Carl Hiaasen’s ‘Fever Beach’: A Satirical Dive into Florida’s Dark Politics and Eccentric Characters

Stretching roughly 120 miles from Jupiter to Homestead and never wider than 30 miles, the Miami metropolitan area is a slender peninsula known for its vibrant cultural scene and a rich lineup of contemporary authors. Among its literary heritage, Florida stands out for a notable tradition of crime fiction writers, including Charles Willeford, John D. MacDonald, Les Standiford, Edna Buchanan, Jeff Lindsay, and Carl Hiaasen, whose sharp and often irreverent novels feature titles like “Strip Tease,” “Bad Monkey,” and “Razor Girl.”

Hiaasen’s newest work, “Fever Beach,” takes place in the fictional coastal town of Tangelo Shores, located along Florida’s Space Coast—a departure from the author’s usual Miami backdrop. This setting shift may explain the relatively minimal and generic descriptions of place, which is unusual for a writer so deeply rooted in Florida’s landscape.

The story opens with Dale Figgo, a hapless white nationalist recently expelled from the Proud Boys after a viral video surfaces showing him smearing dog feces on a statue of Confederate General James Zachariah George during the January 6 Capitol riot. Figgo mistakenly believed he was defiling a statue of Ulysses S. Grant. Beyond this blunder, Figgo’s disillusionment with the Proud Boys stems partly from the group’s strict anti-masturbation rules. Employed by a sex toy distributor, Figgo starts his own hate group, the Strokerz for Liberty, distributing products from his company’s warehouse as initiation gifts to new recruits. These absurd details set the tone for the novel’s blend of dark humor and social commentary.

Dedicated to the memory of Jimmy Buffett, the book features a cast of eccentric and flawed characters who find themselves entwined in a bizarre Floridian farce. Figgo’s partner-in-crime, Jonas Onus, sports a beard dyed in the American flag’s colors and owns a dog named Himmler. Figgo rents to Viva Morales, a politically progressive Hispanic woman symbolized by her subscription to The New Yorker.

Viva works for Claude and Electra Mink, elderly alcoholic philanthropists who bankroll Clure Boyette, a corrupt politician modeled loosely after real-life figures but presented with a muted edge. Boyette is embroiled in an election-rigging scheme, involved with an underage prostitute named Galaxy, and attempts to seduce Viva. The novel also includes a cast of supporting characters such as Boyette’s father, Figgo’s mother, a sensitive hitman, members of the Strokerz, a hit-and-run victim, and Russian operatives.

Boyette convinces the Minks to fund a right-wing version of Habitat for Humanity, staffed by child laborers. While this plot point is played for dark humor, it eerily parallels recent legislative discussions in Florida about legalizing child labor to compensate for workforce shortages caused by deportations—highlighting how reality can outpace satire in its absurdity.