Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen

Have I mentioned how much I love Carl Hiaasen?

This time, two guys each fight "progress" that is destroying their little corners of paradise - one a former cop in Florida with an illegal, unfinished McMansion next door, the other a Bahamian whose beach is sold out from under him and developed.

Stir that together with a sexy coroner, lots of hungry sharks, a scary voodoo queen, an angry monkey (who was in Pirates of the Caribbean with Johnny Depp), bad seafood, and a little Medicare fraud and you've got another fantastic, truth-is-stranger-than-fiction Hiaasen novel.

The action is fast-paced, the dialog snappy, and the hurricane imminent. Hiaasen's books are always full of pop culture references, and this one's par for the course; you might argue that Hiaasen's not really breaking any new ground here, but I've yet to bog down in a dull moment or yawn at the antics. He keeps the story moving, twisting in the wind, and I still find myself barking out unexpected laughter.

Highly recommended!