What We Thought: Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen

Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen

The first comment about December’s reading selection was “Bad Monkey was...quirky.”

Readers did not like the Monkey, Driggs. He was a really bad monkey with no endearing qualities. Driggs was, after all, a tamed monkey who was not very well cared for but Neville, his keeper did put up with his antics until one last time. Neville was one of the interesting characters who was somewhat innocently involved in a convoluted real estate scam perpetrated by Nick Stripling one of the major bad guys in the story.

Carl Hiaasen writes books about Florida and Bad Monkey is a hilarious take on the scams and crimes that make the state notorious. This one is about the real-life dead sailfish scam. You will have to read the book to find out about it, but it’s worth your time! Readers remarked that the actions of the bad guys reminded them of other scams, including one that involved the Miami airport and rental cars.

There were plenty of mis-directions and implausible outcomes to keep the reader’s attention. The characters really drove the story and the readers spent a lot of time discussing their motives. No one felt sorry for the bad guys in the story and felt that they deserved what they got. Everyone was pleased that Andrew Yancy, former detective turned restaurant inspector in the end found peace at his home and that his nemesis, Evan Shook, finally was outmatched. The Bad Monkey appears to have redeemed himself as well.

Although Carl Hiaasen has written quite a few books for children none of the group has read any, but some were so pleased by this story that they are tempted to try one. We would like to hear about this at the next book discussion. A discussion of children’s books that readers found interesting was inspired by the thought of how the author could tone down his adult themes for children’s sensibilities.

Book group members agreed that the book provided a comic insight into the corruption peculiar to Florida. Although the characters and much of the plot were ridiculous, there was enough suspense to keep the reader’s attention.

This quote from the book sums it up: “Nobody said he was Alvin Einstein.”