# Swamp Story

By Dave Barry

Profile: https://hahafiction.com/books/swamp-story-47fb0d6f/

Finding gold in the Everglades could give Jesse Braddock and her baby a way out of their isolated cabin. It also gives criminals a reason to come looking for her. Nearby, a bait-shop owner invents a monster sighting to bring in customers, crowding Jesse’s escape route with tourists.

## What makes it funny?

The Everglades Melon Monster is a broke journalist in a Dora the Explorer costume head. The opening chapter has an equally poor candidate for local hero: Slater worries about filming a python while Jesse tries to protect their baby, and the cameraman has forgotten to charge the battery.

### The comedy at work

Barry makes the pursuit of attention compete with basic survival. Slater sees a family emergency as television footage, while a shopkeeper’s publicity stunt brings spectators into a treasure hunt. People intent on staging excitement get in the way of someone facing actual danger.

### Try this if…

For readers who like Florida crime fiction with several foolish schemes running into each other, the fake cryptid provides a particularly silly complication. Jesse’s wish to get her child somewhere safer gives the treasure hunt a more urgent purpose.

### Good to know

The first chapter includes strong profanity and marijuana use, along with a python threatening a mother and infant. The criminal pursuit adds further peril to the comic setup.

## What to expect

- Genre: Crime & thriller
- On the shelf: Crime caper
- Kind of humor: Farce · Satire · Situational comedy
- Format: Novel
- Published: 2023

## Sources & further reading

- Publisher: [Publisher and opening chapter](https://www.simonandschuster.net/books/Swamp-Story/Dave-Barry/9781982191337)
- Review: [Publishers Weekly review](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781982191337)