, Nick must do Joanna's bidding. Her dream is Speed World, a NASCAR theme park to be located in Daytona Beach. She's ready to break ground when a group calling itself Save the Turtles launches a campaign against the park. And guess who directs the turtle-huggers? Nick's estranged wife, Barbie. Nick and Joanna decide to eliminate Barbie, but Nick, composed of equal parts cowardice and idiocy and motivated by greed and testosterone, can't get it right, even with the help of a trained killer shark. In the tradition of Carl Hiaasen and Lawrence Shames, this is a cautionary tale of greed, steamy sex, and irresponsible development populated by characters who have spent too much time in the sun. Fun reading for those who like a little absurdity with their crime. Wes Lukowsky

Edition details

• Publisher: Putnam Adult
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0399145133
• ISBN 13: 9780399145131
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 228