Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

An excellent and highly entertaining satire that I thoroughly enjoyed. It made me laugh but there's also plenty of food for thought.
The author is a good storyteller, loved his humour and the plot kept me hooked.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

At last a book for our times.

Brilliantly satirical and outrageously funny.

It uses all known hand gestures to give the finger to 2020.

Finally a book written with Covid 19 as a character but diminished to a bit part player as the author’s more contagiously mind plays riot.
Those familiar with Carl Hiaasen’s body of work will know his literary creations are both realistic and larger than life.
The disappearance of an elderly woman from a benefit gala is the start of the mayhem. Weaving reality with “fake news” it has wonderful fun with a Winter White House in Florida where the President and First Lady lead quite separate lives.
Within this magical spitting image portrayal minus the latex anything goes. However, enter the star of the novel one Angie Armstrong a feisty, no-nonsense wildlife expert. She is a one woman business to capture and relocate animals straying into commercial premises and private homes. She has her work cut out when snakes take centre stage.

Like me you will stifle laughter in public until the author in another throw away line has you reduced to a line of emoji LOL.
The issue of snakes on the sidewalk is a problem in South Florida but watching real life bounty hunters capturing pythons in CBS news reports could not have you daydreaming this amazing storyline.

Inventive, original and murderously funny.
From stalking and intimidation, through petty crime and people smuggling. Dripping wealth with political sway to Political poverty and false tans.

Some books are just a delight to read. This author never disappoints and when he has an unique character to unleash from his previous books you know you are reading a gem of a novel.

The year is coming to a close; many will want to quickly move on. This is one novel they will not want to miss out on as it refocuses life to the things that matter, helps us see the sun behind the rain clouds and transports us beyond the here and now.

We might not have the forensic skills of such fine satire, to write such wonderful lines, but while we can read we can all be delighted and entertained in full measure. One of the very best of 2020.

In light of the current election results this book was extremely topical. The nature of the plot was both politically pertinent and very humorous. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a light hearted political commentary.

Carl Hiaasen’s novels combine pacy, absurdist plots, a wry take on political and popular culture and an underlying anger at the environmental damage being done to Florida. In Squeeze Me, he takes aim at the wealthy of Palm Beach, and in particular the ‘Winter White House’ of a president who is unnamed, but is clearly based on Trump.

A wealthy dowager from the self-described Potussies – a group of women eagerly showing their support for the president – has gone missing after wandering off from a lavish fundraiser, intoxicated. Shortly afterwards the First Lady’s motorcade is disrupted in a Burmese python-related incident.

The story is told through a largely sympathetic protagonist, wildlife wrangler Angie Armstrong (if you consider feeding the hand of a wildlife criminal to an alligator sympathetic) and two law enforcement officers who constantly find their legal duties undermined by the need to appease the president and his acolytes.

Angie is out of jail (having served her time for said feeding of hand) and is now freelance. She is called in when a terrifying Burmese python is found lurking on the island. It’s not the only one. These huge, non-native snakes are apparently widespread in Florida, having been abandoned as pets, and are well adapted to the local climate, but they are not normally found on Palm Beach.

Cue an investigation that becomes embroiled in the president’s agenda and leads to injustice for one innocent man which Angie is determined to fight. Hiaasen fans will also enjoy a cameo from one of his most iconic characters. Throw in a corrupt country club owner, a couple of inept burglars and an unfortunate incident involving the president’s tanning bed tester and you know this is vintage Hiaasen.

*

I received a copy of Squeeze Me from the publisher via Netgalley.

Angie Armstrong is a wildlife wrangler in the state of Florida where she is always busy removing unwanted wild animals from peoples properties. She gets a call to remove a snake from the Presidential Ball and is soon involved in conspiracy, murder and the fanfare of life in amongst the President and his entourage.
A highly entertaining book with a great cast of characters (including the fantastic Skink). Carl Hiaasen has surpassed himself with this novel.
A book that can only be described as perfect for its content with dark humour, along with a message of the perilous state Florida finds itself in environmentally. Nobody does it better.
I highly recommend this wonderfully funny and ingenious book.

I received a copy of this book to review from Netgalley. Thank you for the opportunity.
This book was funny at times and quirky. I think the humour suits a certain type of person which was unfortunately not for me. The characters are exaggerated and almost caricatures of stereotypes used in this book.
The murder mystery element was intriguing but I found the storyline a bit predictable at times. I think the characters impacted the extent to which the reader could get into and engage with the book as they were of another world.
On the whole, an OK book.

Although Carl Hiaasen is not a new author to me, this is the first instalment I've read from his 'Skink' series. Set in Florida, this is a satirical and funny social and political tale featuring the president and his first lady, referred to by their secret service names of Mastodon and Mockingbird.

An exclusive Palm Beach gala is taking place nearby the Winter White House called Casa Bellicosa. Kiki Pew Fitzsimmons is a prominent member of the POTUSSIES, a group of rich, elderly female fans of the current President. As a rather drunk Kiki disappears whilst at the charity ball, wildlife wrangler, Angie Armstrong, who runs Discreet Captures, arrives. She has been called upon to deal with an enormous Burmese python. Angie knows what really happened to Kiki, but needs some proof, so when Diego Beltran, an innocent, illegal immigrant from Honduras is unjustly blamed for the murder, Angie is determined to free him from prison.

With super craziness, insanity and absurdity, Squeeze Me is a great story. Angie is an extremely engaging protagonist and Carl Hiaasen writes very well about his strong characters as well as the Florida setting. The tale really takes off in different directions with incompetent criminals, illegal immigrants, angry mobs, dangerous tanning beds and pythons on LSD. An entertaining story full of colourful characters, bizarre events and humour ranging from cleverly satirical to outrageously daft.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel from Little, Brown Book Group/ Sphere via NetGalley at my request and this review is my own unbiased opinion.

I received a free advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I am quite a big fan of Carl Hiaasen, having discovered his quirky corrupt Floridian crime novels as a recommendation for fans of Chris Brookmyre. His books are filled with pollution, government corruption, and bizarre things happening to extreme characters.
Squeeze Me follows the strange disappearance of a rich old fan of the president (who isn't explicitly named but is a bulky chap who likes a tanning bed and has a younger, more attractive wife) at one of her many charity balls near her winter Florida home. Coincidentally, pest control expert Angie Armstrong is asked to dispose of a large, engorged python from the property. There then follows a rollicking tale of cover-ups, dodgy gangsters, racial intolerance, extra-marital affairs and murder, and a small appearance from everyone's favourite governor-turned-hobo-eco-terrorist.
This book is fairly typical of Hiaasen, with all the different characters crossing paths through unlikely events and plots. However, his books are famed for their extreme, unbelievable bad guys: the hoods hired to do a corrupt supposedly honest businessman/government official's dirty work. We have had someone in the past whose hand was bitten off and replaced with a weed-whacker, someone who was hooked on steroids and raped by a dolphin etc. This book is sadly lacking of such characters, as all the bad guys are fairly textbook thugs or criminals.
Also, Hiaasen readers are used to the unbelievable corruption at the hands of government officials, but when the real life president is so corrupt and unethical, any such corruption will struggle in comparison to the real thing. The president is more of a bumbling oaf who hires one man purely to service his sunbeds, another as a body double to test them out before he uses them. His racial hatred of non-North Americans is present, but becomes a small part of his character here.
This is a book about the bizarre adulation towards the president in those who are in his outer inner circle and clamouring for his attention, and the industry that builds up around them.
It is a little bit of a letdown from Hiaasen's best work, but still a great crime and corruption caper.

Murder, kidnapping, shootings, stabbings; not an amusing set of words, but in the hands of a great author, crime can be funny. In fact, crime can be hilarious. The crime comedy when done well is one of my favourite genres and Carl Hiaasen has being doing it well for years. He has combined wit and violence to satirise America for decades, but how do you satire modern America? A country that has pretty much become the joke that Hiaasen has written about for years. You go for the Big Guns and satire those that do not get the joke.

The current president is obnoxious, obese, and obsessed with himself. He enjoys visiting his Palm Beach retreat for fundraising events as the locals are rich and love him. One set are known as the Potussies, a group of rich older ladies that will do anything to get the President’s attention. Kiki Pew has succeeded, by disappearing. One minute at a charity event, the next all that was left was half an ecstasy tablet, her purse, and an unsightly bulge inside a python. A cover up ensues that will end in murder, innocents incarcerated and a chance for the President to blame his usual enemy, minorities.

Hiaasen has always dealt in satire and popping the pompousness that some of America has. Squeeze Me is the closest to home yet as two of the main characters are a President and his Wife. Parallels can be made between the current incumbent and the characters in the book, but I always believe this reflects more on the reader. If you see 45 in this character, it may say as much about you as Hiaasen. This is a fictionalised and negative character, is that how you see the President?

Although the President and his Wife are two major characters in the book, they are not the main character. This is a classic Hiaasen creation in Angie Armstrong, an ex-Con turned wildlife wrangler. She works among the polite society of Palm Beach but only as a form of help. Her brash and devil may care attitude clashes with hoteliers and their clients. This dynamic works perfectly and gives the reader a voice they can get behind.
The story of Squeeze Me has the twists and turns that you expect from the author. Even more so than normal though is how it reflects some of the injustices and hypocritical actions within America. Angie is a great character as she is driven and compelled to investigate what happened to a butchered Python, but there is also a dark tension in the book. One character is a newly landed immigrant who finds himself in the wrong place at the right time for the President. Part of the book explores how some politicians demonise the other to create fear and support.

There are serious elements within the book, but Hiaasen never forgets to keep the book light and breezy. The criminals within these pages are incompetent and this leads to amusing moments, but also shocking ones. I enjoyed the fact that just because you are bad you are not always going to get caught. Some of the guilty do get away with it. To stop the book from being too depressing the finale does wrap things up in a way that will satisfy the majority of writers.

For an author who has been working for decades, Hiaasen still has a fresh sounding voice. If anything, his pro-environment political satire is more relevant today than it has ever been. There is a sense of injustice and anger in Hiaasen’s writing, but it is cocooned in amusing writing and breezy storylines. You can read this book as a fun crime comedy or delve deeper into how it reflects on modern America. Either way, you will be entertained, and fans will enjoy the cameo from a certain classic Hiaasen creation.

With real life becoming more like a Carl Hiaasen novel every day, it’s heartening to see the man himself has turned his gaze upon the inhabitants of Casa Bellicosa, the ’Winter White House” in Palm Beach.

Squeeze Me begins with septuagenarian millionaire and founding member of the Commander-in-Chief-supporting Potussies, Kiki Pew Fitzsimmons being devoured by an 18 foot python at a charity ball, and follows the attempts of Angie Armstrong, owner of Discrete Captures wildlife removal company, to secure the release of Diego Beltran, a recently arrived undocumented immigrant who had been arrested for Kiki Pew’s murder and become the poster-boy for the unnamed President’s most recent anti-immigration crusade.

Added to the usual array of incompetent crooks, hapless cops and general Floridian weirdos this time around are the President and First Lady, referred to only by their Secret Service call signs, “Mastodon” and “Mockingbird”. Mastodon is a vain, self-centred demagogue with a 20 a day Dr Pepper habit and a tanning bed addiction, while Mockingbird is a shallow, fashion obsessed former model who is repulsed by her husband and is having an affair with her Secret Service bodyguard. Where does Hiaasen get his ideas from?

Squeeze Me is riotously funny, cleverly plotted and bang up to date, and shows that fiction can still be stranger than truth, even if only just!

I started reading Carl Hiaasen's children's books and absolutely loved them. I have never read them to a child or a classroom full of children who didn't love them too. He has the knack of writing brilliantly appealing books which are funny, well plotted and always have excellent messages that are not too laboured or worthy. This is only the second adult book by him but apart from the sex scenes there isn't much to call between them and, to me, they are all the better for it. Intelligently written, funny and sharp with a strong ecological message. I was particularly intrigued by the current nature of this one, with its deft caricatures of Trump and the First Lady and the inclusion of COVID in the book. It was a delight to read.

For years Hiaasen has written stories with a political & environmental edge so it was inevitable that he would turn his wry style towards an unnamed but cretinous President and the chaos that surrounds the world he inhabits. A POTUS can bring out the best and the very worst in people and the vivid characters of the high society of Palm Beach brings out the best in Hiaasen while showing the readers the absolute nonsense that has become daily life for some in America.

Life in a Hiaasen novel is never dull, it’s full of vivid characters and bizarre situations that make you revel in the serious message behind the laughable. Since I’m a liberal person who disagrees with the 45th President and all his preposterous flimflam, I adored this book. It’s devilishly surreal in its set up but absolutely joyous in all its absurd glory. I loved the pretentious names for the socialites that are perfect for that kind of entitled stereotype that do sadly still exist. Angie was a definite highlight for me and her reactions to the craziness that surrounded her were sublime. She was exceptional and I warmed to her immediately.

This is a wonderful piece of escapism.

This is the first Carl Hiaasen book that I have ever read, despite quite a few of his books appearing on my “if you liked that, try this” suggestion lists.

The suggestions were right! I really enjoyed this rollercoaster ride through Florida with giant-python-hunting heroine Angie Armstrong. The book was an amusing satire on Trump’s America with plenty of skewering of the Tangerine Terror himself as well as his super-fans.

I will definitely look out for more Hiaasen books to read, and I won’t leave it so long next time.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing a review copy in exchange for honest feedback.

I thought Squeeze Me was great fun.

Set in Florida, the plot involves the lives of the very rich and of the President being disrupted by the appearance of some huge Burmese pythons, a species which has established itself in Florida largely through abandoned pets as they became to big to handle. Angie Armstrong is a wildlife removal specialist who becomes involved and then enraged by the cover-up and attempt to frame an innocent man for political gain. A convoluted, amusing and rather gripping story ensues.

I thought it was terrific. Angie is an extremely engaging protagonist and Hiaasen writes very well about both his characters and the Florida setting. It has genuine wit and some laugh-out-loud moments and the scathing satire both of Donald Trump (whom he is careful never to name) and of the rich, privileged world in which he moves is extremely well done.

This is the first Carl Hiaasen book I have read but I’ll certainly be reading more. It’s a very entertaining read and I can recommend it very warmly.

(My thanks to Sphere for an ARC via NetGalley.)

It's always difficult to summarise a Carl Hiaasen book. But this is an enjoyable barbed read about Palm Beach, snakes, and the president. It's not for Trump fans - sorry, you'll just get offended. Don't even try.

The story begins with Kiki Pew Fitzsimmons, a well-known member of the POTUSSIES - a group of elderly but wealthy Trump fans. She goes missing from a party on the same night that Angie, owner of 'Discreet Captures' is called out to remove a giant snake at the same location. Whatever could have happened to her?

What follows is a mixture of mayhem, animal handling and political satire. With, surprisingly, a few references to Covid-19 along the way.

I really enjoyed Angie's character and being thrown back into that particular flavour of Hiaasen fiction. The book felt quite long in a few places - now that I read everything on Kindle I'm not sure whether that's because it really was, or it just felt like that! - but it was a lot of fun on the journey.

** spoiler alert ** As ridiculous and funny as ever. Which is what you'd expect when the opening pages have a huge snake eating a wealthy POTUS supporter.
Florida never seemed more dangerous.
I laughed aloud when this poked very good fun at a certain figure in power.
I've missed Hiaasen,and was mightily glad to get him back.

Carl Hiaasen returns us to the madness of Florida, in a deranged, irreverent and funny social and political satire featuring the imbecilic Orange one with his gerbil like attention span and his first lady, referred to here by their secret service names of Mastodon and Mockingbird. It is the height of the exclusive Palm Beach charity ball season that so many of the country's wealthy arrive for, with the Casa Bellicosa close by, the Winter White House. Kiki Pew Fitzsimmons is a prominent member of the POTUSSIES, a group of rich, diehard elderly female fans of the current POTUS, founded by and led by Fay Alex Riptoad, enraged by the fake news and lies about their beloved leader, they are frequent visitors to the Casa Bellicosa. The drunk Kiki disappears at a charity ball, with a half bitten ecstasy tablet at the scene, next to a murky koi pond.

It is this event that triggers the multiple bonkers threads of madness that flow from it. Ex-vet, ex-wildlife officer, now wildlife wrangler extraordinaire, divorced Angie Armstrong runs Discreet Captures, employed to remove the wide range of critters that can turn up in homes and businesses. She has a stepson she has remained close to, and is regularly receiving nightly threatening calls from a red neck whack job poacher with only one hand, with Angie having served a prison sentence for her part in the loss of his other hand. Having killed a enormous Burmese python that had just eaten an enormous meal with a machete at a charity ball venue, the strong, feisty and determined Angie knows exactly what happened to Kiki and is willing to go to considerable lengths to expose the truth. 25 year old Honduran illegal, Diego Beltran finds himself accused of the heinous crime of murder, and despite his innocence, the Orange one's tweets ensure that justice seems beyond reach for him.

With incompetent criminals, the procedures that lie behind the Orange one's tanning bed, the return of the crazed Skink, the ex-Governor of Florida, and the emergence of a huge number of acid tripping Burmese pythons appearing in Palm Beach, Angie finds herself working with secret service agent, Paul Ryskamp, soon to retire, and local Police Chief, Jerry Crosby, to prove Diego's innocence, whilst finding her professional services in strong demand. This outrageously fun and entertaining read is not one for Trump supporters, but for everyone else it is a pure joy of the bizarre, the strange and colourful Florida of Hiaasen's imagination. Given the surreal madness and tragedy of the reality of actual American politics, you need the likes of Hiaasen to provide some much needed comic relief. Many thanks to Little, Brown for an ARC.

Squeeze Me is the latest slice of Floridian surrealist madness from Carl Hiaasen.
Ageing Socialite Kiki Pew goes missing after wandering off while attending a Palm Beach Gala at the exclusive Lipid House and after a fruitless search it's assumed that she has gone home. The next day as her Housekeeper discovers that Ms Pew hasn't slept in her bed a daylight search of the area she disappears in leads to the discovery of her purse,part of a pill and a Martini glass next to a pond. Later discovered is a very well fed Python in trees next to the same pond. Animal Wrangler Angie Armstrong is called to kill and dispose of the snake .

That's the start of a typically manic Hiaasen romp with bizarre characters and ludicrous situations aplenty . Kiki Pew is a member of the POTUSSES, a fan club for the President of the United States whose holiday home "The Winter White House" is just up the road from Lipid house. The President in the story is never actually named but most will realise the inspiration for the vain,narcissistic, immoral, sun bed abusing, rabble-rousing racist with the stunning foreign wife, and boy does Hiassen have fun with both. More than once is Velcro mentioned in association with the President's hair and along with the First Lady's adventures I'm guessing Hiaasen won't be getting invited to the White House for dinner any time soon.
Add in the usual totally inept criminals, an old favourite Hiaasen character making a welcome appearance and the usual biting satirical comments on the environmental damage being wreaked on Florida and the current political scene, mix in some pretty bizarre and surreal situations and it's classic Carl.

Plenty of laugh out loud moments in this book, the only negative is that there are mentions of people I assume are well-known in America but not having a clue who they are the jokes went over my head. While I realise Carl Hiaasen is American he sells massively all over the world so maybe he could bear that point in mind.

That aside ,Squeeze Me is a very funny book with quite a lot to say politically, thankfully unlike some authors Hiaasen never lets this take over the story, .

Thanks to Carl Hiaasen, Little Brown Book Group UK and Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.