Hiaasen, Carl 1953-

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HIAASEN, Carl 1953-

PERSONAL: Born March 12, 1953, in Fort Lauderdale, FL; son of K. Odel (a lawyer) and Patricia (Moran) Hiaasen; married Constance Lyford (a registered nurse and attorney), November 12, 1970 (divorced, 1996); married, 1999; wife's name, Fenia; children: (first marriage) Scott Andrew; (second marriage) Quinn. Education: Attended Emory University, 1970-72; University of Florida, B.S., 1974.

ADDRESSES: Office—Miami Herald, 1 Herald Plaza, Miami, FL 33101. Agent—Esther Newberg, International Creative Management, 40 West 57th St., New York, NY 10019.

CAREER: Writer. Cocoa Today, Cocoa, FL, reporter, 1974-76; Miami Herald, Miami, FL, reporter, 1976—, columnist, 1985—. Professor at Barry College, 1978-79.

MEMBER: Authors Guild, Authors League of America.

AWARDS, HONORS: National Headliners Award, distinguished service medallion from Sigma Delta Chi, public service first-place award from Florida Society of Newspaper Editors, Clarion Award, Women in Communications, Heywood Broun Award, Newspaper Guild, and finalist for Pulitzer Prize in public-service reporting, all 1980, all for newspaper series about dangerous doctors; Green Eyeshade Award from Sigma Delta Chi, first-place award for in-depth reporting, Florida Society of Newspaper Editors, grand prize for investigative reporting, Investigative Reporters and Editors, and finalist for Pulitzer Prize in special local reporting, all 1981, all for newspaper series on drug-smuggling industry in Key West; Silver Gavel Award, American Bar Association, 1982; Newbery honor book, American Library Association, 2003, for Hoot; Damon Runyon Award, 2003-2004.

WRITINGS:

NOVELS

(With William D. Montalbano) Powder Burn, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1981.

(With William D. Montalbano) Trap Line, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1982.

(With William D. Montalbano) A Death in China, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1984.

Tourist Season, Putnam (New York, NY), 1986.

Double Whammy, Putnam (New York, NY), 1987.

Skin Tight, Putnam (New York, NY), 1989.

Native Tongue, Knopf (New York, NY), 1991.

Strip Tease, Knopf (New York, NY), 1993.

Stormy Weather, Knopf (New York, NY), 1995.

Naked Came the Manatee, Putnam (New York, NY), 1996.

Lucky You, Knopf (New York, NY), 1997.

Sick Puppy, Knopf (New York, NY), 2000.

Basket Case, Knopf (New York, NY), 2002.

Hoot, Knopf (New York, NY), 2002.

Skinny Dip, Knopf (New York, NY), 2004.

OTHER

Team Rodent: How Disney Devours the World (nonfiction), Ballantine (New York, NY), 1998.

Kick Ass: Selected Columns of Carl Hiaasen, University Press of Florida (Gainesville, FL), 1999.

Paradise Screwed: Selected Columns of Carl Hiaasen, Putnam (New York, NY), 2001.

Also contributor to magazines and newspapers, including Rolling Stone, Penthouse, Us, Playboy, and Esquire.

ADAPTATIONS: Strip Tease was adapted as a motion picture, written and directed by Andrew Bergman, starring Demi Moore and Armand Assante, Castle Rock Entertainment, 1996.

SIDELIGHTS: As an award-winning investigative reporter for the Miami Herald, Carl Hiaasen has written about dangerous doctors, drug smuggling, and other serious crimes. His fictional works reflect his exposure to—and outrage over—Florida's social ills. A native of South Florida, Hiaasen has turned his righteous indignation into humorous satire in which heroes and villains alike exhibit farcical quirks and an attachment to creative forms of violence. The good guys are often eco-terrorists seeking to preserve the ever-dwindling plots of undeveloped land; the bad guys wallow in greed as they pursue the rape of the state. According to Joe Queenan in the New York Times Book Review,Hiaasen "has made a persuasive case that the most barbaric, ignorant and just plain awful people living in this country today reside, nay flourish, in the state of Florida." Desmond Ryan cited Hiaasen in the Philadelphia Inquirer for "his customary pungency, wit and flair," adding that the novelist "has a way of leaving the reprobates and sleazebags that infest the land of the hanging chad flattened like roadkill."

The son of an attorney, Hiaasen grew up with dual interests. He wanted to be a writer, but he also enjoyed the outdoors and especially savored Florida's unspoiled wilderness areas. He graduated from the University of Florida in 1974, and by 1976 had earned a position with the Miami Herald as a reporter. He soon became a member of the Herald's investigative team, and he continues to write two columns a week that take aim at corruption in every level of government and business. Hiaasen began his fiction-writing career with coauthor William D. Montalbano and then struck out on his own with novels that "turn . . . journalistic experience to fictional advantage," in the words of New York Times Book Review contributor Herbert Mitgang. As Polly Paddock put it in the Charlotte Observer, "Underneath all Hiaasen's hijinks, there is the righteous indignation that marks both his journalistic and novelistic work. Hiaasen hates hypocrisy, pretension, corporate greed, political corruption and the rape of the environment. He won't let us forget that."

Tourist Season, a tongue-in-cheek account of terrorists who bully Miami tourists in order to depress the tourism industry, received considerable acclaim. Chicago Tribune Book World columnist Alice Cromie called the thriller "one of the most exciting novels of the season." Tony Hillerman noted in the New York Times Book Review that Tourist Season "is full of . . . quick, efficient, understated little sketches of the sort of subtle truth that leaves you grinning. In fact, Mr. Hiaasen leaves you grinning a lot." Regarding the book, Hiaasen once commented that "for inspiration, all I had to do was read the daily newspaper. Crime in Miami is so bizarre that no novelist's inventions could surpass true life."

In Double Whammy Hiaasen "comes up with a suitably manic plot, this time involving skullduggery on the bass-fishing circuit," said Kevin Moore in the Chicago Tribune Book World. R. J. Decker, a news photographer turned private eye, tangles with a host of bizarre characters, including a former governor of Florida who lives on roadkill and a murderer with the head of a pit bull attached to his arm. "The writing style is macabre-funny," noted Walter Walker in the New York Times Book Review, "and it delivers the plot's myriad twists and turns with breathtaking speed."

Greedy plastic surgeons, sensationalistic television personalities, and money-grubbing lawyers are the targets of Skin Tight, another fast-paced mix of satire and thriller. The hero, Mick Stranahan, a former Florida state investigator, is threatened by an old feud with a corrupt plastic surgeon suspected of murder. In self-defense, Stranahan keeps a trained barracuda under his stilt house. In one incident the barracuda eats the hand of a hit man trying to murder Stranahan, but the hit man gets a weed trimmer as a prosthesis—and then comes after Stranahan again. In the New York Times Book Review, Katherine Dunn observed that while the author's tone in Skin Tight holds no warmth towards its subjects (unlike Tourist Season) it is still fascinating and impressive. She added, "No one has ever designed funnier, more terrifying bad guys, or concocted odder ways of doing away with them."

Hiaasen's next novel, Native Tongue, garnered similar praise. The story is "a skillful, timely satire—a weird, wild, comic caper of ecological guerrilla warfare that bites as often as it laughs," wrote Richard Martins in the Chicago Tribune Book World. In the book, the fragile ecology of the Florida Keys is exploited and damaged by theme-park developers and environmental activists alike. According to Jack Viertel, writing in the Los Angeles Times Book Review, Hiaasen "might be termed a South Florida hybrid of Jonathan Swift, Randy Newman, and Elmore Leonard. . . . His novels are shot through with a kind of real passion that lurks beneath the manic prose—an urgent affection for his subject." Viertel concluded, "The ultimate enemy is always the same: overdevelopment of the last remaining wilderness in the state."

Strip Tease features a genuine heroine, Erin Grant, who resorts to nude dancing so that she can continue to finance the fight for custody of her daughter. Grant's ex-husband, the wheelchair-stealing Darrell, is one of the novel's many villains; others include a state congressman beholden to Florida's powerful sugar-growers. Writing in the Times Literary Supplement, Karl Miller remarked, "Hiaasen is against graft, exploitation, and the destruction of the environment. This is an ecologically green black comedy, in which men are scum and it is 'women's work,' according to Erin, to destroy them." In 1996 the novel was released as a motion picture starring Demi Moore.

In Stormy Weather Hiaasen uses the aftermath of a devastating hurricane to once again skewer the greedy and corrupt in South Florida. Characters include Edie Marsh, a con woman who has tried in vain to blackmail the Kennedys but who recognizes a new opportunity for enrichment when the hurricane blows through; an advertising executive who ends his honeymoon at Disneyland to venture to Miami to videotape the storm's damage; and a recurring Hiaasen bit player, the one-eyed former governor of Florida who now lives in the swamp, sustaining himself with roadkill. Chicago Tribune Books reviewer Gary Dretzka noted, "Hiaasen writes with the authority of a documentary filmmaker. . . . He displays no mercy for anyone perceived as being responsible for defiling his home environment." Calling Stormy Weather "caustic and comic," Time critic John Skow explained the author's use of villains in his literary formula: "turn over a rock and watch in glee and honest admiration as those little rascals squirm in the light."

An eco-terrorist with an anger-management problem serves as the hero in Sick Puppy. After seeking revenge on a litterbug, Twilly Spree discovers that the target of his revenge is also a big-time lobbyist involved in expediting the illegal sale of an untouched barrier island. Twilly kidnaps the man's dog and wife in the hope of using them as leverage to save the island. In the meantime, the lobbyist enlists the help of an unscrupulous developer and his sadistic sidekick to put an end to Twilly. A Publishers Weekly reviewer deemed the book "a devilishly funny caper" in which Hiaasen "shows himself to be a comic writer at the peak of his powers." Bill Ott observed in Booklist that "Hiaasen's brand of apocalyptic surrealism is nothing if not distinctive."

The publication of Basket Case marked a departure for Hiaasen. The novel is narrated in the first person by a principled journalist named Jack Tagger, and among the villains is the newspaper industry itself. Still, characteristic Hiaasen humor reigns. Tagger, an obituary writer, investigates the suspicious death of a former rock star, the lead singer of Jimmy and the Slut Puppies. Jimmy's silly lyrics are offered for the reader's perusal alongside Tagger's obsession with death and with the decline of serious reportage in newspapers. Ott in Booklist applauded Hiaasen for venturing beyond "his unique brand of apocalyptic surrealism" to produce "a rip-roaringly entertaining tale." Orlando Sentinel reviewer William McKeen declared that Basket Case "is what loyal readers have come to expect from the guy—an intelligent, funny, deeply moral book about the decline of Western Civilization." McKeen was particularly delighted with Tagger, declaring him "probably one of Hiaasen's most endearing fictional characters." In the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Jeff Guinn concluded that Basket Case "proves two things about . . . Hiaasen: He was brave enough to venture beyond the sarcastic humor/ecological themes that characterized his first eight novels, and he is a huge writing talent whose finest fiction may be yet to come."

In Hoot Hiaasen keep his characters dedicated to a higher cause, but this time Hiaasen's audience includes younger readers as he focuses on protagonists who are children. "My stepson, nephews and nieces are always bugging me about reading one of my books," the author was quoted as saying in Book. "Obviously, some of the language and adult situations went out the window, but I created the same sensibilities in my kid characters that my adult ones walk around with." Hoot tells the story of Roy Eberhardt, a middle-school student who moves into Coconut Cove with his family and tries to adjust to life in South Florida. Before long, he is dealing with a bully, a mysterious boy called Mullet Fingers, and a protest to stop a construction project that threatens the habitat of owls. Writing in the School Library Journal, Miranda Doyle found the novel "Entertaining but ultimately not very memorable," while a Publishers Weekly contributor predicted that "Characteristically quirky characters and comic twists will surely gain the author new fans." Bill Ott, writing in Booklist, praised Hiaasen for letting "his inner kid run rampant" and added that the book "is full of offbeat humor, buffoonish yet charming supporting characters, and genuinely touching scene of children enjoying the wildness of nature."

For his novel Skinny Dip, Hiaasen once again writes for adults as he tells the tale of Chaz Perrone, an incompetent and greedy marine scientist who is helping a tycoon to illegally dump fertilizer into the Everglades. Perrone attempts to kill his wife, Joey, after she finds out about his illegal doings. But Joey survives and with the help of former cop Mick Stranahan begins to haunt and taunt her husband, in a comic romp that has its roots in the current events of the Sunshine State.

In addition to novels, Hiaasen has also published several volumes of his collected columns, as well as Team Rodent: How Disney Devours the World, a scathing critique of the Walt Disney Corporation. Atlanta Journal-Constitution writer Mike Williams observed that in his nonfiction, "Hiaasen wastes no time. He sets his tone to rapid-fire acerbic, squeezes off a few rounds to clear his muzzle, then goes on full automatic, like Rambo taking on the world." In the Sarasota Herald Tribune David Grimes remarked that "Reading a collection of Carl Hiaasen's newspaper columns reveals a frightening truth about his loopy novels: They're not that big an exaggeration." Southern Cultures reviewer David Zucchino maintained that when "Hiaasen opens fire . . . he is pitiless. He savages the men and institutions he believes are turning his beloved Miami and South Florida into a crass, violent, drug-soaked strip mall." A Publishers Weekly critic felt that Hiaasen "writes with an old-time columnist's sense of righteous rage and an utterly current and biting wit."

As to the aims Hiaasen holds for his fiction, the author once told People magazine: "All I ever ask of my main characters is that their hearts are in the right place, that when they step over the law it's for a higher cause." Discussing why he became an author, Hiassen told a contributor to the Writer, that he "enjoyed writing and getting a reaction" when he was very young. He added: "I think it's some sort of extension of being a class clown—that if you could write something and make somebody laugh, it was a good gig to have. I think there was an element of psychotherapy—it was a legal outlet for some of the ideas I was wanting to express as a kid."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 14, 1998, Mike Williams, "Hiaasen Tackles 'Rodent' That Ate Florida," p. L11; January 2, 2000, Phil Kloer, "Hiaasen's 'Sick' Tale a Fun Ride," p. K12.

Book, September-October, 2002, "Kidding Around: Youth-Oriented Books by Adult Authors," p. 66.

Booklist, November 1, 1999, Bill Ott, review of Sick Puppy, p. 483; May 1, 2001, Bill Ott, "Hiaasen's People," p. 1704; September 15, 2001, David Pitt, review of Paradise Screwed: Selected Columns of Carl Hiaasen, p. 184; November 1, 2001, Bill Ott, review of Basket Case, p. 444; October 15, 2002, Bill Ott, review of Hoot, p. 405.

Charlotte Observer, January 16, 2002, Polly Paddock, review of Basket Case.

Chicago Tribune, January 23, 2002, Patrick T. Reardon, review of Basket Case.

Chicago Tribune Book World, March 16, 1986; January 31, 1988; September 10, 1989.

Detroit Free Press, May 4, 1986.

Entertainment Weekly, January 18, 2002, Bruce Fretts, "Sunny Delight," p. 72.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram, January 9, 2002, Jeff Guinn, review of Basket Case.

Gentleman's Quarterly, June, 1996, p. 92.

Globe and Mail (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), April 26, 1986.

Houston Chronicle, January 16, 2000, Jim Barlow, "Carl Hiaasen: The Kinky Friedman of Thriller Writers," p. 17.

Library Journal, June 15, 1981; March 15, 1986.

Los Angeles Times Book Review, April 29, 1984; October 13, 1991.

Maclean's, October 16, 1995, p. 79; January 17, 2002, Paula Friedman, review of Basket Case, p. 2.

New York Times, June 14, 1998, Deborah Stead, review of Team Rodent: How Disney Devours the World, p. B9; January 6, 2000, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, "Lots of Bad-Natured Floridians and One Good-Natured Dog," p. B10; January 3, 2002, Janet Maslin, "An Obit Writer's Renewed Zest for Life," p. B13.

New York Times Book Review, January 10, 1982; February 13, 1983; June 24, 1984; March 16, 1986; March 6, 1988; October 15, 1989; September 3, 1995, p. 15; January 9, 2000, Joe Queenan, "Everything Is Rotten in the State of Florida," p. 10; March 25, 2001, Scott Veale, review of Sick Puppy, p. 28.

Orlando Sentinel, September 20, 1981; January 16, 2002, William McKeen, review of Basket Case.

People, May 15, 2000, Christina Cheakalos, "Hurricane Hiaasen," p. 139.

Philadelphia Inquirer, January 16, 2002, Desmond Ryan, review of Basket Case.

Playboy, October, 1995, p. 34.

Publishers Weekly, August 16, 1993; July 10, 1995, p. 44; October 25, 1999, review of Kick Ass: SelectedColumns of Carl Hiaasen, p. 61; November 8, 1999, review of Sick Puppy, p. 49; November 12, 2001, review of Basket Case, p. 36; June 24, 2002, review of Hoot, p. 58.

Sarasota Herald Tribune, September 2, 2001, David Grimes, "More Florida Bad Guys in Carl Hiaasen Collection," p. E5.

School Library Journal, Miranda Doyle, review of Hoot, p. 188.

Southern Cultures, fall, 2000, David Zucchino, review of Kick Ass, p. 73.

Time, August 14, 1995, John Skow, review of Stormy Weather, p. 70.

Times Literary Supplement, November 5, 1993, p. 12; March 29, 1996, p. 14.

Tribune Books (Chicago, IL), September 1, 1991; July 10, 1994, p. 8; August 13, 1995, p. 5.

Vanity Fair, August, 1993.

Variety, July 13, 1998, Andrew Paxman, review of Team Rodent, p. 6.

Washington Post Book World, May 6, 1984; April 6, 1986.

Writer, June, 2003, "Carl Hiaasen (How I Write)," p. 66.