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Carl Hiaasen's best-selling novels have their own internal logic based on one simple, almost medieval principle: When in doubt, punish the wicked.

But his plots, happily, are never that simple. Full of madcap schemes, ingenuous lovers and whacked-out, amped-up ex-cons whose body parts tend to disappear, scene by scene, Hiaasen's plots twist and turn in the Florida wind.

(ENLARGE)
(ENLARGE)
Carl Hiaasen
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BOOK REVIEW "Nature Girl." By Carl Hiaasen. Knopf. $25.95. 306 pages. Verdict: Another Hiaasen novel worth reading.

It's a moral universe, to be sure. Through 10 novels Hiaasen has pounded the gavel, his satire a verdict on the kinds of baddies we love to hate, in whose dismemberment we delight — those sleazy, avaricious salespeople and developers who prey upon fixed-income folks or the aw-shucks working poor.

In this regard, Hiaasen's 11th book, "Nature Girl," is no exception; the demise of its villains is the novel's highlight.

But this novel is built much differently from the sweeping panoramas of his previous books, stories that move from the Florida Panhandle down to Little Cuba: Here, the first 70 or so pages introduce our eight main characters, and the next 200-plus pages strand the cast together on an island in the Everglades.

A whole lot "Survivor," a little bit "The Tempest," with a pinch of Laurel and Hardy, the plot isolates the characters and shuffles them in and out of scenes with one another, their interactions true farce.

What's also different here, and welcome relief from previous books, is that Hiaasen's environmentalist agenda doesn't overwhelm the novel.

The most appealing of the characters in "Nature Girl" is Honey Santana, mother of the skateboarding Fry and ex-wife of ex-drug runner (but do-gooder, in his violent way) Perry Skinner. A bit under-medicated, Honey usually hears two songs in her head at once — "Smoke on the Water," for instance, along with "Rainy Days and Mondays" — which complicates her decision-making.

As does her parental terror: Honey's fear for her son motivates her to perform perfectly ludicrous acts in the name of social justice, such as getting back at the cold-calling telemarketer, Boyd Shreave, for interrupting her dinner and spewing bad names. Boyd, of course, ends up on the island — and fares poorly, a fate he deserves in the moral universe of Hiaasen.

Women in Hiaasen's world occupy strangely idealized roles: Characters who are often openly sexual while persistently naive and romantic, they sleep with men (or so it seems) to see if the men are worth it. The guys fare far more poorly, and comically so, especially those who have any kind of financial ambition. Greed is the bane of the Hiaasen man.

Hiaasen's hell usually involves a worldly comeuppance, as is the fate here of Louis Piejack, would-be rapist and local moron, who manages to have his chopped-off fingers reattached out of order, and wrapped in a gargantuan bandage that ultimately becomes infested with fire ants. That he persists past Page 150 seems a test of Hiaasen's will — perhaps to see how long we can find glee in the villain's agony.

As ever, though, Hiaasen's no dummy; as the novel progresses, Piejack acts increasingly villainous, which precludes our sympathy.

There are better Hiaasen books than "Nature Girl," specifically "Stormy Weather" and "Skin Tight," where the plots sizzle and the villains fry. The presence of some of his recurrent characters from earlier novels is missed here, too, specifically the governor. And maybe such zippy exits and entrances aren't Hiaasen's forte — or anyone's really, aside from Molière.

But Hiaasen is always good for a number of laugh-aloud scenes and lines, and when he lets his men and women banter, his ear is pitch-perfect. The dialogue sings in "Nature Girl," which is no small accomplishment. Writers of comedy tend to flatten the musicality of the language in pursuit of the punch line, a problem Hiaasen avoids well.

All together, then, "Nature Girl" is yet another Hiaasen novel worth reading, for a hoot, even if it's not his best.

Alan Michael Parker is the author of a novel, "Cry Uncle," and three collections of poetry. He teaches at Davidson College in North Carolina.