At the start of Carl Hiaasen's outlandishly funny Fever Beach, a dim-witted white supremacist named Dale Figgo drives through a Florida neighborhood and throws antisemitic flyers into the yards of people he believes are Jewish. Instead, his truck hits and injures a Scandinavian agnostic. Dale's legal troubles and misbegotten plans to defend the United States' "white Christian values" have only begun.
Twilly Spree, wealthy due to an inheritance from his "land-raping grandfather," makes it his mission to stop people like Dale, who has formed a militia group called the Strokers for Liberty, whose members also advocate for self-pleasure. The (dis)organization is funded by rich donors to a dirty congressman, Clure Boyette. ("The forty-fifth president... mispronounced Boyette's last name so that it rhymed with 'toilet.' ") Boyette issues a directive for the group to show up with guns at a polling place on Election Day to secure his win. Twilly joins the Strokers to disrupt their plans from the inside, aided by his girlfriend, Viva, who happens to be Dale's tenant/roommate and can leak his schemes to Twilly. It's Viva and Twilly against a bunch of armed goons--what can go wrong?
Those who have previously read Hiaasen (Wrecker) or seen the Apple TV+ series adaptation of his novel Bad Monkey will instantly recognize the author's zany brand of satire. Hiaasen tackles dead-serious issues like neo-Nazism, election interference, and literal gay-bashing, but in a hilarious and satisfying way and with cheer-worthy protagonists. During unsettling times, Hiaasen leans into the chaos, proving with Fever Beach that laughter is the best medicine. --Elyse Dinh-McCrillis, reviewer and freelance editor at The Edit Ninja