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A Novel
by Carl Hiaasen
Meet twenty-two-year-old Cherry Pye (née Cheryl Bunterman), a pop star since she was fourteen - and about to attempt a comeback from her latest drug and alcohol disaster.
Now meet Cherry again: in the person of her "undercover stunt double," Ann DeLusia. Ann portrays Cherry whenever the singer is too "indisposed" - meaning wasted - to go out in public. And it is Ann, mistaken for Cherry, who is kidnapped from a South Beach hotel by obsessed paparazzo Bang Abbott.
Now the challenge for Cherry’s handlers (über–stage mother; horndog record producer; nipped, tucked, and Botoxed twin publicists; weed whacker–wielding bodyguard) is to rescue Ann while keeping her existence a secret from Cherry’s public - and from Cherry herself.
The situation is more complicated than they know. Ann has had a bewitching encounter with Skink - the unhinged former governor of Florida living wild in a mangrove swamp - and now he’s heading for Miami to find her ...
Will Bang Abbott achieve his fantasy of a lucrative private photo session with Cherry Pye? Will Cherry sober up in time to lip-synch her way through her concert tour? Will Skink track down Ann DeLusia before Cherry’s motley posse does?
All will be revealed in this hilarious spin on life in the celebrity fast lane.
"Mr. Hiaasen can still take any aspect of pop culture and find a laugh in it." - The New York Times
"Whenever it seems as if he might be running out of oxen to gore, Carl Hiaasen comes up with fresh victims for his killing wit … the outlandish events soar on the exuberance of Hiaasen's manic style, a canny blend of lunatic farce and savage satire." - The New York Times Book Review
"The torrent of pop culture barbs are bound to please Hiaasen's ardent fans." - Publishers Weekly
"This rollicking tour de force lampoons south Florida's celebrity subculture while including the obligatory environmental subplot for which Hiaasen is known. Highly recommended." - Library Journal
This information about Star Island was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Fenia Hiaasen
Carl Hiaasen was born and raised in Florida. He is the author of a number of novels, including Native Tongue, Strip Tease, Stormy Weather and Lucky You. He has also written a few non-fiction books, including Team Rodent and The Downhill Lie: A Hacker's Return to a Ruinous Sport. His books have been translated into 29 languages, which he points out is 28 more than he can read or write!
Link to Carl Hiaasen's Website
Name Pronunciation
Carl Hiaasen: hi-a-sen
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