Bad Monkey

By: Carl Hiaasen

Narrated by: Arte Johnson

Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

A wickedly funny novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Squeeze Me in which the greedy, the corrupt, and the degraders of what’s left of pristine Florida—now, of the Bahamas as well—get their comeuppance.

“[A] comedic marvel … [Hiaasen] hasn’t written a novel this funny since Skinny Dip.”—The New York Times

Andrew Yancy—late of the Miami Police and soon-to-be-late of the Monroe County sheriff’s office—has a human arm in his freezer. There’s a logical (Hiaasenian) explanation for that, but not for how and why it parted from its shadowy owner. Yancy thinks the boating-accident/shark-luncheon explanation is full of holes, and if he can prove murder, the sheriff might rescue him from his grisly Health Inspector gig (it’s not called the roach patrol for nothing). But first—this being Hiaasen country—Yancy must negotiate an obstacle course of wildly unpredictable events with a crew of even more wildly unpredictable characters, including his just-ex lover, a hot-blooded fugitive from Kansas; the twitchy widow of the frozen arm; two avariciously optimistic real-estate speculators; the Bahamian voodoo witch known as the Dragon Queen, whose suitors are blinded unto death by her peculiar charms; Yancy’s new true love, a kinky coroner; and the eponymous bad monkey, who with hilarious aplomb earns his place among Carl Hiaasen’s greatest characters.

©2013 Carl Hiaasen (P)2013 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“[A] comedic marvel ... [Hiaasen] hasn’t written a novel this funny since Skinny Dip.... Beautifully constructed.” (Janet Maslin, The New York Times)

“No one writes about Florida with a more wicked sense of humor than Hiaasen.” (Jocelyn McClurg, USA Today)

“[A] rollicking misadventure in the colorful annals of greed and corruption in South Florida.... Hiaasen has a peculiar genius for inventing grotesque creatures ... that spring from the darkest impulses of the id. But he also writes great heroes.” (Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times)

great story, great narrator

I liked it so much, I listen to it twice.
The narrator, I think, is the guy from Laugh In.

disappointed

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

no

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

for starters I would use a funny reader

What three words best describe Arte Johnson’s voice?

Arte Johnson is a not a good match for Carls book. Carl H needs a reader with humor and experience. Arte needs practice but is on the way to being a professional he just is not up to the Carl Hiaasen style of writing. That being said bad monkey had some good parts but was not his best work.

Any additional comments?

Yes, I should be able to write a comment without answering your irrelevant questions.

very good monkey

Hiassen is waaaaay too funny.

his books are always a romp, bringing up sometimes serious issues with wicked good humor. in this book, we get real estate development and Medicare fraud all wrapped up in the tale of a shark-chomped arm and a mysteriously not-really-grieving widow.

our hero, a cop who was demoted to food inspector for a rather nasty bit of knight-in-shining-armor-ness, desperately wants his detective job back before he dies of starvation: inspecting restaurants has definitely put him off his feed. along comes the aforementioned arm, and he's off on a not legally sanctioned investigation into the death of its former owner.

along the way he does a little civil disobedience vis. his new view-destroying next door neighbor, builder of a monstrosity intended only for a fast sale. i've no idea what kind of twisted mind Hiassen actually has, but i wouldn't want to try to build an ugly house next door to him.

the book is exceptionally paced, with a lot of balls kept masterfully in the air. it does get a little hard to track who's who (at least in the audio version)--there are a lot of characters--but entirely worth the effort.

the choice of narrator in the audio version seems a bit odd--Arte Johnson is a gravelly-voiced fellow, sounding much older than one imagines the protag to be, but he does a respectable job even with the women's voices.

Not Hiaasen's best, killed by Arte Johnson

While there are many Hiaasen books that are better than Bad Monkey, this book wasn't awful, but just average. With that said, while I like Arte Johnsen's voice, he simply wasn't good in Bad Monkey. Johnson's below average performance had me longing for the printed version just a few chapters into to book. His tone would be great for a biography, but the man that had many voices in his career didn't bring them along for Bad Monkey. He often used the same voice for male and female characters while once in a while tossing an accent in that only served to make listening a bit of a challenge. Johnson, a comic master missed the all important timing elements of humor as well, often causing parts that should be funny to simply fall flat.
The story itself, having some of the typical nutty characters found in Hiaasen's witty offerings, lacked in comparison to his other books (I have read them all). Also, the dragged out ending was fair at best. I may go back and read Bad Monkey to see if there is any improvement as I have always loved Hiaasen 's books. The length of time between books and what appears to be the author reaching for material make me wonder if Hiaasen has simply running out of steam. I hope not that's not the case.

I kept LoL as I listened at the gym!

Would you listen to Bad Monkey again? Why?

No--I never listen to anything more than once.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Bad Monkey?

The monkey was a very, very bad boy! I won't give away anything else, but I'm not going to be getting a pet monkey!

Have you listened to any of Arte Johnson’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, but I thoroughly enjoyed his performance--sounded like one of the 'Car Talk' guys. Some of the Hiaasen fans apparently prefer George Wilson, who does most of Hiassen's books. I've since listened to one of the other books, and while I enjoyed it as well, I still prefer Johnson's effort.

Any additional comments?

This book is total bubble gum. I normally listen to history/non-fiction but this was a most welcome change of pace. Highly recommended.

Another classic Hiaasen

Hilarious as always. A great Florida novel from Carl Hiaasen, arguably the second best writer alive from the state of Florida.

excellent!

narrator was wonderful. story was better than usual. adding more because I still need 2 words . . .

Made me laugh out loud many times

Would you listen to Bad Monkey again? Why?

Probably not

What about Arte Johnson’s performance did you like?

Very good reader. Sort of a combination of the Car Talk men and Columbo

If you could take any character from Bad Monkey out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Nevel

Any additional comments?

This isn't the best written book, but it is so funny and nice mystery with a twist. Just a lot of fun!

Couldn't finish it.

I tried twice to finish this book and could not get through it. I've read almost every other hiaasen book and this one kind of bored me.

good Hiaasen book

Would you listen to Bad Monkey again? Why?

Very entertaining book. Arte Johnson read okay. His accents weren't the best, but he still did a creditable job and did not distract at all from the story.