Fever Beach

Fever Beach, published by Carl Hiaasen in 2025, is the story of Dale Figgo, Viva Morales, and Twilly Spree, three very different Floridians who become entangled in a congressman’s web of corruption. A lifelong Floridian, Hiaasen is an award-winning journalist and author who has written many adult, young adult, and middle grade novels, including 2013’s Bad Monkey and 2020’s Squeeze Me. A number of his books have become New York Times bestsellers, and his work has been translated into 34 languages. In Fever Beach, a darkly comic crime satire, he explores themes including The Nature of Political Extremism, The Corrupting Influence of Dark Money, and Authentic Morality Versus Moral Facade.

This study guide refers to the 2025 Alfred A. Knopf hardcover first edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of racism, graphic violence, religious discrimination, antigay bias, transgender discrimination, sexual violence, bullying, death by suicide, death, cursing, animal death, sexual content, child abuse, and child sexual abuse.

Plot Summary

Right-wing extremist Dale Figgo, out distributing antisemitic literature, deliberately hits Noel Kristiansen with his truck and then drives off. The next day, Figgo learns the police are looking for him in the hit-and-run case.

Figgo’s tenant, Viva Morales, flies home to Florida. On the plane, she meets Twilly Spree, an independently wealthy environmentalist. The next day, her employers, a wealthy couple named Claude and Electra Mink, introduce her to Congressman Clure Boyette. Clure asks the Minks to donate to his new cause, a program called Wee Hammers, intended to teach building skills to children, and they give him $2 million.

Clure is having a liaison with a young woman named Galaxy when his father calls to warn him that his wife, Nicki, is threatening divorce. Clure’s father urges him to give Nicki whatever she wants—a scandal would be disastrous for his reelection campaign.

Twilly and Viva meet for lunch. Twilly gives Viva a hard time about working for the Minks, who clear-cut citrus groves for land developers. Meanwhile, Noel Kristiansen is determined to make Figgo pay for hitting him and decides to infiltrate his extremist group.

Figgo calls Jonas Onus, a member of his right-wing hate group, Strokers for Liberty, and says that a congressman has offered their group $2 million. Figgo’s truck is returned, and when the police show up to take photos of it, he claims someone stole it. Afterward, he hides his right-wing paraphernalia in a storage unit.

Clure asks Viva to dinner, and she asks Twilly to dig up information on him. Twilly tells her that Clure’s children’s program is likely a front, laundering illicit campaign donations. She suspects that the Minks' donation is for a zoning change they need and decides to get close to Clure to find out.

Clure tells the Strokers he has an operation planned for them, and afterward, he meets Viva for a drink. She tries to get him to admit that his children’s program is a fraud, but he is cagey. When he gets a call from Galaxy and steps out to take it, Viva leaves.

Clure rushes to his condo and finds Galaxy there, angry because Clure didn’t fully pay her. She now has additional demands, and if he does not meet them, she will expose him for paying a minor for sex.

Figgo does not have money for a lawyer, so he calls Clure, who agrees to wire him the money. When Figgo returns home, he finds a new recruit, Jerry Jeff Tupelo, waiting outside.

Twilly learns that Viva’s predecessor at work disappeared after finding evidence that one of the Minks’ donations went to a hate group. Later, he goes to pick Viva up for a date, and when she comes downstairs, she finds him helping Figgo with hate literature. Twilly decides to join the Strokers undercover, and Figgo gives him a sex toy called a “Dream Booty” as a welcome gift. Later, Twilly leaves it outside the Minks’ gate, addressed to Claude.

Clure offers Galaxy an Aston Martin in exchange for her silence. They go out drinking, and on their way home, Galaxy falls asleep at the wheel and crashes the car. Clure flees the scene. Later, Galaxy learns from the police that the Aston Martin was not legally titled in her name. She now demands a new Aston Martin, a new apartment, and a platinum American Express card.

Clure explains the operation to the Strokers: They will be posted outside Precinct 53 on election day to intimidate voters. Figgo and Twilly meet, and Figgo tells Twilly about the plan. He says he has planned an additional operation of his own but will not say what it is.

Twilly convinces Lewin Baltry, a zoning commissioner who took a bribe from the Minks, that he is being investigated and needs to disappear. Because of his absence, the zoning vote goes against the Minks, who decide to have Baltry killed.

Viva gets more information out of Clure, including the fact that he is working with a local hate group. She plies him with drinks, and when he passes out, she photographs the contacts list on his phone. She is shocked to discover that one of the numbers belongs to Figgo. She calls Galaxy’s number, and Galaxy tells Viva everything she knows.

Figgo’s truck has been repossessed, and he rides Onus’s bicycle to his lawyer’s office. The lawyer tells him he has been offered a year’s probation in exchange for paying Noel’s medical bills and surrendering his driver’s license for six months. He leaves the office distracted and rides his bike into the side of a passing truck. He ends up in the hospital, needing reconstructive surgery on his face.

Onus tells Clure that Figgo is not fit to lead the Strokers, but Clure will not listen. Onus drives to Figgo’s storage unit, but the guns Figgo stored there are gone—unbeknownst to them, Twilly has taken the guns. While Onus is at the storage unit, his dog eats another Dream Booty, resulting in the dog needing surgery.

At the next Strokers meeting, Figgo introduces his new recruits, Twilly and Tupelo. He refuses to give Onus money for Himmler’s surgery, and Onus attacks him. Figgo announces that they will all meet on Saturday to ride down to Key West together, where he has planned an operation.

Later, Onus comes to the townhouse and draws a gun on Figgo. Twilly takes it and insists that the two men talk. Onus explains that his dog died because he did not have enough money for the surgery.

On the day of the planned mission, the Strokers ride down to Key West without Onus. Viva and Donna covertly follow them and arrive just as the Strokers get into a fight in a drag club and are badly defeated by the performers. Viva and Twilly track down Jerry Jeff Tupelo, who has sustained a head injury. At the hospital, they learn that his real name is Noel Kristiansen.

Onus receives a new puppy, allegedly sent by Figgo but actually sent by Twilly. After media coverage of the drag club fight, Clure meets with Figgo. He tells Figgo that from now on, Onus will be the Strokers’ co-leader.

Clure agrees to a huge divorce settlement for Nicki, including another Aston Martin. The dealership calls Clure to tell him that someone else bought the car, and it will be a three-month wait for another. Twilly has purchased the car, hoping to make Galaxy angry enough to cause problems for Clure. Clure’s father, Clay, flies into town, arranges for the dealership to order a car for Nicki, and calls a hitman to see to Galaxy. The hitman is out of town but offers to call his friend Moe.

Moe, the same killer Claude has hired, finds Baltry but, incensed by Claude’s antisemitism, does not kill him. When Claude contacts Moe, Moe claims to have left Baltry’s body in a ditch, but in reality, they are both in Florida.

Moe stakes out Galaxy’s apartment, and she notices him on her way to meet with Viva. Viva urges her to stay at the townhouse for the night, but Galaxy refuses. Viva learns that Galaxy is 25 and lies about her age for men like Clure, who are interested in minors. She sends Viva a compromising photo of Clure.

Onus and Figgo struggle to share leadership. Onus decides that he will somehow get control of the Wee Hammers' money, buy the Strokers their own secure compound, and kick Figgo out of the group. Figgo texts Clure, but Clure refuses to remove Onus as co-leader. He also reveals that Onus is claiming Figgo is an FBI informant, which sends Figgo into a rage.

After Moe releases him, Baltry calls Twilly, who learns that the hitman asked Baltry for a favor. When he tells Viva about the hitman, she realizes that he is the creepy man Galaxy saw. When Moe knocks on Galaxy’s door, Galaxy holds Moe at knifepoint, and as the two talk, he decides to cancel the contract.

Galaxy and Viva publicly release salacious videos and photos of Clure. One of the child workers accidentally burns down the Wee Hammers house. Clay realizes that Clure has a plan to sway the election. He demands that Clure put a stop to it, but Clure says it is too late.

Onus tries to assault Viva; Twilly knocks him unconscious and leaves him stranded on a paddleboard at sea. He is rescued several days later near Veracruz, Mexico. He tries to cross back into the US illegally, but is swept away in the Rio Grande’s current and drowns.

Instead of suppressing anti-Clure votes, the Strokers’ presence at Precinct 53 creates a public furor that brings large numbers of voters out. The Strokers flee the scene, and Figgo is humiliated. On his way out of town, he climbs a flagpole to destroy a gay pride flag. He gets caught in the flagpole’s ropes and strangles to death.

Baltry attends the next zoning board meeting to vote against the Minks’ development plans. Claude Mink collapses and dies during the meeting. Baltry turns state’s evidence and testifies against Electra, who tries to save herself by testifying against Clure. Before he can be put on trial, Clure vanishes during a family hunting trip and is presumed to have been eaten by local wildlife.

Viva accepts a job in New York, and she and Twilly agree to continue their casual relationship. Twilly explains a mysterious new project and suggests that Viva join him for it. She feigns shock about his unspecified plans but doesn’t say no.