Squeeze Me is the latest hilarious and enthralling carnival-ride of a novel by the American journalist, novelist and Top Ten contributor Carl Hiaasen. It begins when a seventy-two year old Palm Beach socialite, Kiki Pew, suddenly goes missing at a charity gala. When Kiki’s dead body is finally discovered, her neighbor down the street - who just happens to be President of the United States - tries to turn her murder into a political issue by claiming she was killed by immigrants.
Soon after, “wildlife wrangler” Angie Armstrong is sent to the scene of the disappearance to remove a not-pregnant snake. What follows is a novel full of characters you love to hate, and Hiaasen takes satirical aim at today’s hot-button issues, skewering them with a pen dipped in poison and laughter.
In her New York Times review, Janet Maslin writes, “But if you could use some wild escapism right now, Hiaasen is your guy. In its themes and its wild imagination, Squeeze Me offers some familiar pleasures, akin to a Greatest Hits collection. Anyone who’s read him will know what a prime recommendation that is. The edible socialite may be new, but reptiles like the python have long slithered through Hiaasen’s vision of Florida as a refuge for the worst of humankind. This book full of superrich bigots may have his highest count of nice fauna and awful people.”
This writing here is the epitome of Hiaasen’s craft - smart, hysterical, and deeply satirical.
- Read an excerpt from the novel
- Listen to an interview with Carl
- Watch Carl and his editor discuss the book
- Visit his official website
Carl Hiaasen’s Top Ten List
1. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (1962).
2. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (1884).
3. The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger (1951).
4. The Comedians by Graham Greene (1966).
5. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (1969).
6. Stories of Franz Kafka (1883–1924).
7. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler (1939).
8. Ninety-two in the Shade by Thomas McGuane (1973).
9. Stories of Flannery O’Connor (1925–64).
10. Money by Martin Amis (1984).