Carl Hiaasen’s irresistible Razor Girl meets his usual sky-high standards for elegance, craziness and mike-drop humor. But this election-year novel is exceptionally timely, too ... [a] wonderfully overstocked book ... Finally, Mr. Hiaasen’s dialogue is too good to go unmentioned.
It’s a classic Hiaasen setup, and Razor Girl delivers on it with seasoned, professional ease. The dialogue somehow sounds believable even at its most deadpan hilarious, and the multi-pronged satire — of Florida, corrupt cops, bumbling criminals and, most exquisitely, the entertainment industry — is gentle but merciless.
...at turns gleefully obscene, shockingly violent and riotously funny. In other words, it's Carl Hiaasen doing what he does best ... In the hands of another author, Razor Girl could have turned out shambolic and confused. But Hiaasen is a gifted storyteller who knows that the key to keeping readers engaged is a mixture of suspense and humor.
Hiaasen’s openings hit you like the first blast of hot, sticky air on a Florida morning. They knock you sideways, and it can take a while to get your bearings. Pretty soon, though, you start to realize that the heat, and the craziness it induces, just aren’t going to let up, so you might as well go with it ... The farce machinery of Hiaasen’s fiction is, as always, fearsomely elaborate, and a good part of the pleasure of Razor Girl is in the casual, no-sweat way he sets it all up ... The secret is Hiaasen’s premium, high-grade comic prose, which keeps everything at the right temperature.
...[a] rollicking new book ... Hiaasen sets all those plots spinning and then whirls them closer and closer to one another. Will Buck make it back home, and will Coolman keep his job? Will Blister get a role on Bayou Brethren? Among Trebeaux, Brock and the actual rats, who will survive?
Hiaasen runs wild in a hilarious tale ... Hiaasen's love-hate relationship with his stamping grounds plays out richly ... With equal facility, Hiaasen captures the culture of the Florida Keys and cable television, using his signature hyperbole. He nails dialogue from recalcitrant rednecks and greedy gangsters. Still, his greatest gift comes in offering just enough humanity in his most loathsome actors to keep black humor from sliding into cynicism.
Hiaasen’s propulsive plot moves this motley collection of weirdos swiftly through a Rube Goldberg string of mistakes and counter-mistakes. Hiaasen rules this satirized and exaggerated version of Florida as an agenda-driven and vengeful deity, reveling in the self-induced pitfalls that take down the worst offenders. His particular version of Murphy’s Law operates with a sly grin and a razor-sharp sense of humor.
