Shockingly ethical lawyer Spence Tailor loves his mama Rose.
Mama -- with her advanced cardiomyopathy and rare blood type -- is finally scheduled for a heart transplant. But AB-negative U.S. President Webster needs one also, after his ticker craps out during a photo op jogging session just three months before the national election. So the White House chief of staff has ordered the FBI to appropriate Rose's designated heart in the name of democracy. Spence, however, isn't going to let anybody steal what rightfully belongs to his mom. With the help of his reluctant older brother, he's taking to the road in a '65 Mustang -- with a hijacked organ in a cooler, a beautiful cardiac surgery resident by his side . . . and with almost all the president's men in potentially murderous pursuit.
It seems an unlikely setup for a laugh riot, but this satirical novel by Fitzhugh (Pest Control) kicks off with hero Spence Tailor's mother, Rose, on her deathbed in Los Angeles, at the top of the list for a heart transplant. Just when a heart finally comes in, it turns out that the president needs it, too, and the FBI prepares to whisk the organ to Washington, D.C. But Spence has had it with endless delays. The scruffy 39-year-old is an embattled do-gooder lawyer who's just been dumped by his girlfriend; his nerves are already frayed, and he's not about to let anyone get away with the heart-especially not the president. So he and his stodgy banker brother, Boyd, don ski masks, evade FBI agents, distract the surgical resident (by pulling her scrubs down) and steal the heart. Thus begins a zany cross-country chase whose L.A.-Washington axis allows Fitzhugh to skewer both politicians and celebrities, not to mention TV newshounds, HMOs, soccer moms and other features of contemporary life. He builds a complex plot with dozens of believable-if broadly drawn-characters, most of whom share the same two traits: deep political or family commitments contradicted by self-serving impulses. The humor occasionally devolves into slapstick and corny jokes (a drug designed to treat erectile dysfunction is called Mycoxaflopin), yet much of the novel is genuinely funny (especially a memorable description of political jockeying at a suburban parents' association meeting). While Fitzhugh's perspective is definitely left of center, his satiric eye spares no one. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Bill Fitzhugh was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. He has also lived in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Seattle, Washington, and Los Angeles. He writes satiric crime novels, the occasional comic mystery, and a weekly show for the Deep Tracks channel of Sirius-XM Satellite Radio.
Two of his novels, Pest Control and Cross Dressing have been in development at Warner Brothers and Universal Studios respectively for nearly a decade. Imagine how good they'll be when they're done. Cross Dressing was nominated for the Barry Award as well as the Salt Lake County Library System's Reader's Choice Award and it won the 2002 Best Fiction award from the Mississippi Library Association.
Pest Control was one of Amazon's Top 50 Mysteries in 1997.
The Organ Grinders, which the Washington Post Book Review called, 'A laugh out loud read [and] an awe-inspiring feat' is a tender exploration of the feasibility and genetic implications of human gonad transplants, among other things. As Booklist pointed out, 'It's not easy walking the tightrope between medical thrillers a la Crichton and absurdist black comedy in the Hiaasen mold, but Fitzhugh manages it smoothly.'
One of Bill's proudest moments was when the brilliant and hysterically funny Molly Ivins wrote in one of her columns, 'Bill Fitzhugh is a seriously funny guy...The Organ Grinders is hilarious, but it can also make you gasp with horror... and the humor is completely off-the-wall.'
Reviewing his award winning novel, Fender Benders, The New York Times said, 'Fitzhugh is a strange and deadly amalgam of screenwriter and comic novelist and his facility and wit, and his taste for the perverse, put him in a league with Carl Hiaasen and Elmore Leonard.' Fender Benders won The Lefty Award for best humorous novel of 2001. Kinky Friedman himself said Fender Benders is 'Wickedly, irredeemable funny [and] wise beyond words and music. Fitzhugh has nailed the truest depiction of Nashville since Hank went to Jesus."
Fitzhugh's fifth novel was the political satire, Heart Seizure. Former Texas governor Ann Richards said 'Fitzhugh can spin a story and skewer a politician better than just about anyone I know.' As if that wasn't enough, the good folks at the Sunday Oklahoman called it, 'A wickedly outrageous satire that takes on the federal government, the media, and today's health care system with precise and scathing wit.'
Radio Activity, the first of a comic mystery series featuring classic rock deejay Rick Shannon, was published in April 2004. Jill Conner Browne, the Boss Sweet Potato Queen herownself said, 'Bill Fitzhugh is the only mystery writer I ever really loved.'
The second novel in this series, Highway 61 Resurfaced, was published in April 2005. Unable to control himself after reading it, Carl Hiaasen said, 'Bill Fitzhugh is a deeply disturbed individual who uses his warped talents to write very funny novels, the latest being Highway 61 Resurfaced. You will seriously dig this book if you like classic rock, Southern blues, clever mysteries and cats with loathsome sinus infections.'
Fitzhugh, a one-time FM rock deejay, also writes, produces, and hosts a weekly show on Sirius-XM Satellite Radio's Deep Tracks channel called 'Fitzhugh's All Hand Mixed Vinyl.' It's a weekly dose of nostalgia for anyone who grew up listening to FM rock radio before the consultants took over. Great segues, mixes, and mash-ups the way we used to do 'em.
Fitzhugh, whose books have been translated into German, Japanese, and Italian, Spanish, and Romanian lives in Los Angeles with his wife and his record collection. He has completed The Exterminators, the sequel to Pest Control, which will be published in 2011.
Spence and Boyd's mom needs a heart transplant. So does the President of the U.S. Both have a rare blood type. Mom is next in line, a perfect donor is in place, but the Pres. has top priority. Not to Spence! He absconds with the heart, his mom, a resident doctor, a policeman, his brother and his brother's cherished vintage Mustang. Now the chase is on! There are so many laugh-aloud moments in this book. The agents following them on their journey...Rodgers and Hart. Boyd, the straight-laced brother, whose wife does a most unusual thing with a government agent. The skate-boarding Rasta-boy and his drop-dead funny Rasta speak! I honestly was glad that my neighbor in the next condo had moved out. Fear that he would hear me laughing hysterically and wonder what was wrong with me! I was one of the first reviewers of Bill Fitzhugh's "Pest Control." He e-mailed me to thank me for my 5 star review. Since then I have gone up and down on his books...loved "Cross Dressing", not so much "Fender Benders", started "Organ Grinders" but didn't finish. This one is GREAT! TOO FUNNY! Enjoy!
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Rose Tailor needs a heart transplant, but her AB blood type makes her need the rarest of organs. Over time Rose works her way to the top of the AB list and is the person to receive the next heart. However, while on the campaign trail for reelection doing the "required" Clinton fitness jog, President Webster collapses. Rushed to the hospital, he needs an AB heart transplant.
When stunt car driver Mardell Coleman dies in a crash leaving his AB ticker in place, all the president's men jump the conga line to take the heart while Rose's two adult sons, attorney Spence and banker Boyd, think otherwise. The competition seems unfair as Webster only has the FBI while Tailor has only her two sons who have slew nothing. The mad, mad, mad world chase begins with one heart for whoever proves to be the worthier warrior.
HEART SEIZURE is a wild satire that skews many of the sacred icons of American society especially the notion of fair play when the upper elite or the bottom line competes against the multitude of middle masses. The novel turns the "Stupid White Man's" calendar into a full Keystone Cop's parody of the hallowed symbols of equality. Though relationships outside the Tailor family and the governmental vertical organization are never developed, the cast in its zany way makes the story work. Fans who want to see the other side of the rest of the story will relish Bill Fitzhugh's latest skin ripper, but clearly more cheers will come from the supporters of Bernie Sanders than those who are always right.
Harriet Klausner
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