Tricky Business

Dave Barry

Oct 2003 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

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 they can find more money.

In the middle of a tropical storm one night, these characters are among the passengers it carries: Fay Benton, a single mom and cocktail waitress desperate for something to go right for once; Johnny and the Contusions, a ship's band with so little talent they are . . . well, the ship's band; Arnold and Phil, two refugees from the Beaux Arts Senior Center; Lou Tarant, a wide, bald man who has killed nine people, though none recently; and an assortment of uglies whose job it is to facilitate the ship's true business, which is money-laundering or drug-smuggling or . . . something.

Ratings and reviews

The book was entertaining through chapter 3, Then Google Books told me I had finished my book and would not let me go beyond chapter 3, even when I brought up the table of contents. The same thing has happened many times with other Google books, but this time I can't get around it. This is nonsense. I'm switching to Kindle

I found this one to be funnier and more interesting than Big Trouble, Dave's earlier book. This one made me laugh out loud several times. Some of the scenes are disgusting, like when all the five tough and aggressive men are regurgitating their last meals due to sea sickness. But, as Dave points out in the beginning, there are bad words, and, he might have added, sickening scenes; so if you can't take it, don't read it. I like the way Dave put the two old men, Arnie and Phil, and then the band members, the pot heads, Wally, Johnny, Jock, and Ted, the keyboard guy, into challenging positions. I could identify. Arnie and Phil, 83 and 81 respectively, end up trying to drive a big gambling casino off the Florida coast, with the captain agonizing and trying to survive at their feet, but unable to help them much. The two old men are arguing over who is more capable of driving, how to find west on the compass, and such. Then the stoners in the band finding themselves trying to navigate a smaller boat with a great ton of money, drugs, and dead bodies. It's hilarious. I think Dave has cut out a niche for himself in the comic novel, but with a scary angle to it, also. The old men and the stoners never seem to worry, but their lives were very much at risk. I guess that's how old people and pot heads act, not worried, just follow your nose. That's how I act, especially around boats.

Well thought out. Some do not like it but author states this in preface.

About the author

From 1983 to 2004, Dave Barry wrote a weekly humor column for The Miami Herald, which in 1988 won a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. He is the author of more than thirty books, including such bestsellers as the nonfiction Live Right and Find Happiness (Although Beer Is Much Faster), You Can Date Boys When You're Forty, and I'll Mature When I'm Dead; the novels Big Trouble, Tricky Business, and Insane City; the very successful YA Peter Pan novels (with Ridley Pearson); and his Christmas story The Shepherd, the Angel, and Walter the Christmas Miracle Dog. Two of his books--Big Trouble and Dave Barry's Guide to Guys--have been turned into movies. For a while, his life was even a television series, Dave's World, but then it was canceled. The series. Not the life. For many years, Dave was also a guitarist with the late, infamous, and strangely unlamented band the Rock Bottom Remainders.