If you’ve devoured Carl Hiaasen, completed Laurence Shames, and run out of Tim Dorsey’s, you may want to give Date (Dah-tay) a try. Like Hiaasen a former journalist with the Miami Herald, Date's books aren't quite as offbeat as Hiaasen's or as insane as Dorsey's, but still, he knows Florida every bit as well as they do and manages to capture it in all its zaniness.

This one has to do with oil off Florida's coast and a Florida governor's race involving two brothers who are light caricatures of Jeb and George W. Bush. If you remember (or just want to relive) the insanity of the 2000 Florida presidential recount, you'll also find inside a thinly veiled yet hilariously on-the-nose portrait of Florida's then Secretary of State, Katherine Harris.

I discovered Date with his book Smokeout and then went to look for all his others so I could catch up. Funny thing though, his very first effort (titled Final Orbit) was difficult to find. I eventually snagged a copy on ebay, and when I received it, learned it wasn't a whimsical or humorous tale, but a somewhat middling attempt at a thriller.

What I most remember about it was that it had to do with intrigue aboard the space shuttle Columbia, and among its final scenes was the shuttle breaking up as it comes in for a landing. Always amazes me when fiction predicts the future. Happens far more often than you'd think. ( )