Tricky Business

by Dave Barry

Book Overview

The Extravaganza of the Seas is a five-thousand-ton cash cow, a top-heavy tub whose sole function is to carry gamblers three miles from the Florida coast, take their money, then bring them back so... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0425192741
• Release Date: October 2003
• Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
• Length: 287 Pages
• Weight: 0.36 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.8" x 0.8" x 4.2"

Customer Reviews

Excellent

Hilarious book by Dave Barry

Not as funny as his other works, but still fast-paced & action-packed

Tricky Business is Dave Barry's second novel. Like his first novel, Big Trouble, this work is set in south Florida, has elements of a crime novel, and is filled with the eccentric people that Barry creates so well. Unlike his books of nonfiction, both these novels contain what Mr. Barry calls "bad words." This is because his novels contain "unsavory characters" and they use bad words. Not all the characters are unsavory. Most are just eccentric, funny, or inept. Although this novel is not as laugh out loud funny as Big Trouble, it attempts to compensate for this by having much more actual violence and sex. Speaking of sex, the song "Sex Pootie" by the Seminal Fluids, which played a prominent role in Big Trouble, makes a cameo appearance in Tricky Business. It must be a personal favorite of Mr. Barry. The story is about one of the gambling ships that leave Miami every day to go out three miles into international waters for a couple of hours of entertainment and return. It is the only ship to go out with a hurricane approaching. It does this because it is owned by a gangster who uses it to pick up smuggled drugs from boats coming from the Bahamas and he can't miss a delivery. All the events in the novel take place the day of the storm. If you like Dave Barry's humor, you will love his novels.

Foul, Offensive, Gross and fully hilarious

This is not your 13 year old's Dave Barry - this is an adult satire filled with dirty jokes, grotesque scenes and (gasp!) adult language. The story is about a going-nowhere band, a disgruntled shady executive, a couple cocktail waitresses, a couple retirees and the Miami mob in a mad-cap adventure off the shores of Florida. There can be many criticisms levelled on the book (the sex, language and graphic violence to name three) that make it depart from the Dave Barry that we are used to. That keeps the reader off balance and wondering - is this a satire, a serious book, or just comedy? In the end, you're left laughing at both the direct story as well as the genre he parodies. It's a light read, and if you don't finish it on a weekend afternoon, you really are too busy.

Brilliant!

I love this book. I really hope Dave Barry writes more fiction in the future. I've read most of what Dave Barry's written, fiction or non-fiction, but nothing I've read so far compares to this(does that make sense? I don't care, I love this book...). It appears that Dave Barry has matured in his writing, yet still he maintains his humor every chapter. I own this book. You probably should too. If you like morbid humor and boats, buy this book.

Fun,light, quick read

I couldn't put this book down. I laughed out loud at least five times and finished it in one night. Very enjoyable "light" reading but funny and a good story. Would highly recommend as long as you don't mind a little "reality" with regard to language and a few rock and roll stoners! Great book.

As funny in fiction as he is in the newspaper!

In his second novel, Dave Barry has taken his readers out to sea for a fast-paced action yarn that is as funny as it is exciting.?Tricky Business? is a real ensemble story about a casino ship out of Miami that is used to launder money and traffic in narcotics, unbeknownst to the patrons or most of the staff. On the day this story takes place (all in one day -- difficult to do and keep it exciting, but Barry does it), the ship is going out into Tropical Storm Hector, despite all safety warnings to the contrary, because of a shipment of drugs and cash too big to let go. The characters include a musician with a crush on a cocktail waitress, a pair of old men who just want out of their retirement home, a captain who wanted to give up a life of crime, a man in a giant pink conch costume, some stupid criminals, some smart criminals and the crew of a TV news station that suffer a freak chain of events I suspect many of us here on the Gulf Coast secretly wish would happen to REAL news anchors when they start scaremongering and stupid reporting whenever a storm hits.Like Barry?s first novel, ?Big Trouble,? the dialogue and descriptions take a plot that would work just as well in a hardcore drama and make it a good, lighthearted comedy that has a real sweetness to it at the end. Fans of Dave Barry, the funniest columnist in America, are probably lining up for this book already, but fans of a good action comedy will enjoy it too.