Rating: 
Summary: A dark, funny whydunit
Review: Requiring slightly more effort than your average murder mystery, this book is so darkly funny and offbeat that you hardly notice it rambling on a little longer than necessary.
Taking a different approach, we learn "whodunit" at the very beginning, and spend several chapters figuring out the "whydunit".
Hiaasen bestows almost every unlikable characteristic possible on his leading villain, Charles "Chaz" Perrone, an appearance obsessed, smooth-talking, selfish, insecure, horn-dog, lazy, pseudo-intellectual biostitute with a dark secret.
Unfortunately for Chaz, his perfect murder backfires, as he proves conclusively that he is spectacularly inept in that department.
Stubbornly refusing to die according to plan, his victim clings to life via a passing bale of Jamaica's finest, and is fortuitously rescued by former policeman Mick Stranahan, who whisks his catch away to his island home.
From this moment, Chaz' perfect life takes a dramatic swing, and the blue "dysfunction" pills can only solve one of his many problems. He soon discovers that he hasn't got the testicular fortitude for recent events, and starts falling to pieces.
Although highly implausible, full of coincidences, and overly long, the colorful characters and graphic imagery combine with the dark humor to make this worthwhile, if rather light reading.
Amanda Richards, January 8, 2005
Rating: 
Summary: Skinny plot
Review: Skinny Dip could make a decent even if politically correct 250-page read for the beach this summer -- if only the book weren't almost 400 pages long.This is the first book I've read by Carl Hiaasen, who has made a name for himself with what I have read are bitingly hilarious narratives mostly set in my native Florida. I picked up Skinny Dip on a whim, looking for a well-told but light story to read in the summer heat, and I was only partially rewarded. The story does have its moments. The story's feckless antagonist, a biologist called Chaz, is initially cast as a villain by explaining that he doesn't separate his papers and plastics for recycling. On the payroll of a rule-bending tycoon, Chaz fakes test results to mask fertilizer runoffs in the Florida Everglades and then he throws his wife over the side of the ship on an anniversary cruise to prevent her from discovering the deed. She survives only by grabbing onto a bale of marijuana that happened to be floating by, and vows to take revenge. It's not Ulysses, of course, but it was never met to be. Where Skinny Dip falls short is in its pacing and its politics. The poor rhythm of the tale comes from its length, which includes too many dead spots to make it the kind of page-turner it could have been with a more aggressive editor (see the lengthy and ultimately unsatisfying revenge plot of the cannabis-hugging wife). And the politically correct characterizations -- however admirable they might seem at first -- are in the end tiring. Mr. Hiaasen seems more than a little earnest in the moral undertones he creates. The book's obvious environmental subplot, the use of a character who vows to never misuse the services of illegal aliens again, a host of smiling good guys who never drink and who will their assets to charity -- it's enough to make it seems like the obvious lessons and not the narrative are the point of the book. That may work with children's stories, but one presumes that adults' literary tastes are more involved -- even when they are lounging at the seaside.
Rating: 
Summary: Couldn't put it down
Review: This is the first Carl Hiaasen book I have read - and I understand what all the hype is about! His writing style sucks you in - and holds you until the end. It's almost like an adult version of Lemmony Snicket - Chaz's series of HIGHLY unfortunate events. :) There's little superfluous detail, and things are certainly not romanticized. Very sarcastic, dark sense of humor - if that's your style, this book is hilarious! There is considerable detail to sex, and at times can get pretty crude. Before reading it, I was going to loan it to my mother. Now I'm kind of glad I didn't...other than that (and without it, you wouldn't get the complete picture of how sleazy this Chaz is...), great read! I particularly love the word choice. Keep a dictionary handy.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining
Review: This is the first novel I've read by Mr. Hiaasen. I had some time to kill at a local bookstore and began reading it, and couldn't put it down. The blend of interesting characters and twists and turns in the plot made for a very entertaining and interesting read. I laughed out loud more than once while reading this book! The only draw back I had was not having been a reader of his books before, I really didn't have past knowledge of Stranahan, one of the main characters, and feel he could have been better developed in this book. The other characters are hilarious!!! I'm already reading Skin Tight now and loving it too - always love to find a new author.
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