Author Carl Hiaasen is an opinionated liberal well-known for writing crime capers that get laughs from readers. His latest, Fever Beach, out May 15, will get plenty of laughs from some left-leaning readers looking to reaffirm their already-held belief that Trump supporters are idiotic, racist buffoons. This book is Hiaasen’s second satire attempt on Trump and the MAGA movement, with 2020’s Squeeze Me pillorying the inner circle at Mar-A-Lago.

It’s worth mentioning up front that the book isn’t actually funny and is a complete waste of time and energy. But understanding why the book is so unenjoyable to any discerning reader of any political persuasion is helpful in assessing the bigger problem with much of contemporary mainstream comedy and satire.

Fever Beach starts off with ex-Proud Boy and ex-Oathkeeper Dale Figgo going around rich neighborhoods in Florida and enlisting a random hitchhiker to throw out misspelled anti-Jewish pamphlets he’s printed up. A “right-wing chowderhead” who leads a secret cell of patriots named the “Strokers for Liberty,” Figgo is a masturbation addict who works at a sex doll packaging warehouse and is scared of being scolded by his strict mom. Hiaasen’s designated “MAGA-tard” bad guy has a minimal grasp of proper English and a blind hatred and fear of minorities and women. Very original and nuanced stuff here, as you can see. 

Continuing on, Hiaasen introduces numerous characters such as hapless but passionate environmental activist Twilly Spree, well-intentioned Latina heroine and love interest Viva Morales, and corrupt and degenerate equine-faced congressman Clure Boyette, who’s funneling millions from Christian nationalist groups to Figgo and crew. Then there’s the airheaded, plastic surgery-obsessed right-wing philanthropist couple Claude and Electra Mink (who’s usually strung out on “zoological-grade sedatives”) who are also in on the right-wing conspiracy, of course. 

Minor characters include Figgo’s sidekick Jonas Onus, corrupt county commissioner Lewin Baltry (who has the face of an “orphaned marmot”), evil Russian mafia sex toy boss “Pierre,” a group of righteous drag queens (“badass queers”) who beat down Figgo and crew, noble Asian Dr. Kim Zhou, and the virtuous victimized interracial couple Noel and Mary Kristiansen. The secondary characters are all just as cliched and clumsily-drawn as Hiaasen’s principal cast. Everyone is either fundamentally “good” or “bad” here, and — surprise — the baddies are all braindead white conservative jerks!

The plot is predictable and trite, pitting the bad, right-wing nutjobs and corrupt elites against the virtuous reasonable normal people who just want everyone to get along. Fever Beach doesn’t have any suspense to speak of and often feels like you’re reading the indulgent diary of a Zoomer antifa wannabe who thinks they’re being edgy. This is “clapter” comedy at its worst.

The book takes time to mock “gasping deniers” of the COVID vaccine, corrupt conservative politicians (no mention of the pure-hearted statesmen and stateswomen of the left) and engages in every other favorite lazy trope of the modern American cultural and political left. Hiaasen often seems to be looking at reality literally upside down. 

For example, it’s funny that Hiaasen has Republican stooge Boyette lying about hiding under his desk during the J6 riots to gain street cred, since it’s one of many instances where Hiaasen takes something similar to what was said by a real leftist politician (in this case AOC) and transposes it over onto his satirical conservative characters. Another example is having Boyette be a furry sex pervert, (as Biden’s disgraced nuclear waste official Sam Brinton actually was — in addition to hilariously being a serial luggage thief). 

Frankly, the most interesting and funny thing about Fever Beach is the shallowness of the worldview it presents. As a conservative writer myself, I don’t believe every (or even most) left-wing individuals are stupid or evil, just wrong and misguided about a number of substantive issues. I also seek to avoid infantile and idiotic logical fallacies such as the assumption that a compassionate person is also automatically smart, a sociopath is also necessarily stupid, a non-white individual is inherently virtuous, and so on.

Predictably, Fever Beach has received rave reviews from numerous mainstream reviewers, including the Washington Post and Booklist, who praise it as a bold foray against the evils of MAGA. But anything more than a sycophantic reviewer would be hard-pressed to find the book does much beyond revel in shallow parodies and regurgitate tired, dull stereotypes. 

There’s no doubt that Hiaasen is ingenious at using turn-of-phrase and hyperbole to comedic effect, but it’s a shame he uses it for such a predictable, boring book and such stale jokes. A cleverly done takedown of MAGA and modern conservatism would at least be engaging and potentially funny, but this is neither. The majority of crude sex jokes and repetitive gaffes fall completely flat and end up reading like a reheated late-night liberal comedy skit just made to fill a time slot. Comedy of any political or cultural persuasion is not enjoyable or funny when it’s just hammering home the same old lines and chucking cheap red meat to its audience.

Unfortunately, Fever Beach employs Hiaasen’s written talent only to mine shallow, largely unfunny tropes about Trump and conservatives that only increase political polarization and a reductive “us vs. them” mentality. Hiaasen can be an amusing writer, but go ahead and skip this one. 

Paul Brian is a freelance journalist whose interests include politics, religion, and world news. His website is www.paulrbrian.com.