|
-- Carl Hiaasen
"Dáte makes each attempted hit a humorous study in criminal incompetence.... Speed Week is one book you’ll be tempted to race through on a rainy spring afternoon." -- The Chicago Tribune
"Babes, bikers and a bad-ass shark in Daytona Beach. I love it! Speed Week peels off the line like a car designed by Jeff Gordon, built by the Marx Brothers and piloted by Carl Hiaasen. It's scary, sexy, and, most of all, hilarious, all the way to the finish line." -- Les Standiford, author of Deal to Die For
"A funny, fast-moving farce that revels in the sex, sleaze, and greed of wacky nincompoops driven mad by the Florida sun." -- Kirkus Reviews
"An engaging, funny, sex-drenched romp among the attractive airheads of Daytona Beach’s resort strip." -- The Tallahassee Democrat
"S.V. Dáte is the latest graduate of the Carl Hiaasen School of Florida Novel Writing, and Speed Week suggests he’s among the star pupils.... His plot charges like one of those Daytona racers, and he has the warped sense of humor required to bring Daytona to tacky life. Speed Week is one swift little ride." -- The St. Petersburg Times
Ah, Daytona Beach, home of sun, sand, and motor oil. For stock-car racing heir Nick Van Horne, it's a place worth millions -- tens of millions -- once he gets his RaceWorld theme park under way, but there's just one little problem: his estranged wife, Barbie, is suing to keep all cars off the beach for the sake of the sea turtles. With time running short, Nick does what any red-blooded Daytona Beach husband with a troublesome wife would do -- he decides to have her killed. And in another time-honored Daytona tradition, he decides to do it on the cheap. In the world of murder-for-hire, though, you get what you pay for, and soon, to his bewilderment, Nick finds himself consorting with enterprising bikers, sexy pool hustlers, venal fortunetellers, a stepmother with alarming ideas about family, a top state legislator with a keen eye for graft, and a former SEAL with a disconcerting fondness for sharks and plastique. Each, in his or her own way, is about to plan a surprise for the unsuspecting Barbie Van Horne -- but, with a little help from her friends, Mrs. Van Horne just might have a few surprises of her own for them. Filled with razor-sharp characterization, pinpoint observations, and a plot with more turns than the Daytona 500, Speed Week is a gem.
|
"Speed
Week is good, twisted fun, cheerfully subversive. The Chamber of
Commerce should hate it, which is the highest possible compliment for any
Florida novel."