<![CDATA[Skinny Dip]]>

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Charles "Chaz" Perrone fancies himself a take-charge kind of guy. So when this "biologist by default" suspects that his curvaceous wife, Joey, has stumbled onto a profitable pollution scam he's running on behalf of Florida agribusiness mogul Red Hammernut, he sets out right away to solve the problem--by heaving Joey off the deck of a luxury cruise liner and into the Atlantic Ocean, far from Key West. But--whoops!--Joey, a former swimming champ, doesn't drown. Instead, as Carl Hiaasen tells in his 10th adult novel, Skinny Dip, she makes her way back to shore, thanks both to a wayward bale of Jamaican marijuana and lonerish ex-cop Mick Stranahan (Skin Tight, 1989), and then launches a bogus blackmail campaign that's guaranteed to drive her lazy, libidinous hubby into a self-protective frenzy. You've got to hand it to Hiaasen: He's perfected a formula for crisply written, satirical crime fiction that makes the best use of imaginatively repulsive villains, as well as less thoroughly venal scoundrels and victims who ultimately overcome their antagonists, all while stumping for the preservation of Florida's environment, particularly the Everglades. In Skinny Dip, we find Chaz (who'd rather be golfing than puttering around the "hot, buggy, funky-smelling and treacherous" reaches of nature) falsifying water samples to help Hammernut turn the 'Glades into "God's septic tank." That scheme, though, is endangered not just by Joey's sudden disappearance, but by the suspicions of a python-loving police detective and Chaz's own outstanding inability to tame his Viagra-enhanced tumescence. Even by assigning Chaz a baby-sitter--the hulking, hirsute, and painkiller-addicted Tool--Hammernut can't keep his pet biologist out of trouble. As Joey and Stranahan unfold their revenge plot, and Tool's conscience grows in competition with Chaz's ego, the reader can only marvel at the extent of the train wreck ahead. As much fun as Hiaasen has delivering Chaz his climactic comeuppance, what's missing from Skinny Dip is a more complex, more credible development of Mick Stranahan's character and the relationship he builds with the much younger Joey Perrone. Like Erin Grant, from Strip Tease, Joey has far more going for her than her bra-cup size; but "hero" Stranahan is of far less interest here than any of his fellow players. --J. Kingston Pierce

817175

2004

Skinny Dip

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3 4 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Aug 06 17:44:24 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 09 11:29:52 -0700 2007 Carl Hiaasen is right at home in that collective of modern, witty crime fiction writers who are neither Dashiell Hammett nor Raymond Chandler and hope against that you won't attempt the comparison. That he's good, there's no doubt. It's just: he's not genius.

And that's fine. Not everyone...more...]]> 3 3 false false Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Apr 09 08:31:53 -0700 2007 Mon Apr 09 08:45:16 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 3 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1998 Thu Sep 06 22:17:48 -0700 2007 Thu Sep 06 22:18:54 -0700 2007 3 2 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Tue Dec 11 17:25:48 -0800 2007 Sat Jan 19 13:05:55 -0800 2008
I have to admit, while I was reading this I couldn't stop wishing that Elmore Leonard would care about...more...]]> 4 2 false false Fri Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Fri Jul 25 05:39:58 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 25 05:40:28 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 2 false false Thu Mar 27 07:52:20 -0700 2008 Thu Mar 27 08:03:52 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Tue Jul 17 11:59:05 -0700 2007 Tue Jul 17 11:59:09 -0700 2007
Strong women seem to be a theme in his w...more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue Mar 17 13:36:40 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 20 07:27:43 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 1 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Apr 23 14:59:59 -0700 2007 Mon Jun 25 19:07:52 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Thu May 24 08:14:00 -0700 2007 Tue Jun 12 12:16:49 -0700 2007
Joey Perrone is familiar with tragedy... her parents died when she was young, ...more...]]> 3 1 false false Fri Dec 12 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 08 12:41:56 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 14 15:13:03 -0800 2008 4 1 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 30 04:35:28 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 30 04:41:49 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Jan 31 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 30 21:41:17 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 30 21:48:22 -0800 2009
Hiaasen is a modern Abbey. Th...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Fri Jan 02 10:19:40 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 02 10:20:27 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false true Thu Sep 29 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Sat May 30 09:25:48 -0700 2009 Sat May 30 09:28:40 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Wed May 20 08:22:35 -0700 2009 Wed May 20 08:32:53 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Wed Aug 01 15:49:07 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 01 15:49:07 -0700 2007 more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Feb 05 09:25:21 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 05 09:25:21 -0800 2009 For two decades, Florida native Hiaasen has mined the seamy side of the Sunshine State. In his eleventh novel, he once again draws on his intricate knowledge of Florida's cultural and natural landscape to weave together absurd, oddball characters (the hirsute "protector" Tool in particular...

more...]]> 2 0 false false Thu Jan 22 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 26 14:35:12 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 31 06:37:04 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Feb 28 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Mar 03 19:44:37 -0800 2009 Tue Mar 03 19:50:03 -0800 2009 more...]]>