BOOK REVIEW

Title: Tricky Business

Author: Dave Barry

In ten words or less: Losers meet mobsters aboard a gambling ship during a storm.

Review: The "Extravaganza of the Sea" is a gambling ship that sails off the Florida coast nightly. The captain has done prison time, and is under orders from his mob bosses to take the boat out in a tropical storm. This night the passengers include Arnold and Phil, a couple of octogenarians escaping from their retirement home; a man in a pink plush conch costume; a band of dopers called Johnny and the Contusions; and a cocktail waitress named Fay Benton, a single mom at odds with her ex-husband. Barry peppers his story with his usual fart jokes, outlandish situations, and colorful Florida characters.

Why bother? If you enjoy Dave Barry's columns, you'll like his second novel.