Dance of the Reptiles: Rampaging Tourists, Marauding Pythons, Larcenous Legislators, Crazed Celebrities, and Tar-Balled Beaches: Selected Columns (Vintage Original)
This is the third collection of Hiaasen’s op-ed pieces from the Miami Herald, following Kick Ass (2002). Known primarily for his mystery novels, Hiaasen also produces a weekly newspaper column, which often delivers blistering indictments of the people and policies that he believes ruin Florida. The “reptiles” of the title sometimes refer to actual reptiles, as in pythons and alligators. More often, the term refers to lobbyists, politicians, tourists, and environmental evildoers. The two- to three-page essays take direct aim at their targets (“Go Away” addresses the tourists and new residents who are spoiling Florida; “Drill, Spill and Kill” very effectively goes after BP) and span the years 2001–12, making many of them, like the ones focusing on former President George W. Bush, literally seem like old news. Still, even after the fact, they are entertaining for Hiaasen’s ability to awaken outrage and for his eye for oddity (the latter, of course, is a defining characteristic of his fiction). While this may seem like an unnecessary collection in this era of finding articles online, it is still, by turns, both hilarious and unnerving. --Connie Fletcher