Table of Contents
PRAISE FOR TRICKY BUSINESS
FANS OF OUTLANDISH COMIC FICTION, AS WELL AS BARRYS COLUMNS, WILL FIND MUCH TO ENJOY HERE.
Booklist
Barry uses plots and characters in novels the way he does political issues in his columnsas platforms from which to launch his memorably nutty observations.
The Columbus Dispatch
Barry demonstrates that he can draw some captivating characters and keep a readers attention in spite ofor perhaps because ofslapstick antics...
Publishers Weekly
BIG RAVES FOR BIG TROUBLE
I LAUGHED SO HARD I FELL OUT OF A CHAIR. This is the funniest thing Ive read in almost forty years. Its his funniest, coolest book.
Stephen King
The funniest book Ive read in fifty years.
Elmore Leonard
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
Dave Barry succeeds wildly with Big Trouble. Far be it from me to demystify [it] in terms of plot. There are more important spiritual matters in this book to entertain readers, like... a highly agitated husband who believes the family dog is Elizabeth Dole coming to suck out his soul... Theres a Kurt Vonnegut-like cosmic integrity to Barrys work that keeps his crazy characters credible.
Kinky Friedman, The New York Times
MORE BIG RAVES FOR BIG TROUBLE
VERY FUNNY... SATIRICAL SOCIOLOGY WORTHY OF TOM WOLFE. A.
Entertainment Weekly
A screwball thriller that reads like a fast-paced screen-play.
USA Today
Following the 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
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
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
A satirical romp through Miamis wacky, criminally infested mean streets... a madcap mockery of urban life.
Ridley Peterson
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
A very funny... poison-tipped valentine to Miami.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
EVEN MORE BIG RAVES FOR BIG TROUBLE
HARD-CHARGING, FAST-FORWARD... WILD AND CRAZY... and its certainly funny.
The Seattle Times
Dave Barry may be one of our best contemporary satirists... [a] breakneck style... pithy and hilarious.
The Dallas Morning News
[Like] a Garry Trudeau send-up of hard-boiled crime novels... with more twists than the I-95 Miami airport interchange and more pratfalls than a Three Stooges comedy. The novels quirky players bounce off each other like popcorn in a microwave... Dave Barry is indisputably one of the funniest humorists writing today, and his fiction debut will not disappoint his legion of fans.
Publishers Weekly
I read it in one sitting... Its the kind of book that makes you want to read funny passages out loud to people you dont even know.
San Antonio Express-News
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
A whale of a good time... knockout, hook-to-the-jaw humor.
The San Diego Union-Tribune
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
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
FICTION
Tricky Business
Big Trouble
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO THE PEOPLE OF SOUTH FLORIDA,
FOR BEING SO CONSISTENTLY WEIRD.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND WARNING
Im going to start with the same warning I put in my first novel,
Big Trouble, only this time Ill be more explicit and use a larger typeface:
THIS BOOK CONTAINS SOME BAD WORDS.
I stress this because when Big Trouble was published, even though it had a warning at the beginning, I got mail from people who were upset about the language. I wrote them back and explained that, yes, it did have some unsavory language, but that was because the story involved some unsavory characters, and that is the way they talk. Characters like these dont say: I am going to blow your goshdarned head off, you rascal! They just dont.
So let me stress that:
THIS BOOK CONTAINS SOME BAD WORDS.
Or, to put it another way:
IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO SEE BAD WORDS,
PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS BOOK. THANK YOU.
Next, Id like to thank some people. Ill start with my editor at Putnam, Neil Nyren, who somehow remains eerily calm when the book deadline has long since passed, and the book cover has been printed, and the catalog copy for the book has been written, and yet Neil has not yet received what the publishing industry refers to, technically, as the book.
I also thank my suave and urbane agent, Al Hart, who regularly assures me that, not to worry, the book will get done, and, all evidence to the contrary, I believe him, because that is how suave and urbane he is.
I thank Judi Smith, my wonderful staff and research department, who is efficient to the point of being prescient, and who never runs from the room, screaming, which is certainly what
