When I came across Razor Girl by Carl Hiaasen, I was caught by the bright yellow cover and the happy looking pin-up girl riding a straight razor. I was intrigued to say the least.
I immediately googled the title and read a review for it on NPR, and bought it.
What’s so interesting about this story is how it’s about men, yet the women are driving it. The women may not be the princess protagonist type, but they are using their heads far better than most of the men in this story are. Hiaasen’s male characters are mostly making choices from emotion, while the women have thought out their actions, knowing exactly what will get them what they want.
The whole story starts with the conniving red-headed Merry Mansfield “wrecking” her car into a Lane Coolman’s rented vehicle while shaving her bikini zone, which is brilliant in my opinion (but I do have questions about the logistics of it), and she knows his brain will immediately go to sex. Coolman is also upset because his ex-wife is sleeping with his boss, who refuses to save him from the Florida Keys. And then to be rejected by Merry? He loses it in a fashion that you see men getting rejected on Twitter act all the time.
Then Merry goes on to start an odd friendship with Andrew Yancy, who was fired from his former position by acting on emotion, and who has driven his currently girlfriend to a different continent. Merry is so driving of both Andrew and Lane’s emotions, that she has become the main character to follow of the story for me. She’s brilliant, conniving, and shady. She starts out in her bad relationship and then starts many different brands of relationships with the other men in this story.
Buck, whose character is based off the show “Duck Dynasty,” is driven between his wife and his mistress. He goes loco after being kidnapped by a fan, whose wife is so done with him and his antics. It reminds me of men driven by Trump and his “character” as president. They go crazy because of a man they look up to, but don’t actually know.
One of the interesting and hilarious side stories is the one of Trebeaux, the sand stealer, and Dominick “Big Noogie” Aeola. Big Noogie is not pleased with Martin Trebeaux, who screwed him over in a sand deal. And then Trebeaux goes on to sleep with Big Noogie’s girl, who knows what she’s doing 100% when she seduces Trebeaux.
Overall, this book is so much more than just one scheme. There are so many agenda going on over the course of the book that ultimately line and link the characters together.
Razor Girl takes place in Florida, so I chose to pair this book with the drink of the Floriday Keys: a rum runner. But also because the name reminds me how everyone is essentially on the run in this book. Running from the law, from fame, from predators, from love, from….
The rum runner has a long list of ingredients, but is very simple to make.
– 1 oz light rum
– 1 oz dark rum
– 1 oz banana liqueur
– 1 oz blackberry liqueur
– 1 oz orange juice
– 1 oz pineapple juice
– splash of grenadine
Pour all ingredients into a shaker, shake, and pour over ice. Top with a maraschino cherry, what I imagine to be the color of Merry’s hair.
