Although Grift Coast has a fair amount of violence, much of it is comic in nature. Readers will find it hard to take a storyline involving fainting goats seriously. These Myotonic goats are an actual breed the Creeleys raise. Not surprisingly, they figure in the storyline. The goats aren’t the only strange critters in the book. When Kane takes on the Creeleys’ case, he is already working on another missing non-person case, trying to find a missing macaw named Orlando Bloom. Being a whiz PI, Kane finds Bloom, but catching him is a trickier story.

The author does a good job of setting out the various scams and schemes Slate and his associates use in the story. Most of them were familiar, but one involving an attempted big-dollar personal injury lawsuit was somewhat new to me. And when scams and schemes fail, the bad guys aren’t afraid to resort to some good old-fashioned thuggery. Grift Coast has a Carl Hiaasen vibe to it, with Kane the sort of laid-back hero who fits right into the story. The author relies on readers’ familiarity with similar investigators in many movies and TV shows, and Kane’s similarity to characters like Thomas Magnum and Jim Rockford is noticeable.

A familiar storyline and central character don’t mean a dull novel, however. The author has a good sense of humor and gives Kane the type of witty repartee readers expect in a book like Grift Coast. But the humor isn’t all in the dialogue. The author fills the book with dozens of humorous similes and metaphors. Sometimes he overdoes the attempted witticisms. Certain sections of the book contain one or two gags per paragraph, a rate that sometimes becomes distracting for readers, especially when some of the joke lines fall flat.

The author also does a good job of establishing a local feel. I found this somewhat surprising, since the author lives in New England and doesn’t appear to have any Florida connections. However, he’s clearly done some location research and described Turtle Key and its colorful residents enough that I could easily buy into the story’s background. Grift Coast is the second book in the Ellis Kane series. I haven’t read the first installment where, I’m guessing, the author introduced some of these characters. However, I didn’t feel like I was missing anything important in their development. As for the book’s tropical setting, I could almost hear the Jimmy Buffett tunes humming across the pages.

The plot of Grift Coast lacks the complexity of the best genre stories. Turn back the clock to the 19th century, and turn Kane into a gunslinger, and you have the plot of many similar Westerns. Grift Coast isn’t complex, but it is a breezy, fun read. I imagine many readers will stay up all night to finish it. The author tries too hard at times to keep the jokes coming, but enough of them land to keep readers entertained. There’s no grift involved in my recommendation of Grift Coast.  

NOTE: The publisher graciously provided me with a copy of this book through BookSirens. However, the decision to review the book and the contents of this review are entirely my own.