Rating: 
Summary: Started strong, lost interest half way through
Review: This book started really strong and started dying about half way through. The first half flowed pretty nicely, the authors all had very close styles of writing that made it really enjoyable. About half way through, one of the big characters just disappeared and became a minor one, the styles of writing changed, sex and violence suddenly were added in what seemed like a PG-rated book, and the flow of events suddenly changed and left you confused. At the end, things seemed to make some sense, but at the same time your thinking "What?" Started strong, ended badly. Too bad too, I really liked Booger.
Rating: 
Summary: Almost great
Review: This was a neat trick - get a bunch of authors to write a book together, each in his or her own style. It was an enjoyable read, but uneven. After all, you can't possibly put Elmore Leonard's dialogue and Carl Hiaasen's sense of the ridiculous into two succeeding chapters and expect there to be a smooth transition. There isn't. The story is fun, though, and a key point to the book is a fairly detailed index of the authors, which tells us that the characters who are presented in the book can be found in other novels by the many different authors. That's a treat, and I'm sure I'll be picking up some of the novels in which these people first appear. The plot in "Naked" is a bit thin on the ground, but you can't really expect this enormously talented group of authors to come up with anything less than a very enjoyable afternoon of reading.
Rating:
Summary: Almost great
Review: This was a neat trick - get a bunch of authors to write a book together, each in his or her own style. It was an enjoyable read, but uneven. After all, you can't possibly put Elmore Leonard's dialogue and Carl Hiaasen's sense of the ridiculous into two succeeding chapters and expect there to be a smooth transition. There isn't. The story is fun, though, and a key point to the book is a fairly detailed index of the authors, which tells us that the characters who are presented in the book can be found in other novels by the many different authors. That's a treat, and I'm sure I'll be picking up some of the novels in which these people first appear. The plot in "Naked" is a bit thin on the ground, but you can't really expect this enormously talented group of authors to come up with anything less than a very enjoyable afternoon of reading.
Rating: 
Summary: NOT FUNNY
Review: TOO SLO
Rating:
Summary: Don't take this too seriously.
Review: Very humorous. Each author provides wit and creativity, and the format of authoring the novel only adds to the suprise and wackyness. Don't purchase the book looking for serious literature, however. DO purchase the book for a quick and delightful summer read.
Rating:
Summary: Don't take this too seriously.
Review: Very humorous. Each author provides wit and creativity, and the format of authoring the novel only adds to the suprise and wackyness. Don't purchase the book looking for serious literature, however. DO purchase the book for a quick and delightful summer read.
Rating:
Summary: An incoherent mess
Review: What a SUCK-FEST! This is the worst book I've read in a long time. The (unlucky) 13 authors seem only slightly concerned with plot continuity, and the result is like a novel with every third page torn out. Characters come and go, and come back again for no apparent reason, other than to satisfy the authors' self-indulgent egos. In particular, the chapters by Elmore Leonard and Vicki Hendricks were appallingly bad. Hendricks ignores all the preceeding chapters and suddenly changes the eponymous manatee from an aquatic pinhead into some amalgam of Lassie and the Hardy Boys. In a later chapter Carl Hiaasen openly mocks this sudden swerve in character. (Tip: avoid books where one co-author ridicules another co-author's writing) Elmore Leonard contributes a time capsule that might have been hip 25 years ago, with a black character refering to someone as a "cat", and in the very next sentence actually using the phase "shuck and jive". I am very happy I checked this book out of the library, instead of squandering 22.95 on this train wreck of a book
Rating: 
Summary: Great fun in the sun!
Review: What a wild romp! One literary gumshoe is introduced, the next chapter he wins the lottery and is written out of the plot! The fictional sleuths of several famous mystery writers duel with each other to unravel the secrets of Castro's head(s). The sole constant character is the oft-maligned Manatee - he of small brain and nicknamed Booger.
The amazingly smooth flow of the plot through thirteen different writers made this book a delight to read, although it was too short. Obviously, in the manner of Carl Hiassen and Dave Barry, the humor dances on every page. The continuity between chapters, which must have required each individual writer to read and reread each previous chapter in order to match details, never loses the thread. It was a treat to relish each author's style, get to know in some small manner, that writer's favorite detective, and yet follow the ever-lingering Booger as he floats through the plot.
This is a book for summer vacation: read it on the beach and wait for Booger to show up!
Rating:
Summary: Call This A Mystery Stew!
Review: You have to wonder about a book that has been pieced together using many different authors.
Would the book carry the reader through each chapter and still retain its continuity? How would the plot hold up? Could the editor really pull off the concept and make it work?
The answer is sometimes. While the plot of an almost human-like Manatee is a bit of a stretch, the story is nonetheless interesting in its character and development.
Sure there are some weak spots. But if you're looking for a book built on the premise of using a covey of mystery writers who contribute to a continuing storyline-you'll find this book very interesting.
One amusing sideline is the fact that Buchanan's character, Brit Montero gets some solid play in the storyline. A nice feather in Edna's cap if I do say so myself. And I do.
The book is a fairly quick reading book that is more amusing in what it attempts to do, rather than in the overall quality of plot development. Still, its worth cracking the cover and exploring.
Naked Came The Manatee is a good book to take along on a short vacation
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