There are flashes of classic Hiaasen: oddball characters, snarky wit, uniquely crazy situations and mayhem mixed with a central mystery or two. This, however, is not classic Hiassen. Where he aims to make a statement--shots at politicians and politics, being pro-environment, and being pro immigrant—he is ham-fisted and dreary. When he goes to his strengths—building insane characters—he falls short. It starts out well enough, letting the air out of the rich by having one of them devoured by a snake at a heartless charity function setting up a mini-mystery. Unfortunately that story line peters out about half way into the book. Reading perks along okay to that point then seems to go into a holding pattern looking for a runway. We keep treading air until the last 50 pages or so then it picks up some and has a decent landing. My favorite Hiassen character from his books (and one of my favorites from any book) is Skink—former Governor of Florida. This marvelous creation is trotted out here but given too little to do. The point of it all seems to be taking shots at Donald Trump, never named but quite obviously present. Initially I thought it would be a hoot to have him deservedly skewered, but by the end it just made me sad. Maybe it’s too soon to pull down the devil’s drawers. Or maybe treating him like a buffoon is less appropriate than treating him like a menace. Trump certainly feels like a Hiassen creation—a cartoonish remorseless, self-absorbed loudmouth—maybe he should have been the center of the book instead of a wacky side character. If you want to read better Hiassen—my favorite is TOURIST SEASON. SKIN TIGHT and DOUBLE WHAMMY are also quite good.