Murder, politics, and G-strings collide in this caper from the bestselling author of Tourist Season. Hilarity and chaos break out in a strip joint ...
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reviews
Jan 13, 2011
Genie
rated it: 
A bachelor party on the eve of the wedding takes a wrong turn when the groom stumbles on stage with a dancer, Erin Grant, at the Eager Beaver. An unidentified wild man jumps into the fray and begins hitting the groom over the head with a champagne bottle. In the confusion, the unidentified attacker escapes. As it turns out, the attacker is so drunk he doesn't know what he did and doesn't really care. He is Congressman David Lane Dilbeck and he has a fixer on staff to deal with situations
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Sep 12, 2009
Michael
rated it:
Hiaasen's humorous story of a woman, Erin Grant, who resorts to dancing in a strip joint to raise money for an appeal to gain custody of her daughter.
As the story begins, Congressman Dave Dilbeck who can't control his libido is at a strip club when a drunken party goer jumps on the dancer's stage and begins groping one of the dancers. Dilbeck, intoxicated, jumps on the stage and begins plummeting the drunk with a champagne bottle. This is bad timing since it's an election year.
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As the story begins, Congressman Dave Dilbeck who can't control his libido is at a strip club when a drunken party goer jumps on the dancer's stage and begins groping one of the dancers. Dilbeck, intoxicated, jumps on the stage and begins plummeting the drunk with a champagne bottle. This is bad timing since it's an election year.
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Jul 29, 2009
Empress5150
rated it: 
From Publisher's Weekly: Inventive blackmail schemes, grisly murders, power politics, greed, revenge and sex all figure in Hiaasen's...comic crime novel. At the Eager Beaver, a topless bar in Fort Lauderdale, former FBI clerk Erin Grant dances nightly to pay for legal fees in her custody fight for her young daughter. There David Dilbeck, a poorly disguised, somewhat kinky and imbecilic U.S. Congressman owned by the state's sugar interests, is recognized by a sharp-eyed regular who, infatuated wi
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Nov 06, 2009
el_quijote
rated it:
Strip Tease
By Carl Hiaasen
If you haven’t read Carl Hiaasen, the former Miami Herald columnist and writer of satirical, environmental questioning, political malfeasant novels about Florida in the disguise of murder mystery novels (sort of a fuzzy Edward Abbey) then you are reading the wrong review.
I’ve given up on trying to figure out Hiaasen's sequence of novels. These novels are available at my local library and I take what is on the shelf. I’m not sure where Strip Tea More...
By Carl Hiaasen
If you haven’t read Carl Hiaasen, the former Miami Herald columnist and writer of satirical, environmental questioning, political malfeasant novels about Florida in the disguise of murder mystery novels (sort of a fuzzy Edward Abbey) then you are reading the wrong review.
I’ve given up on trying to figure out Hiaasen's sequence of novels. These novels are available at my local library and I take what is on the shelf. I’m not sure where Strip Tea More...
May 02, 2011
trina
rated it:
this is my first encounter with carl hiassen for grown-ups (having eagerly devoured 'hoot' and 'flushed' a few years back), and i am pleasantly surprised and ready to become good friends with carl hiassen-for-grownups. his writing is a weird blend of humor, grit, and knowledge-ableness about seemingly everything florida or seedy (for the sake of political correctness, i won't say those two are one and the same). combined with his gift for crafting complicated, sprawling plots that always manage
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Aug 09, 2011
Kara
rated it:
The mystery of why every single Carl Hiaasen book hasn’t been made into a movie has finally been solved. Suffice it to say that Mr. Hiaasen should be allowed to slap Demi Moore until her head falls off, and his readers should have the right to go Skink on anyone else who took part in the debacle that was “Strip Tease” the movie.
Unbeknownst to stripper Erin Grant, she is at the center of a big cover-up the night one drunk beats up another with a champagne bottle while she’s onstage More...
Unbeknownst to stripper Erin Grant, she is at the center of a big cover-up the night one drunk beats up another with a champagne bottle while she’s onstage More...
Apr 17, 2009
Rossrn
rated it:
Have been reading David Hewson's Nic Costa series and last week decided to browse the shelves for additional books when I came across Hiaasen. I'd heard of him, but not read any of his books. I decided to go with the oldest one on the shelf, "Strip Tease".
It was a fun book to read, wild characters, straightforward plot. All in all it ended well. If his other books are like this one, great summer reads at the pool or beach.
So, we have an ex-FBI employee, Erin More...
It was a fun book to read, wild characters, straightforward plot. All in all it ended well. If his other books are like this one, great summer reads at the pool or beach.
So, we have an ex-FBI employee, Erin More...
Aug 27, 2011
Kevin
rated it:
Strip Tease is the book that the Demi Moore and Burt Reynolds movie of the same name is based on. This author is terrific with his sense of humor and his quick wit. He has come up with another group of crazy characters. Erin the beautiful stripper, Shad the educated conniving bouncer, Al Garcia the tough minded detective, Congressman Dilbeck the drunken womanizer, Moldy the political fixer and Darrell- Erins felonious ex husband. What a terrific story. How the author even came up with it is beyo
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Jan 10, 2010
Dana
rated it:
Erin Grant has had to resort to stripping to make some money in order to get custody of her daughter. Her ex's job is stealing wheelchairs but the criminal is a snitch and therefore his criminal activities are hidden from family court and he gets custody.
During one of Erin's performances a groom-to-be gets carried away and Dilbeck, a congressman starts pummeling him with a champagne bottle. Mr. Peepers takes pictures of the whole event and assures Erin he can put pressure on Dilbeck More...
During one of Erin's performances a groom-to-be gets carried away and Dilbeck, a congressman starts pummeling him with a champagne bottle. Mr. Peepers takes pictures of the whole event and assures Erin he can put pressure on Dilbeck More...
Jan 06, 2009
Janelle
rated it:
Carl Hiaasen's works are usually very funny, intelligent, witty, creative, with a happy ending. What could you want more from an entertaining lite read? The imaginative characters, the adventure, the great use of irony and sarcasm, he keeps you guessing how things could possibly all work out for the best, and they do in his books which I like. I always find good qualities to admire in his heros, and can easily despise the villians, cheering when they meet their demise...in whatever creative f
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Aug 21, 2010
Cameling
rated it:
Sometimes all it takes is a simple incident to set the wheels of chaos in motion. A drunken man celebrating his bachelor party, starts to hug and grope a topless dancer, inciting rage in another customer who hits him repeatedly on his head with a champagne bottle, until the bouncer drags him off. A photograph happened to be taken by another patron of this entertainment venue.
The photograph becomes the catalyst for a number of incidents. Political fixers attempt to protect an unravel More...
The photograph becomes the catalyst for a number of incidents. Political fixers attempt to protect an unravel More...
Oct 13, 2009
Cwides
rated it: 
Oh holy crap on a stick. This has an average rating of 3.5 !?! Is that cause it fits in your purse? Is that cause you can read it drunk, upside down, with the lights out and still not miss a trick? (Yes, fine, take the pun - I don't care). The book could have worse, but is that any methodology for handing out stars? Oh god. And the acknowledgment actually acknowledges the people who brought the practice of wrestling half-naked strippers in creamed corn to his attention. The fact that this book h
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Feb 11, 2009
Joshua
rated it:
I've found my new Elmore Leonard in Carl Hiaasen as this is the second book in '09 of his I've read--liked this more than the first. Like Leonard, Hiaasen takes a huge collection of characters, gives them all great dialogue/scenes and turns them loose in a story that usually involves some kind of criminal type behavior by some/all of them. And it's highly entertaining.
Strip Tease has an assortment of people in it: strippers, Kafka reading bouncers, shyster lawyers, speed freak wheelch More...
Strip Tease has an assortment of people in it: strippers, Kafka reading bouncers, shyster lawyers, speed freak wheelch More...
Dec 06, 2011
Susan
rated it: 
Hiassen is one of those writers for whom it's all about voice. However from a reader's point of view an author's voice can be intrusive. In a work of this genre I prefer to be so engaged by the story and the characters (and their own distinct voices) that I'm not aware of the author's voice at all.
Striptease is superficially clever but there wasn't enough beneath the cleverness to engage me. It was promising to begin with but after a while my smile became fixed. I felt like I w More...
Striptease is superficially clever but there wasn't enough beneath the cleverness to engage me. It was promising to begin with but after a while my smile became fixed. I felt like I w More...
Nov 08, 2010
Hated it! I took this on a trip thinking it would be good light reading on the plane. That was a mistake. I read well into the book and kept wondering why I'm reading this book. I really thought the characters were inane and they did and said things that at times were irrelevant or just plain stupid... or is that plane stupid?
It was a frustrating read. His dialogs are usually a string of banter where I had to keep rereading them to figure out who or what the antecedent was...(ie, wh More...
It was a frustrating read. His dialogs are usually a string of banter where I had to keep rereading them to figure out who or what the antecedent was...(ie, wh More...
Apr 08, 2009
I enjoyed this. Hiaasen has a unique style. He takes a collection of oddball characters, a large and expanding number cast and a small situation that gets more and more complex. People tend to die it strange and unlikely ways.
I listed to one of his audio books driving back from Dallas. I enjoyed that so that I pulled this paperback off the shelf.
Even though his characters are oddball they still feel like real people. I think I have met some of them before. Very often k More...
I listed to one of his audio books driving back from Dallas. I enjoyed that so that I pulled this paperback off the shelf.
Even though his characters are oddball they still feel like real people. I think I have met some of them before. Very often k More...
Jan 19, 2009
Emily
rated it:
Eh. While the writing was...ok...I kind of got the impression that Hiaasen suffers from genre schizophrenia. There's some Grisham style political thriller plot lines, some Elmore Leonard style lone criminal protecting the wronged dame type characters and some good old fashioned hard boiled detective work in the background. The problem is that the book is kind of weak within each genre. If I want a political thriller, I'll read a good one. Ditto for detective fiction and crime fiction. No need to
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Aug 03, 2011
Carol
rated it:
It's not literature, but it's fun! Evil ex-husband, exotic dancer with a heart of gold and admirable maternal instinct, sleazy strip joint owner, decent strip joint bouncer, crooked politicians, and a dedicated detective. What else could you want?
I decided I was reading way too much heavy lit and non-fiction on this vacation and decided to read some just plain fun titles. Carl Hiaassen to the rescue! I purchased this title and another, Stormy Weather, on my Kindle in Greece! Enjoy More...
I decided I was reading way too much heavy lit and non-fiction on this vacation and decided to read some just plain fun titles. Carl Hiaassen to the rescue! I purchased this title and another, Stormy Weather, on my Kindle in Greece! Enjoy More...
Aug 10, 2010
Angela
rated it:
I picked this up at the Bohemian Bean in Denver, from their book exchange shelves. I saw the movie, and enjoyed it -- so, thought the book MUST be even better.
And correct I was. If you enjoyed the movie, the book will make your day. It is just as much fun (if not more) although I found myself ignoring the description of the characters in the book and "saw" them as the actors from the movie (for example, Shad (played by Ving Rhames) is white in the book -- Yeah, not in my h More...
And correct I was. If you enjoyed the movie, the book will make your day. It is just as much fun (if not more) although I found myself ignoring the description of the characters in the book and "saw" them as the actors from the movie (for example, Shad (played by Ving Rhames) is white in the book -- Yeah, not in my h More...
Mar 17, 2011
Brian
rated it:
Personally, I'm not sure any Carl Hiaasen book deserves the 5-star Goodread's "it was amazing" description, but Strip Tease comes very close. I picked up this book, already being an established Hiaasen fan, on the cheap from Goodwill or some thrift store. Soon afterwards, I learned the 90s movie Strip Tease starring Demi Moore was based on this book. For this very reason I left it untouched for months. I did not think the movie was particularly good and therefore had low expectations
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Mar 24, 2010
Nekouken
rated it:
The story of Strip Tease is archetypal; there aren't many characters in it who aren't cookie-cutter staples of various genres. Erin, the stripper we read so much about in the title, is a skilled clerical worker who took the job stripping because she needed money to pay for a lawyer to get custody of her daughter back from her deadbeat, thuggish professional criminal of an ex-husband. There's a fiercely loyal bouncer, a sleazy strip club owner, a clutch of strippers who genuinely enjoy the work
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Nov 15, 2010
Beth
rated it:
Probably one and a half. As much as I love Hiaasen's mixtures (political disclosure, Floridia's wackos, and sympathetic down-and-outs) I couldn't even finish this one. Erin has become a strip-tease artist to make enough money to contest the ruling (by a corrupt judge) that her four-year-old daughter remain in the custody of Erin's former husband --- a druggie who steals wheelchairs to support his habit. Strip Tease proves that bizarre characters alone do not a good read make.
Aug 06, 2011
Amanda
rated it:
i saw the movie when i was a teenager and took it literally and thought it was crap. this is the 1st book of his i read when i knew i was moving to florida and i thought it was stupid because i didn't really get it was satire. i think if i'd read the others first i would have liked it more. and i really don't think that the people who made the movie got it. or maybe their understanding of satire was so deep it went over my head. lol
May 02, 2009
Debbie
rated it:
Erin Grant is an exotic dancer at a strip club called, of all things, The Eager Beaver. David Dilbeck, a US congressman who is not exactly the sharpest crayon in the box, becomes obsessed with Erin. Another Eager Beaver customer, also enamored of Erin, decides to blackmail Dilbeck in order to help Erin win custody of her daughter from her sleazy ex-husband. The body count quickly rises and Erin gets pulled ever deeper into Florida politics.
Aug 02, 2011
Good airplane reading, now I need to rent the movie which I think I wasn't allowed to see when it came out or something... wacky characters as usual, especially the main characters ex-husband, he took the cake. Another good Hiaasen book, check it out when you need a little pulp fiction or are killing time at the beach this summer. Not his best, but not his worst.
Jan 02, 2011
Lacey
rated it:
Carl Hiaasen books are always entertaining. Usually set somewhere in Florida, and always crazy story lines. So far, we have a stripper who is stripping to make money to get her kid back from a crazy drug enduced ex-husband. We have a guy and his buddies that go to a strip club for his bachelor party, who proceeds to get knocked out by a champagne bottle by the hand of an important person. And several other little storylines. So far so good....
Just finished this book. A pretty weak en More...
Just finished this book. A pretty weak en More...
Jan 13, 2010
Diego
rated it:
That strip joints in the USA are lame! Living in Pattaya and reading how stripping is done in North America makes me even happier knowing where I am living. Still, the characters in Hiaasen's novel are bizarre and enjoyable creatures, and I dare you to try and put the book down once 50 pages in. A nice, fun, roller coaster ride. NOt for the politically correct though.
Nov 16, 2011
Hallie
rated it:
Not my favorite book but it was an easy read on my lunch breaks. The book is supposed to be a mystery but the mystery is only there for the characters themselves as the reader knows all the details. The characters were a little flat and the ending of this book didn't leave me wanting more...a feeling that usually indicates I had no real attachment to the book.
Aug 01, 2011
This was a wonderful, light, funny book which is not what I expected given the subject matter: an uncontrollable Congressman, a seedy strip joint, a very UNfriendly divorce, a drug-abusing criminal soon-to-be ex-husband, and custodial interference. I don't know how he does it, but Hiaasen had me laughing from the first page till the very end of the book.
Apr 10, 2010
Chuck
rated it: 
A struggling single mom takes a job as a exotic dancer to make ends
meet. She attracts an very interesting group of patrons including a
U.S. Congressman who is photographed beating another patron with
a champagne bottle. Then it really gets interesting. Great story. This
was made into a movie starring Demi Moore.
meet. She attracts an very interesting group of patrons including a
U.S. Congressman who is photographed beating another patron with
a champagne bottle. Then it really gets interesting. Great story. This
was made into a movie starring Demi Moore.
