Product Description

R. J. Decker, star tenant of the local trailer park and neophyte private eye, is fishing for a killer. Thanks to a sportsman's scam that's anything but sportsmanlike, there's a body floating in Coon Bog, Florida-and a lot that's rotten in the murky waters of big-stakes, large-mouth bass tournaments. Here Decker will team up with a half-blind, half-mad hermit with an appetite for road kill; dare to kiss his ex-wife while's she's in bed with her new husband; and face deadly TV evangelists, dangerously seductive women, and a pistol-toting redneck with a pit bull on his arm. And here his own life becomes part of the stakes. For while the "double whammy" is the lure, first prize is for the most ingenious murder.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #121989 in Books
• Published on: 2005-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

From Publishers Weekly
A Miami Herald reporter who struck a blow against corrupt entrepreneurs in Tourist Season, Hiaasen follows through with this acid satire, a real double whammy. Private detective R. J. Decker is hired to prove that TV host Dickie Lockhart cheats to win fortunes in Florida bass-fishing tournaments. The investigation makes Decker a prey to hired killers who have murdered other "snoops," but the detective also finds a strong if weird ally in a hermit who calls himself Skink. Along with two honest cops, Skink goes with Decker to the lake where a big tournament is under way and the four make a tremendous splash, to the dismay of the assembly. Hardest hit is Reverend Weeb, Lockhart's sponsor on the Outdoor Christian Network, whose generous supporters don't know that he's addicted to prostitutes, profanity and land-grabbing. The cast of bizarre characters and the suspenseful events confirm Hiaasen's reputation for creating singular villains and heroes. While he's probably unpopular among some fellow citizens in his home state, he will certainly please readers who appreciate the Swiftian wit in his cautionary tales.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
The "double whammy" is a special lure used in the competitive bass fishing underlying the plot of this thriller by Miami journalist Hiaasen ( The Tourist Season ). Someone is cheating at bass fishing competitions, and people are getting killed. Enter R.J. Decker, former photojournalist and ex-con. Decker teams up with Skink, an unbelievable character who lives in a forest shack, eats road-killed animals, and reads Dostoyevsky (and turns out to be the ex-governor of Florida). Decker's an unlikely hero, always a step behind. Other characters include the usual corrupt TV evangelists, rednecks, smart black policemen, and betrayingly beautiful women. The action is swift, and there are some very funny scenes. Louise A. Merriam, L.E. Phillips Memorial P.L., Eau Claire, Wis.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
Veteran of three taut but traditional thrillers (with William B. Montalbo: Powder Burn, 1981; Trap Line, 1982; A Death in China, 1984), Hiaasen unveiled an original madcap voice steeped in black humor when he finally soloed in last year's satirical crimemeller, Tourist Trap. Here, he sings on in that same fine, mordant key as a Florida P.I. tackles corruption in the quirky milieu of big-time bass fishing. In Hiaasen's whacked-out world, only photographer-turned P.I., R.J. Decker and his ex-wife Catherine have their heads screwed on straight. So despite Catherine's remarriage, the two stay in close touch when Decker plunges into deep water after rich bass-fishing buff Dennis Gault hires him to prove that archrival Dickie Lockhart cheats at the fishing tourneys Lockhart invariably wins. Decker is hot-tempered and quick-fisted, but even with Catherine's help he's no match for the slew of oddball villains standing between him and a successful case: not only Lockhart and his nympho sister, Lanie; and Rev. Weeb, a TV-preacher who funds Lockhart's bass-fishing TV series and promotes condos built on PCB-riddled sludge; but also Gault's (he's a villain too, framing Decker for murder) hired thug Thomas Curl, who kidnaps Catherine while lurching around with the decaying head of a pit bull clamped onto his arm. Lucky for Decker, help comes in the Paul Bunyansized Skink, an eccentric fisherman who happens to be an incognito, embittered exgovernor of Florida. With Skink at his side, Decker exposes Lockhart as a cheat, Gault as a killer, and Weeb as a fraud - and by rescuing Catherine, rekindles their own true love. Not a perfect mystery/farce - Decker is too weak a protagonist, with trappings too standard-P.I., to properly anchor the wild goings-on. Still, with its byzantine plot and wonderful, weird denizens, this is one of the most delightfully inventive and entertaining crime novels of the year. (Kirkus Reviews)

Customer Reviews

Hiaasen's funniest book--and THAT is saying something!
I stumbled across one of those bass fishing shows a few days before I read this book. I couldn't believe people would sit around and watch people fish! But they do. And Hiaasen had a ball writing about it, too.

This book has so many great moments. Skink and the poodle is one of the funniest things I've ever read. I laughed so hard, tears streamed down my face. I called a friend and tried to read the scene over the phone, but I couldn't stop laughing. It's all right, my friend knew I was crazy. He rushed out and bought the book, though! The pit bull in the trailer park scene and the aftermath is also priceless. I guess this is Hiaasen's dog book as well as his fish book.

Needless to say, if you haven't read Hiaasen, start with this one. You'll be hooked.

Perhaps the funniest books ever written!
Carl Hiaasen has taken wonderfully wacky characters such as Skink, a mystery giant who wears a glass eye retrieved from a stuffed owl and who dines on road kill, and has turned them into individuals that you have to love. Hiassen's villians, while bad, will capture the reader's imaginations with their total ineptude. This is the first book that I have read by Hiaasen, but the outrageous humor contained in the twists and turns of the plot, centered around a bass fishing tournament, have convinced me to read his other works. Although this was the funniest book I believe I have ever read, Hiaasen, makes his real message, enviornmental destruction, loud and clear and if the reader is not an enviornmentalist before reading the book, there is a good chance s/he will put the book down believing there is work to be done in saving our county, whether it be the swamp lands that Hiaasen weaves into his tale, or perhaps the mountains or lakes in our own back yards!

Pleasure-filled reading experience!
My first Hiaasen and an example of how useful reviews (reading other people's reviews) can be. I found out about Hiaasen by reading someone else's review of a Tim Dorsey book. As a matter of fact, a good number of books I have read recently are books that other people said were good and judging by previous books they reviewed, it looked like they had tastes similar to mine.

About the book...this is pure reading entertainment. Hiaasen's wicked imagination is what makes the book so interesting. He's written a typical mystery but the venue and the characters are anything but typical (television evangelism and professional bass fishing). Hiaasen spends so much time with character development that it is impossible not to feel an attachment to these crazy people and concern for the impossible situations in which he puts them. Everyone knows that the people who fish, regularly lie about the fish they caught and the ones that got away, but in Double Whammy the men on the professional bass fishing circuit have stepped it up a notch by cheating and murdering to cover up their cheating.

These characters are all larger than life and the stunts they pull are zany and over the top, but amongst all the fun, there is a real social message here that Hiaasen is able to pull off without being offensive.

Laugh out loud funny in spots and humorous nearly throughout. It was a joy to read!