Everybody lies

I don’t even remember why I picked this book up in the first place. I think I must have heard some good things about the author somewhere. Also, I kind of liked the blurb and this pretzel-like dead lizard on the cover must have been the last thing needed to hook me. (Yes, the dead lizard does play an important, though short, role in the story!)

Whatever it was, I am very glad I did give the book a try, because it was an absolutely delightful read. Normally I am not much of a fan of crime fiction. Following clues and trying to find out who is the killer just doesn’t interest me at all. Normally.

But, just reading the title should give you an inclination that this is not exactly a ‘normal’ crime story. Yes, there is a murder, there are clues, there is a journalist trying to solve the case (to redeem himself with a big story that will alow him to get out of writing obituaries for the rest of his life) and all that.

But besides that stuff this is just a damn funny story. Jack Tagger is not exactly your usual hero-type of guy and to follow him on his bumbling way to the solution of the case is great fun.
It doesn’t take long to become clear who actually committed the murder, but just as Jack himself, the reader takes a while to puzzle out the why - which is much more interesting, at least for me. And Jack’s obsession with dead people - or rather with the age at which famous people dropped dead - is just hilarious.

In the end, our unlikely hero solves the case, gets the girl (oh, I didn’t mention her, but she’s quite funny as well), could get his job back, but doesn’t want it anymore and overall everything is fine. And I had a couple of very entertaining days reading this. What more can you ask from a book?

So, whoever it was that said something nice about Carl Hiaasen’s books and made me pick this one up in the first place: I thank you very much. It seems I have found a new author to look out for. And I just love to find someone new to read when they have already written several books, because that means I have a lot of catching up to do.