{"product_id":"star-island-isbn-9798217008261","title":"Star Island","description":"\u003cb\u003eA hilarious spin on life in the celebrity fast lane from “Florida’s most entertainingly indignant social critic” (\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e) and the bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eSqueeze Me\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 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. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 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. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 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. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 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…. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 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?“Carl Hiaasen [is]\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eFlorida’s most entertainingly indignant social critic ... He presents us with Cherry Pye, a 22-year-old pop star whose every display of narcissistic excess will send a frisson of horrified delight up your spine ... The outlandish events soar on the exuberance of Hiaasen’s manic style, a canny blend of lunatic farce and savage satire.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Does anyone remember what we did for fun before novelist Carl Hiaasen began turning out his satirical comedies one after another after another? ... \u003ci\u003eStar Island \u003c\/i\u003eis a concoction worth the time of any reader who wants quality entertainment.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eSan Francisco Chronicle\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Hiaasen reclaims his groove in \u003ci\u003eStar Island, \u003c\/i\u003ea wicked, fizzy sendup of American celebrity culture ... A very funny book about life in the fast lane.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Fans of Carl Hiaasen will feel right at home when they plunge into \u003ci\u003eStar Island. \u003c\/i\u003eThere’s the familiar collection of deliciously tawdry characters, each angling for a piece of the action in Florida ... And there’s the fast-moving plot, and the writing that makes you laugh out loud ... Hiaasen has turned out another gem. Readers of his previous novels can settle in for more wacky fun in the Florida sun.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eAssociated Press\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“A wild and fun Sunshine State ride.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eNew York Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Hiaasen is at his gleeful best skewering the morally bankrupt. He has plenty to poke fun at here, from a reprehensible real-estate developer with an excruciating groin injury to twin publicists Botoxed within an inch of their lives. This is classic Hiaasen—demented, hilarious, and utterly over the top.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eBooklist \u003c\/i\u003e(starred review)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“An outrageous, offbeat novel ... The torrent of pop culture barbs are bound to please Hiaasen’s ardent fans.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly \u003c\/i\u003eCARL HIAASEN was born and raised in Florida. He is the author of eleven previous novels, including the best-selling \u003ci\u003eNature Girl, Skinny Dip, Sick Puppy,\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eLucky You,\u003c\/i\u003e and three best-selling children’s books, \u003ci\u003eHoot, Flush, \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eScat. \u003c\/i\u003eHis most recent work of nonfiction is \u003ci\u003eThe Downhill Lie: A Hacker’s Return to a Ruinous Sport.\u003c\/i\u003e He also writes a weekly column for \u003ci\u003eThe Miami Herald.\u003c\/i\u003e1\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn the fifteenth of March, two hours before sunrise, an emergency medical technician named Jimmy Campo found a sweaty stranger huddled in the back of his ambulance. It was parked in a service alley behind the Stefano Hotel, where Jimmy Campo and his partner had been summoned to treat a twenty-two-year-old white female who had swallowed an unwise mix of vodka, Red Bull, hydrocodone, birdseed and stool softener—in all respects a routine South Beach 911 call, until now.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe stranger in Jimmy Campo’s ambulance had two 35-mm digital cameras hanging from his fleshy neck, and a bulky gear bag balanced on his ample lap. He wore a Dodgers cap and a Bluetooth ear set. His ripe, florid cheeks glistened damply, and his body reeked like a prison laundry bag.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Get out of my ambulance,” Jimmy Campo said.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Is she dead?” the man asked excitedly.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Dude, I’m callin’ the cops if you don’t move it.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Who’s with her up there—Colin? Shia?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe stranger outweighed Jimmy Campo by sixty-five pounds but not an ounce of it was muscle. Jimmy Campo, who’d once been a triathlete, dragged the intruder from the vehicle and deposited him on the sticky pavement beneath a streetlight.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Chill, for Christ’s sake,” the man said, examining his camera equipment for possible damage. Stray cats tangled and yowled somewhere in the shadows.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eInside the ambulance, Jimmy Campo found what he was looking for: a sealed sterile packet containing a coiled intravenous rig to replace the one that the female overdose victim had ripped from her right arm while she was thrashing on the floor.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe stranger struggled to his feet and said, “I’ll give you a thousand bucks.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“For what?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“When you bring her downstairs, lemme take a picture.” The man dug into the folds of his stale trousers and produced a lump of cash. “You gotta job to do, and so do I. Here’s a grand.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJimmy Campo looked at the money in the stranger’s hand. Then he glanced up at the third floor of the hotel, where his partner was almost certainly dodging vomit.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Is she famous or somethin’?” Jimmy Campo asked.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe photographer chuckled. “Man, you don’t even know?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJimmy Campo was thinking about the fifty-two-inch high-def that he’d seen on sale at Brands Mart. He was thinking about his girlfriend on a rampage with his maxed-out MasterCard at the Dadeland Mall. He was thinking about all those nasty letters from his credit union.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Whoever she is, she’s not dead,” he told the photographer. “Not tonight.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Cool.” The man continued to hold out the wad of hundreds in the glow of the streetlight, as if teasing a mutt with raw hamburger. He said, “All you gotta do, before loading her in the wagon, just pull down the covers and step away so I can get my shot. Five seconds is all I need.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“It won’t be pretty. She’s a sick young lady.” Jimmy Campo took the crumpled money and smoothed it into his wallet.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Is she awake at least?” the photographer asked.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“On and off.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“But you could see her eyes in a picture, right? She’s got those awesome sea-green eyes.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJimmy Campo said, “I didn’t notice.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“You really don’t know who she is? Seriously?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Who do you work for, anyway?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A limited partnership,” the man said. “Me, myself and I.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“And where can I see this great picture you’re gonna take?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Everywhere. You’ll see it everywhere,” the stranger said.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEighteen minutes later, Jimmy Campo and his partner emerged from the Stefano Hotel guiding a collapsible stretcher upon which lay a slender, motionless form.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe photographer was surprised at the absence of a retinue; no bodyguards or boyfriends or hangers-on. A lone Miami Beach police officer followed the stretcher down the alley. When the photographer began snapping pictures, the cop barely reacted, making no effort to shield the stricken woman from the flash bursts. That should have been a clue.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSliding closer, the paparazzo intercepted the stretcher as it rolled with an oscillating squeak toward the open end of the ambulance. True to his word, Jimmy Campo tugged down the sheet and stepped away, leaving an opening.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Cherry!” the photographer shouted at the slack face. “Cherry, baby, how ’bout a big smile for your fans?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe young woman’s incurious eyes were open. They were not sea-green, mint-green, pea-green or any hue of green. They were brown.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Goddammit,” the photographer growled, lowering his Nikon.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe woman on the stretcher grinned behind the oxygen mask and blew him a kiss.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGrabbing at Jimmy Campo’s arm, the photographer cried, “Gimme back my money!”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Mister, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said the paramedic, elbowing the sweaty creep back into the shadows.","brand":"Vintage Crime\/Black Lizard","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48233576956133,"sku":"NP9798217008261","price":19.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9798217008261.jpg?v=1767737177","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/star-island-isbn-9798217008261","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}