Cover image of "Fever Beach," a novel about the nuttiest state in America

Most of Carl Hiaasen’s 16 previous adult novels have centered on the destruction of Florida’s natural beauty. He has skewered corrupt developers, crooked politicians, and rapacious billionaires as well as assorted low-life scumbags and con men. The man’s body of work opens a window on the dysfunction that has undermined the quality of life in Florida for half a century and more. And he continues the theme, albeit in the background, in his newest comic caper novel, Fever Beach. Here, though, his principal target is a gang of right-wing numbskulls who go to work to help reelect a sex-crazed, conspiracy-obsessed Republican Congressman. In the process, Florida as Hiaasen sees it continues to merit its reputation as the nuttiest state in America

A perfect reflection of the Age of Trump

Hiaasen offers us a story that’s fit for the times. It is, after all, the era of Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis. Apart from the clueless militiamen, the principal objects of his ridicule are the Congressman and his funders. That’s Congressman Clure Boyette, who is infatuated with the theory that “libtards” are conspiring to force the nation’s billiard companies to replace black 8-balls with rainbow-colored ones. And his top-secret backers, the octogenarian billionaire couple Claude and Electra Mink, who willingly send millions his way for “philanthropic” purposes they know are political. Both Boyette and the Minks have their real-life counterparts in Florida’s political landscape today.

Fever Beach by Carl Hiaasen (2025) 561 pages ★★★★★

Photo of Florida housing development, a familiar site in the nuttiest state in America
A typical luxury housing development in Florida like the one at issue in this novel. Who knows what existed on this land before the developers built these homes? Image: Curbed

In the background, Hiaasen’s long-running theme

Environmental destruction is at the heart of the story. It runs like a thread throughout. The Minks are preoccupied with an immense luxury housing development they hope to build on a tract of land in which they’re partners. Through judicious bribes, they’ve managed to secure all the necessary approvals and waivers except for that of the county. And the county’s decision will come down from the 5-member commission. They believe they have three solid votes. All three are bought and paid for. Then fate in the form of a vengeful environmentalist intervenes. This running episode reflects Hiaasen’s abiding concern with the continuing assault on Florida’s natural beauty. In most of his earlier novels, that theme dominates. Here it’s just part of the mix, overshadowed by the baked-in insanity of the state’s over-the-top right-wing politics.

Summary of Fever Beach by Claude-AI

Instead of struggling to summarize Hiaasen’s novel, I decided to turn to AI, knowing that the app Claude-AI could do a better job, and much faster. What follows is Claude’s response, word for word, to my request for a 400-word summary of the novel. I’ve merely removed the URLs for the AI’s sources and added two subheads to break up the text. As you’ll see, the summary touches on themes I haven’t mentioned above.

Fever Beach begins with Dale Figgo, a half-baked crusader who holds the rare distinction of being kicked out of the Proud Boys for being too dumb and incompetent. On January 6, 2021, he thought he was defacing a statue of Ulysses S. Grant but wound up spreading feces all over a statue of James Zacharia George, a Confederate war leader. The story kicks off when Figgo makes his latest bad decision: picking up a hitchhiker on a rainy afternoon while running an errand.

This errand sets off a chain reaction involving Viva Morales, a clever, resilient newcomer trying to rebuild her life post-divorce. She’s renting a room in Figgo’s apartment and working at the Mink Foundation—a philanthropic front with something far darker beneath the surface. Also circling this chaos is Twilly Spree, a hotheaded environmentalist with too much cash and a gift for over-the-top revenge.

Dark money and twisted motives

When dark money and twisted motives bring their worlds crashing together, Viva and Twilly become unlikely allies. Together, they uncover a tangle of corruption and conspiracy led by a plastic-surgery-loving billionaire couple and a clueless congressman with delusions of grandeur.

The story is populated by some of Hiaasen’s most outrageous characters, including Claude and Electra Mink—billionaire philanthropists with way too much plastic surgery and a secret right-wing agenda—and Congressman Clure Boyette, who dreams of being Florida’s (and maybe America’s) most important politician. The only things standing in his way are his love for hookers and young girls, and his total lack of intelligence.

A sun-soaked bastion of right-wing extremism

Additional characters include Noel Kristianson—a Scandinavian agnostic injured when Figgo thinks he’s a Jewish threat to humanity and runs him over with his car—and Jonus Onus, Figgo’s partner in white power idiocy.

Set in a sun-soaked bastion of right-wing extremism, white power, greed, and corruption, the novel delivers Hiaasen’s signature satirical take on contemporary American politics and Florida’s particular brand of madness. Hiaasen ties all these characters together and delivers them to their appropriate fates in what critics are calling his wildest and most entertaining novel to date.

About the author

Photo of Carl Hiaasen, author of this novel about the nuttiest state in America
Carl HIaasen recently on South Beach. Image: author’s website

Carl Hiaasen was born in 1953 of Norwegian and Irish ancestry in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He lives in the state to this day. Hiaasen attended both Emory University and the University of Florida, where he graduated with a degree in journalism. He built a career as a newspaper reporter at the Miami Herald from 1976 to 2021, when he retired as a columnist. He published his first solo novel in 1986. Hiaasen has since written a total of 17 adult novels and seven for middle-grade readers as well as six nonfiction books. He has been living with his second wife in Vero Beach, Florida, since 2020.

Carl Hiaasen is one of my favorite authors. I’ve read most of his 17 adult novels and several of those he wrote for young adults. (I began long before I opened this blog.) My reviews of the novels here include:

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