Table of Contents
WHO IN HEAVENS NAME NEEDS
SERIOUS AMERICAN NOVELISTS WHEN
DAVE BARRY IS ON THE JOB?
The Washington Post
Following that age-old advice to write what you know, the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist has produced a novel involving nuclear bombs, Russian gangsters, giant pythons, tree-dwelling street people, and teenagers... Throw in a poison toad and a robber blinded by dark panty hose, and this is about as funny as a book can be.
The Christian Science Monitor
Its a buoyant book. A.
Entertainment Weekly
Hilarious... Dave Barry is not just an amusing social observer; hes a novelist of genuine skill... he could become the most important American humorist since Mark Twain.
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
Itll make you laugh. Out loud. Many, many times.
The San Diego Union-Tribune
Dave Barry has created the rarest of all literary creatures, the genuinely funny mystery novel... what a charming, witty, insightful storyteller he is... the funniest portrayal of the wasteland that is sports talk radio that has ever been written.
Kinky Friedman, The New York Times
Like a Preston Sturges comedy speeded up to punk rock velocity. Barrys readers may believe theyre ready for this level of craziness; I think they may be wrong.
Stephen King
Dave Barry remains one of the funniest writers alive. This book will do for [Florida tourism] what Dennis Rodman did for bridal wear... outrageously warped, cheerfully depraved.
Carl Hiaasen
Uproarious... devastatingly funny.The Associated Press
Lets face it, Florida is almost as funny as New Jersey, and any novel in which the mean guy goes insane from the toxins of a giant toad fills a gentle reader with... warmth.
Los Angeles Times
The tale of a dysfunctional family and inept mobsters, corruption, sex, lust, Miami... nuclear weapons, and a toad-licking dog. Dave Barry fans will zip through Big Trouble.
The Denver Post
... a satirical romp through Miamis wacky, criminally infested mean streets... a madcap mockery of urban life.
Ridley Pearson
A screwball thriller that reads like a fast-paced screenplay.
USA Today
Barry has found new life for his comic bag of tricks... a ridiculous and often hilarious farce. [Big Trouble] is an engaging thriller.Chicago Tribune
Dave Barry may be one of our best contemporary satirists... [a] breakneck style... pithy and hilarious.
The Dallas Morning News
Moves along at the pace of a summer action movie... and at the end [Barry] leaves the reader laughing.
Columbus Dispatch
Dave Barrys first novel offers all the major literary elements that are so dear to readers of his newspaper columnsdogs with small brains, teenagers with large pants, Miami residents with major ordnanceand much, much more.
The Indianapolis Star
Ridiculous, comic in the extreme... wild, smart and endearing.Rocky Mountain News
Hilarious... as tasty as a bowl of fresh popcorn [and] laugh out loud funny.Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Dave Barry is Americas funniest man. Barrys harebrained plot... turns the pages. [He] has written a highly entertaining novel.The Kansas City Star
Dave Barry turns his considerable comic talents to fiction, and the result is stranger than truthand even funnier.
St. Petersburg Times
Crazy, hilarious... Youll close the book with regret, wishing there were more. Big Trouble is big fun.
The Times-Picayune
If you cant wait for Barrys weekly humor column, grab Big Trouble. Its a riot.The Florida Times-Union
TITLES BY DAVE BARRY
Nonfiction
THE TAMING OF THE SCREW
BABIES AND OTHER HAZARDS OF SEX
STAY FIT AND HEALTHY UNTIL YOURE DEAD
CLAW YOUR WAY TO THE TOP
BAD HABITS
DAVE BARRYS GUIDE TO MARRIAGE AND/OR SEX
HOMES AND OTHER BLACK HOLES
DAVE BARRYS GREATEST HITS
DAVE BARRY SLEPT HERE
DAVE BARRY TURNS 40
DAVE BARRY TALKS BACK
DAVE BARRYS ONLY TRAVEL GUIDE YOULL EVER NEED
DAVE BARRY DOES JAPAN
DAVE BARRY IS NOT MAKING THIS UP
DAVE BARRYS GIFT GUIDE TO END ALL GIFT GUIDES
DAVE BARRYS COMPLETE GUIDE TO GUYS
DAVE BARRY IN CYBERSPACE
DAVE BARRYS BOOK OF BAD SONGS
DAVE BARRY IS FROM MARS AND VENUS
DAVE BARRY TURNS 50
DAVE BARRY HITS BELOW THE BELTWAY
DAVE BARRY IS NOT TAKING THIS SITTING DOWN
DAVE BARRYS HISTORY OF THE MILLENNIUM (SO FAR)
ILL MATURE WHEN IM DEAD
Fiction
BIG TROUBLE
TRICKY BUSINESS
THE SHEPHERD, THE ANGEL, AND WALTER THE CHRISTMAS
MIRACLE DOG
For Michelle
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND WARNING
Ill start with the warning: This is not a book for youngsters . I point this out because I know, from reading my mail, that a lot of youngsters read my humor books and newspaper columns, and Im thrilled that they do. But this book is not for them, because some of the characters use Adult Language. I did not necessarily want the characters to use this type of language; some of them just went ahead and did. Thats how some characters are.
And now for the acknowledgments:
I want to first thank my editor at Putnam, Neil Nyren, who proposed the idea of my writing a novel, and made it sound like a lot of fun. Neil was always supportive and has given me excellent advice, so I forgive him for the fact that he never told me, back at the beginning, that I would need to come up with characters and a plot.
I thank my agent, Al Hart, who also encouraged me to take a stab at fiction. I always listen to Al, who has calmly steered my writing career through many a stormy sea, with one steady hand on the tiller and the other wrapped around a refreshing beverage.
I am very lucky to have, as friends, some wonderful novelists who were generous enough to share their wisdom with me when I actually started writing this book and discovered that I had no idea what the plot was. I especially want to thank Carl Hiaasen, who is the master of the genre I tried to write inthe Bunch of South Florida Wackos genreas well as Stephen King, Elmore Leonard, Paul Levine, Ridley Pearson, and Les Standiford, all of whom basically said not to worry too much about the plot at the beginning, except Ridley, who is extremely organized and already knows what he will have for breakfast on May 12, 2011 (tea and an English muffin, unbuttered). I also thank Jeff Arch for his words of encouragement, even the Yiddish ones that I did not understand.
I thank my amazing research assistant, Judi Smith. Im always calling Judi up and asking questions like, How much milk does an average Tahitian coconut contain? And within ten minutes she has somehow gotten hold of the worlds foremost authority on Tahitian coconut milk, and shell call me with reams of information, and Ill say, Whoops, it turns out that I dont need that after all, and still she never gets mad.
I thank Luis Albuerne and Bobby DAngelo, who told me helpful stuff about police procedures and fighter jets, respectively. I probably got it all wrong, but thats not their fault.
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