Squeeze me, by Carl Hiaasen

Instead of watching election returns November 3 (couldn’t stand to watch), I finished this satirical novel by Carl Hiaasen.  It is set in Palm Beach, Florida in the present day, but the pandemic has somehow disappeared (magically?). A Trumpian figure, Secret Service code name “Mastodon,” frequently visits his Winter White House, “Casa Bellicosa,” there. A group of elderly well-heeled widows, avid supporters of the President who call themselves the POTUS Pussies, or the more PG-rated “Potussies,” spend their evenings hosting or attending various charity galas at their event-space-ready mansions. It is at one of these that a member, the diminutive Kiki Pew, wanders off from the party and is never seen again. There is, however, a very large and lethargic Burmese python on the property with a suspicious bulge in its middle. Wildlife rescuer Angie Armstrong is summoned to quietly dispatch and remove the beast. This sets a madcap plot in motion that includes exploding pythons, a reclusive ex-governor on a secret island, falsely accused immigrants, and a Secret Service agent, involved in a torrid affair with “Mockingbird,” Mastodon’s stunning wife. Got me through the night. 336 pp.