Naked Came the Manatee - Softcover

Carl Hiaasen; Dave Barry

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0449001245 ISBN 13: 9780449001240

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 1998

Synopsis

In South Florida, everyone wants to get a head. But not just any head. A very famous human head--severed and snugged away in a cryonic container. A head that could spark a revolution and change the course of history.

Everybody wants a piece of the noggin: rotund gangster Big Joey G., a 102-year-old environmentalist, hard-boiled Miami reporter Britt Montero, lawyer Jake Lassiter,  and a would-be dictator in exile--with ex-president Jimmy Carter and a lovable manatee named Booger thrown in for good measure.

With bodies piling up it's anybody's guess what will happen from one chapter to the next, as an all-star line-up of Florida's finest writers take turns at taking this outrageously original novel to the limit--and beyond.

About this title

Review:

Dave Barry starts the madness in Naked Came the Manatee, introducing a 102-year-old environmentalist named Coconut Grove and a manatee saddled with one of Barry's favorite monikers, Booger. Carl Hiaasen closes down the party, and in between, 11 of Florida's literati, including Elmore Leonard, John Dufresne, and Edna Buchanan, make twisted offerings to the affair: three severed heads, all bearing a remarkable resemblance to Fidel Castro; four murders; some sex; some espionage; even an appearance by Jimmy Carter and one by Castro himself.

Originally published as a serial novel in the Miami Herald's Tropic magazine, Naked Came the Manatee resembles a literary game of telephone, with each writer contributing a chapter and passing it on to the next, who then makes the most of what he or she is given. The result is a novel with wildly fluctuating styles and more crazy plot curves than a daytime drama, but thanks to these 13 masters of the craft this roller coaster of a book is almost as much fun to read as it obviously was to write.

From the Publisher:

Boy is this book a thrill-ride. The concept, having all your favorite mystery writers take turns with the chapters is one thing, the execution is another! I highly recommend this book, it's also a great primer if you haven't read some of the authors in the book to get a sense of how fantastic they are.
A. Scheibe, editorial

About this edition

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0449001245
• ISBN 13: 9780449001240
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208
• Editor: Tom Shroder