Finished Su 7/28/19
This is a paperback that I bought at the library book sale on Sa 4/13/19
Hiaasen sets his novels in Florida
Centers on cheating (and murders) at professional bass fishing competitions.
THE OUTDOOR CHRISTIAN NETWORK is sponsoring a bass fishing contest and the winner gets a quarter of a million dollars and endorsements worth much more.
Cheaters 'salt' the lake with previously caught 'luggers' and then catch them during the competition.
This contest is staged at a new development owned by the OCN. It's developed around a series of canals. These canals are poisonous. The whole development was built on top of an old dump site.
From the back of the book:
"R.J. Decker is fishing for a killer. Thanks to a sportsman's scam that's anything but sportsmanlike, there's a body floating in Coon Bog, Florida- and a lot that's rotten int he murky waters of big-stakes, large-mouth bass tournaments. Here Decker will team up with a half-blind, half-mad hermit with an appetite for road kill; dare to kiss his ex-wife while's she's in bed with the new husband; and face deadly TV evangelists, dangerously seductive women, and a pistol-toting redneck with a pit bull on his rm. And here his own life becomes part of the stakes. For while the "double whammy" is the lure, first prize is for the most ingenious murder".
Skink- the crazy hermit is actually an ex-governor of Florida. He tried to go straight but the corrupt nature of Floridian politics would allow this. So he split to the Everglades.
Hiaasen writes in a lightly comedic style similar to Donald E. Westlake's John Dortmunder series. The plot is more complex and the writing a tad more dense, but well worth the effort.
I learned a lot about competitive bass fishing and didn't realize how big it is in rural USA. It is a huge industry.
Bass will live and thrive almost anywhere in America.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Whammy_(novel)
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