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Summary: Can a weed-whacker be funny? You bet!
Review: I am always amused when I see Hiassen's books referred to as 'mysteries' or 'thrillers'. People who want these kinds of books won't really find them in Hiassen's work. What he creates are darkly comic morality plays about excess - specifically that of south Florida. What is wonderful about his books, apart from the zany characters, great dialogue and memorable absurdaties, is that in each one we see the 'forces of evil' suffer the fates they deserve. Maybe good doesn't triumph in real life, but Hiassen gives us the satisfaction of seeing horrible things happen to horrible people.In Skin Tight, Hiassen gives us his usual cast of interesting and very peculiar players drawn from the mix of modern day Miami. Without giving any of the plot away, I will only say that there are two things about this book that I bet will stay with any reader: the fate that befalls the vain and insufferable TV host in his Geraldolike quest at expose and the character Chemo's choice of a prosthesis - a weed-whacker. These are a couple of the overthetop high points in Skin Tight, one of Hiaseen's grizzliest and funniest tales.
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Summary: The weird (and funny) gets weirder (and funnier)
Review: Chemo is his name and he may be one of Hiaasen's most disturbingly endearing villans. The fact that he loses his hand is a bit unnerving but then, as it seems only Hiaasen can, is made hilarious by the prosthetic replacement this "flaky" hit-man chooses for himself. Probably the most satisfying part of the novel is that I get to imagine Geraldo Rivera as the model for the vain TV host, Renaldo Flemm. His skin really does get tight. While Pete Hautman's book "Short Money" has a crazed liposuctionist as a main character I don't think he can hold a candle to the wildly wicked plastic surgeon Mr. Hiaasen has dreamed up. Enjoy all the characters, enjoy the laughs, and enjoy all the stares from people who hear you laughing and wonder how come you're having so much fun and they aren't.
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Summary: Like Nip/Tuck on FX? This is for you!
Review: Sleazy plastic surgeons- stupid criminals- insanely vacuous socialites- all are at home in the South Florida that belongs to Carl Hiaasen. I love his dark humor and eccentric casts of characters- Skin Tight stands out as a keeper on my bookshelf and one I come back to reread for the fun of it. The energy, pacing , characters all come to life in vivid detail and the situations folks get into--- well I don't understand why all of Hiaasen's books have not adapted to the big screen. At least Nip/Tuck has the flavor of Skin Tight in a wild cable series.
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Summary: Moral indignation expressed through cynical, viscious humor
Review: While I was reading Skin Tight, someone asked me what the book was about. As I tried to describe the basic storyline, I realized that the plot is not only hard to explain but extremely farfetched,bordering on preposterous. However, that's beside the point. The joy of reading this book comes from the way Hiaasen uses his wicked sense of humor and his vast writing skills to lambast society's corruption and greed. While protagonist Mick Stranahan is fighting mafia hitmen and outsmarting crooked cops, Hiaasen himself is busy skewering inept plastic surgeons and their narcissistic patients, made-for-tv lawyers, on-the-take politicians, corrupt judges, tourists, sleazy journalists, actresses, fashion models . . . and, I almost forgot, tree trimmers. Hiaasen's collection of colorful characters, fast-paced dialogue and ascerbic wit make Skin Tight an enjoyable read.
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Summary: One of a kind
Review: Carl Hiaasen is a one of a kind of author. His books are so unique that at first you'll be taken aback by the writing, the sarcasm, the wit. My wife and I rarely agree on any book, constantly fighting over this one and that one. But there are three books we do agree on: Robbins's "Even Cowgirls Get the blues," McCrae's "Bark of the Dogwood," and this one--"Skin Tight." All three of these are great, funny, and past-paced reads. You can't go wrong with any of them, but of all, "Skin Tight" was the one we agreed was the best.
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Summary: hilarious--i want some more of this guy!
Review: My brother gave me this book, and it's the first Hiassen book I've read, and I give it two thumbs up. This author is truly hilarious! There a few parts in which I actually laughed aloud (and probably sounded like a maniac), because the dialogue can be so sickly sarcastic and funny at times (of the top of my head: look out for the lasagna part as well as when the jerky policemen salazar & murdoch are on a boat). I have another one of his books, too, NATIVE TONGUE, and I'm looking forward to starting that, too, because I couldn't put SKIN TIGHT down. I spent practically all of christmas day reading it.
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Summary: Hiaasen makes us laugh at society's moral rot
Review: As usual, Hiaasen's Skin Tight is set in south Florida, a planet of its own making. Swarming with society's weirdos, it features an inept plastic surgeon with ties to the Mafia, inept ripoff artists, inept hit men, and a very ept Mick Stranahan, who open the story with killing an intruder by impaling him with a trophy spearfish. Only Hiaasen could come up with something like that, but know what? I'll bet he culled it from a honest-to-God clipping from some south Florida rag. As he himself says, he couldn't make up all this stuff. Hiaasen's manic, wicked, and satirical sense of humor is in evidence on every page. The central plot is not especially important in his books - it's the process of going along for the ride that keeps us, his devotees, turning page after page after page long after we should have turned out the light and gone to sleep.
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Summary: Another Great Book
Review: Carl Hiassen is a wonderfully funny, yet thrilling author. This story leads you through a murder mystery with all kinds of crazy characters and circumstances. You find yourself rooting for Mick Stranahan...a good guy on the search for a killer, but also a killer himself. Make sense? Not really...but the book takes you on another wild Hiassen ride. I definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a very entertaining story.
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Summary: Should I be laughing?
Review: After you read this book, go try to summarize some of the humorous parts to a friend ... you'll be laughing and they'll stare at you (and calling you sick and twisted). It's just not the same when you try to explain it. But it is indeed funny. I wouldn't say it's "dark" and its defiantly not a "mystery thriller" (as I've wrongly heard it described), but it defiantly laughable ... humor, sex, peculiar (yet funny) deaths, a spoof of Geraldo Hererra, a weed whacker, vanity and liposuction, and a funny single man who lives on the beach as the main character. It's a fast paced, fast and funny read ... I'd recommend it, and since it'll only take you a weekend to read it, you might as well.
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Summary: Plastic surgeons and other assorted oddities
Review: This is an older novel by Carl Hiaason, but it shows very clearly his wit and grasp of the writing trade. His stories are always populated with an unusual assortment of oddball characters, and this one is no exception. We have a venal plactic surgeon, a thinly-disguised Geraldo Rivera knockoff, an overly-tall hitman with a very bad complexion, and other folks just wandering through this tale bringing their own brand of lunacy to the work. This book has some pretty gruesome ways to die, so it's not for the squeamish, but there is an underlying sense of fun about the whole thing, despite the unusual deaths. The dialogue is crisp, the action is fast-paced, and it's a great book to while away a few hours of your time in an enjoyable manner.
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