Saralee Says
No one today can combine satire with political commentary and kill off a few people that the world needs to lose better than Carl Hiaasen.
In his real life, Hiaasen is a columnist for The Miami Herald. If you read him, you know that he thinks developers have been allowed to ruin Florida for its natives and that nothing is sacred to those who want to make a fast dollar by ripping others off, especially if those who stand to gain have an opportunity to destroy the environment. His previous books include Double Whammy (Warner) which is about bass fishing contests, Tourist Season (Warner) which makes fun of the tourist trade and one of my favorites, Skin Tight (Warner) where nothing is sacred pertaining to plastic surgery.
Joey Perrone just happens to be a champion swimmer. Thank heavens because at the beginning of Skinny Dip (Knopf), she finds herself swimming in the ocean. Her worthless husband, Chaz, has talked her into what she thinks is a romantic cruise when all he wants to do is push her overboard and get her out of his life. She is rescued by Mick Stranahan who just happens to be a former cop who was also featured in Skin Tight and who now lives on a deserted island.
Do you think Joey goes straight to the police to have her husband arrested for attempted murder, or do you think she plots a twisted, sick, manner of tormenting her husband and getting real revenge? If you have ever read any Hiaasen books, you know the answer.
Chaz is in cahoots with Red Hammernut, a big time agri-businessman who wants no problems with those good government types who are still trying to save the Florida Everglades. As Joey, with a little help from Stranahan, is driving Chaz crazy, Hammernut becomes concerned about Chaz’s sanity. Enter my favorite new Hiaasen character — Tool. Shot by a hunter who thought he was a bear, Tool has become addicted to fentanyl in skin patch form and he is going to protect Chaz or kill him in the effort.
Hiaasen is in his element in Skinny Dip. There are crooked politicians, developers with no conscience and the eccentric Tool, who even though he is addicted to patch painkillers, has a real heart of gold. Personally, I hope we see more of Tool in future Hiaasen books. He has the makings of a true Skink.
Larry’s Language
A luxury ship cruise through the Caribbean Sea has never appealed to me. Hopping from island to island aboard a floating inferno where the big things to do everyday are dress up and eat, play shuffleboard, drink and dance sounds like Dante’s seven levels of you know where. If I was trapped in such an atmosphere I would think about murder and surely would be more competent about carrying it out than Hiaasen’s husband character in Skinny Dip.
When Mr. Perrone pitches Mrs. Perrone off the 2,000 passenger deck in the dead of night, he thinks he has committed the perfect murder. He has no noticeable motive. She was rich but he is not the heir to her fortune. They have only been married a couple of years and despite his cheating, the neighbors will probably say they had a wonderful relationship.
There is one slight problem. She survives by attaching herself in the ocean to a huge bale of abandoned marijuana and is rescued by our anti-social hero Stranahan who lives like a hermit but has nifty dark talents he acquired in his former life as a police officer. The two of them combine forces to make Mr. Perrone’s life a living example of physical agony, gruesome nightmares and sexual dysfunction.
Meanwhile, the fat cat Hammernut is polluting the Everglades with Mr. Perrone’s bumbling help. Hammernut decides that the criminal skills of another of his special employees is vital to serve as a bodyguard, but this giant, well-meaning scoundrel is soon seduced emotionally by an elderly resident in a nursing home. Add to this mix a hot-blooded, hairdressing mistress; a Florida cop who wants to retire to the snows of Minnesota; and at least two characters that have been in earlier Hiaasen novels and you have Hiaasen’s usual fabulous formula for a book that reads like a 10-year-old’s enthusiasm for a carnival. There is enough glitz, neon, greed, misdirection, sex and psychedelic action for 10 stories.
Join us for our next book club discussion which will feature our suggestions for books to give as holiday gifts.
