Stormy Weather

By: Carl Hiaasen

Narrated by: George Wilson

Length: 14 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

Carl Hiaasen, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and best-selling author, has earned a reputation for perceptive, sharp-edged suspense that also cuts to the bone of environmental issues. His novels have been translated into many languages and are touted worldwide for their quirky characters and surreal adventures set in the ravaged cultural wasteland of southern Florida.

Stormy Weather centers on the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew. The devastation of the storm has attracted crowds of voyeurs and impostors to Florida. Drawn by the chance to prey on Andrew's victims, misfits like the murderous ex-con Snapper and the dangerously seductive Edie find easy targets for their insurance scams. They're not prepared, though, when they meet their opposition, led by a hoary ex-governor who smokes toads.

Both hilariously funny and deadly accurate, Carl Hiaasen's novel will take you into a Florida that is far from the frilly palms and pink flamingos of its post cards. Strap on your seatbelt. Stormy Weather is an unforgettable, turbulent ride.

©1995 Carl Hiaasen (P)1997 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"Biting wit, wacky characters, and a profound fury." (USA Today)
"These strange characters maneuver through a broken landscape as if born to it, and the author's control of both style and narrative keeps the novel from slipping into silliness....A fiction that explores the intersection of the grotesque and the human." Library Journal)
"Combining slapstick nightmare, black comedy, and moral outrage in just the right proportions." (Booklist)

Funny

I love this author and this book did not dissapoint. It's laugh out loud at times just like most of this author's books and Skink the Governor is back and funny as usual.

Another entertaining story from Carl Hiaasen

Great for commutes when you need a few laughs, this is an entertaining story with classic Hiaasen characters. George Wilson's narration is excellent--half the fun of listening to Hiaasen is in the way Wilson makes the characters come alive.

slow to start but great once you get going.

struggled with keeping track of all the different characters and what was going on between them. this was due to the actually story and not the performance of the narrator.

Karma's a b**ch

The back end of a hurricane is called the dirty side of the storm, often bringing some of the worst weather and tornados. In Carl Hiaason's Florida, the dirty side of the storm is filled with crooked opportunists looking to make a killing, do a killing, or just cynically take videos of personal misery to show to the folks back home. Fortunately this crazy landscape has some good guys too - although they may not be easy to recognize at first, disguised as they are by their quirkey lives.

This is not a story for everyone. The humor is startling, even raunchy - if you get it, you'll find yourself letting out sudden bursts of laughter at absurd moments, thinking one second later OMG that's not funny - and yet it is. Hiaason finds some of the most outrageous ways for the bad guys to get their come-uppance. Karma really is a b**ch.

This doesn't sparkle quite as brightly as Skinny Dip, largely because there were too many characters to keep track of (and to be disposed of), so its pace was a bit slower. The main story threads are terrific and very Hiaason. If he had left out at least a couple of the lesser threads it would have been better. Fairly small complaint. I still enjoyed my journey through this crazy storm-ruined Wonderland. Just what I was looking for as a light guilty pleasure.

Quirky, But Good

If it wasn't for Audible I would never have discovered this author. It has a bunch of wacko characters, but was enjoyable.

The reader held my interest also. Would definitely listen to something with this combination again.

Hurricane Hiaasen Strikes Again

In the wake of a massive hurricane (reminiscent of Andrew), south Florida is wrecked. Amid the detritus of the ruinous storm comes the detritus of humanity -- insurance fraud, construction rip-offs, corrupt politicians, vengeful gangsters, and the like. In typical fashion, real estate scams and ecological disaster intersect in Carl Hiaasen's Florida, fueled by human greed and ignorance.

Hiaasen's righteous avenger, Skink, former governor turned eccentric hermit, is on hand, along with his buddy, state trooper Jim Tile. But Skink is curiously passive when abducted by the baddest of the bad guys in a book full of bad people. And that after Skink goes over the top with an innocuous baddy. Not sure why Hiaasen constructed the story this way when we know Skink can easily deal with his abductor.

Amid all the usual fun and hi-jinks, as darkly humorous as we expect from Hiaasen, there is another problem -- there are just too many characters, not all the sub-plots of much interest. There is always a plethora of side characters and stories, but this would have benefited had he focused on the two main sets of characters, fleshed out their backstories, concocted more scenes among them, rather than adding in superfluous sub-plots.

But that is just a minor quibble. This is a solid entry in Hiaasen's body of work, specifically in the Skink canon, not dated in the two-plus decades since its publication. For readers new to Hiaasen, I'd recommend Double Whammy (Skink #1) ahead of this, but either way, you should enjoy this entry.

Great book but not my favorite

I didn't think this narrator was the right fit for this book. Some of his pronunciations were off and I wasn't as excited about his Skink voice and enunciation as I have been in others.

I'm a Florida native, who lived in Broward during Hurricane Andrew, so I do appreciate the real world aspects that were brought in. Animals really did escape from the zoo!

All in all a good book.

I laughed until I cried.

I grew up in Miami and I feel like I'm transported back in time. The characters in all of Hiaasen's books are spot on, and so funny. I can't get enough. I'm pretty sure I've dated one of Hiaasen's shady characters.

Very entertaining!

Excellent story and great character development. it was entertaining from begging til end, never a full moment.

Favorite Skink Book So Far

Favorite Skink Book So Far. Feels like this is where Tim Dorsey got a big inspiration to create his Serge A Storms Character.