ISBN: 9780446556125 Publisher: Hachette Book Group Cover Price: $14.99

Synopsis quoted from back cover: "Meet twenty-two-year-old Cherry Pye, a pop stat since she was fourteen-and attempting a comeback from her latest drug-and-alcohol disaster. Now meet Cherry's "undercover stunt double," Ann DeLusia. Ann portrays Cherry whenever the singer is too 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.
     Cherry's handlers want to rescue Ann while keeping her role a secret. The situation is more complicated than they know. Ann has had a bewitching encounter with Skink-the unhinged former governor of Florida-and he's heading for Miami to find her. Will Skink track down Ann DeLusia before Cherry's motley posse does? Will Cherry sober up in time to lipsynch her way through her concert tour? Stay tuned..."

 

The 2 Beans Worth: This book was definitely a disappointment in the Hiaasen realm. There are plenty of people who will disagree, but when you place this book next to one of his others, it can't even compare with them. Just take an easy reference like Hoot. Since Star Island is a story about celebrity status, let's use that metaphor. The two books are no where near the same status level. Star Island would be the wannabe and Hoot would be the big celebrity.

The over-indulgent atmosphere that surrounds celebrities has been in the headlines too many times for anyone to deny. The deaths of many adult and child stars alike also makes anyone trying to deny it a laugh. So that aspect of the book is not arguable.

The characters though? Sheesh. Some of them are so completely exaggerated, to the point of being obnoxiously over the top, that they are completely insulting to the reader. It's as if a comedy factor was being reached for but was over-reached, and he flew beyond that point into the completely ludicrous.

Overall, if you're looking for a Hiaasen book to read, save yourself the time and pick out another title. Though not all of his titles have been read, the experience with some of them says that just about any title is guaranteed to be a better read than this one. Sorry.