THE DOWNHILL LIE A Hacker's Return to a Ruinous Sport

Carl Hiaasen took up golf as a teenager to avoid church and spend time with his father. Apparently, he was a lousy and bad-tempered golfer. After his father's death, Hiaasen quit. Thirty-two years later, he ventures back onto the golf course because he's "one sick bastard." THE DOWNHILL LIE chronicles about 600 days of "relapse" with typical Hiaasen absurdity: a turtle is sent airborne, rats are dispatched to the beyond with a weighted training club, a golf cart is sunk in a pond, and desperate self-help products from infomercials are sampled. Hiaasen's tone is appropriately and hilariously self-deprecating. He is both continually surprised by his ineptitude and he fully expects it, and his voice reflects that dichotomy perfectly. A funny memoir even for those who don't play golf. A.B. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2008]