The book begins in the 1980s on a remote island in the Everglades. Reed Crowe, the main character, is a teen beach bum and fixture on Emerald Island. Reed and his girlfriend, Heidi, observe a plane crash and the fire that ensues. He assumed that all the passengers had died and rescued a large amount of drugs.
As the story continues we see Reed as an adult who owns a rundown motel and a sketchy roadside attraction. Heidi, is now his ex wife and a successful artist. He is still mourning the death of his young daughter years before. Crowe’s childhood friend, Wade, is a druggie but Crowe still relies on Wade for help with the businesses. A nemesis, Yahchilane, becomes a friend. Yahchilane is a Native American who lives on the island and is feared by many. There are also other characters such as Cuban refugees whose boat washed up on the shore and were sheltered by Crowe.
This story spans the time period from 1980s to the present and embraces all the changes to the Everglades and South Florida in that time span. It also deals with hurricanes and how they affected that area. The title refers to the stories that appear in media regularly about crazy things that happen in Florida and all begin with “Florida Man...
This book will appeal to anyone who has visited or lived in Florida. It also shows those who have never been to this area, what is waiting for them down there.

In accordance with SEC regulations, I received this ARC from Net Galley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This was easy to read and enjoyable. The writing flowed naturally and the characters were interesting. Sure there were some uncomfortable storylines but reading is not always about staying within your comfort zone.

Reed Crowe was entertaining, and his relationships (if you can call them that) made for good plot points. Setting the book in the 80s/90s worked out well.

Distracting and engrossing, just what I needed during this pandemic.

A book about Crowe, amateur spelunker, begins uncovering artifacts that change his understanding of the island's history, as well as his understanding of his family's birthright as pioneering homesteaders. Nothing new here, just an very interesting and wild book about Florida underworld. Would make a great beach read!

I enjoyed The Marauders, so I had high hopes for Florida Man. But the writing here is very choppy. I always worry when a book gives a list of characters at the beginning, like this one does. It implies the reader is going to have trouble keeping everyone straight. I actually had no trouble keeping the characters straight, I just had trouble giving two hoots about them.
Reed Crowe runs a half assed tourist attraction and hotel in 1980s Florida. He’s barely hanging on, unable to pay his bills. He’s meant to be a colorful, aging hippie kind of character. But he seemed flat. Wade, who works for him, is perpetually stoned and useless. And later, becomes worse than useless. Yahchilane is a native Indian who is the calm center to this group of misfits. Of them all, he was the only one that was truly interesting. Because of Reed’s past, a man named Catface comes for him. A warning, there are some scenes of graphic violence involving Catface.
The book is a mess. I’m not sure what the author was aiming for. I struggled to finish it.
My thanks to netgalley and Random House for an advance copy of this book.

Tom Cooper’s novel Marauders had an ending begging for a sequel; the story was so good, it just had to go on. The quirky characters who, when they weren’t trying to kill each other, were so ingeniously fitted together in skill and banter; sure to remind you of someone you know living on the edge of civilization and true freedom. Florida Man is not that sequel, but it’s characters and candor are. If Tim Dorsey and Carl Hiaasen had a brother....this novel took a little longer to build, but it becomes a steam roller when it takes off. This is a book you respond to as you read, sometimes vocally. I awaited Florida Man and have not been disappointed, and I look forward to Mr. Cooper’s next foray. His writing stays with you long after the final page.

Not so much a mystery/thriller as I would have hoped. This story follows our main character Reed Crowe as he finds artifacts that redefine his family's history. I found the writing style choppy, hard to get into a rhythmic cadence. Also, found myself skimming over parts. 2 Stars

Couldn’t get interested in this book. I thought it would have more humor. The characters weren’t interesting, and for me neither was the book. Sorry.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to engage with this book, but I think that it has more to do with me than the book. I found the characters, in particular, the main character, difficult to identify and engage with, but perhaps an older audience would enjoy it more. I did enjoy the descriptions of the scenery and landscape, which were quite evocative.

This book had a lot of un-lived up to potential Cooper can really write an I liked his first book but this one just didn’t seem to focus. Meandered around and tried to be more literary than necessary. Cooper should have kept to a more linear plot line. He has the potential to be a great Florida novelist but needs to be more grounded in plot than showing his writing chops( which are considerable.).

Writers of Florida fiction has a love of this state complete with its caves and characters. Crowe the central character in this long ramble of a could be a love story as only Florida could birth. He’s a man always scratching out a living with what luck and perseverance have provided. Heidi is his in and out love, who for some reason can’t quite leave him alone. There’s a Native American who offers wisdom and insight into their everyday challenges. It is a get rich quick scheme that starts this long quest,but the characters involves keep you on track till the end. The unrelenting rain of Florida ,it’s stickiness,it’s humidity seeps through every page. Happy reading

I was expecting something different. I guess I thought the book would be more of a zany adventure that took place within a short period of time. This was actually over the whole span of this man's life and felt like less of a mystery/thriller than a retrospective. It was interesting from a historical look back at Old Florida, but it felt too remote like you were just skimming to get it all in. While there was some conflict in there it just wasn't the mapcap adventure I was looking for.

I was hoping for something akin to Carl Haiassin or Elmore Leonard, and I think that's what Tom Cooper is going for here. For me, this just missed the mark, especially with his humor.

Five Fantastic stars! Cooper hit it out of the park with this one.

Florida Man, on one level, offers us another journey through the great crime fiction motif of the young innocent finding a suitcase full of cash and hoping the bad dudes who lost it won’t figure out he’s got it and come looking for him. Here, the story brilliantly opens with a young couple parked at the edge of the Everglades doing what young couples do when the sky lights up and a plane crashes from the sky. Reed Crowe doesn’t see any survivors, but he finds packages and more packages of marijuana and creates a life for himself over the next decades as a beach bum on a wayward island off the Florida coast, operating a rank rundown motel and a tacky tourist boat ride complete with a fake swamp man pushing out of the morass on cue. And, like all good things, Reed knows things will change.

He may have married the girl and made a life, but years later they are still connected, though divorced, after their only daughter drowns in a neighbor’s pool. Reed still operates the motel and tourist trap. In fact, he’s trapped there and can’t leave. He operates it with his childhood friend, a pervy Drug-addled buffoon. It’s a life at the edge of the continent, where the land sloughs off into the ocean, and where civilization has barely made a dent.

Reed is still haunted by the what ifs- like what if the Scarface-like brutal Marielito assassin who lost his pot ever comes calling. And, of course, it had to be one so vicious that even Al Pacino would’ve turned tail and run off. Reed is also rootless and takes in Cuban refugees he finds on the beach.

But, this irreverent story is not just about a caper, not even merely about a caper in trying to get away with spending the drugrunner’s goods. It is a rich (at times hysterically funny) sketch of a unique Florida character and life there in the Eighties. Well-conceived, and just a great read.