Of all the stars who were crashing and burning, Cherry Pye seemed most likely to beat the others to the grave, and for that reason she’d become a focus of Bang Abbott’s morbid scrutiny. Although she was neither as global nor as gifted as Jackson, she was a wild, hot babe and would therefore, in his view, be worth plenty of money dead. [loc. 520]
After reading Bad Monkey, I had a craving for more Hiaasen, so purchased and read this. I found it disappointing, though: possibly just because it's a riff on empty celebrity culture rather than a murder mystery, possibly because some of the characters (Skink and Chemo) would be familiar to serious Hiaasen fans but weren't to me, and thus I missed out on the pleasure of meeting them again.
Cherry Pye is a carefully-moulded pop star with unsanitary habits (sex, drugs, booze, and other bad behaviour), a rapacious manager, and a paparazzi stalker with a crush. She is out of control and unreliable -- which is why she also has a stunt double, Ann de Lucia, who is paid to show up and be photographed and keep the Cherry Pye brand alive and kicking. Cherry, of course, knows nothing of Ann: they have never met. But Ann is easily mistaken for Cherry ...
Star Island was amusing in places, and Hiaasen's gift for riffing on detail remains enjoyable: but I really didn't click with this one at all. Which might, after all, just be that I disliked most of the protagonists, and found some of the misogyny (characters', not author's) slimy, nauseating and far too credible.
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