Skin Tight

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Summary: Hiassen: the DeTocqueville of the Nineties
Review: If you want to understand America today, read this book. Heck, if you want to understand America today, just read the first chapter of this book. With satire, outrageous hyperbole (or maybe not - not being from Miami, I can't say this stuff isn't true), and a well-controlled but powerful sense of rage, Hiassen presents us with a disturbingly accurate funhouse mirror through which to view the civilization we have created.

SKIN TIGHT is labelled a mystery, but that is a misnomer. If you're looking for a Whodunit?, you will be sorely disappointed. The mystery conventions employed by Hiassen are merely a means that allow the protagonist (and the reader) to explore Hiassen's hilariously dark version of Miami.

If you want to laugh out loud, buy this book. If you want to discover some of the most vivid characters in literature, buy this book. If you are angry at the direction our society is going, buy this book!

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Summary: Thin Blight
Review:
Weirdness is wonderful, but a high body count does not equal a good mystery.

The characters are two-dimensional: each person is either good or bad, honest or crooked, smart or dumb. Hiaasen does not believe in complex people who are mostly good but sometimes tempted into evil.

I stopped counting the bodies at seven. The higher the pile of corpses, the less clothing and/or morals.

This book came highly recommended, so I hung in there to the end, hoping it would get better. It didn't.

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Summary: Humour, mystery and fun in one book...
Review: A wacky detective novel, with crazy characters and a great storyline. I like all of Carl Hiaasen's books and thoroughly enjoyed this. A must if you want an alternative mystery!

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Summary: Very funny but still with kindness & gentleness at heart
Review: I actually started reading all of Hiaasen's books after finished this one. Very very gifted writer, highly readable. Until STORMY WEATHER, this writer was always on my MUST-READ toplist, then the taste gone bit sour since the plots became more and more trivial and unforcused too zigzagged to test my patience. Hiassen should return to his grass-root genre as SKIN TIGHT once delivered and don't lose focus by trying too hard in senseless humor and shallowest lowlifes.

Rating:
Summary: Certainly,the most creative crime novel I have ever read.
Review: Recommended by a friend, I picked up Skin Tight with reluctance. But from the first page I was caught on Hiassen's dark humor and vivid characters. I have since read Stormy Weather and Tourist Season and found both very creative and well written. I now recommend Hiassen to all my friends

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Summary: Non-mystery lover loved this one!
Review: As someone who does not love mystery stories, I began this one reluctantly, on the urging of a friend. I read into it a few pages, wondering what the excitement was all about, then found myself saying, "Wait a minute. Someone was just stabbed to death with a stuffed fish!" I started laughing and kept laughing till the end. Have now read all Hiaasen's books. This one is his best, though "Native Tongue" comes in a close second

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Summary: Take a Walk on the Wierd Side
Review: Carl Hiaasen is just about the only writer around who can turn weedwhackers, mulchers, plastic surgery and a barracuda into high comic art. Skintight is scathingly hilarious, with some of the most memorable characters in any of his novels; there's a Geraldo Rivera sendup his antifans will love in this one, and some interesting observations on human vanity. If you stop and think about what's going on in these howlingly funny scenes you'll find it depressing, but fortunately you'll be too busy laughing

Rating:
Summary: a waste of time to read
Review: Clearly one of the worst pieces of junk I've ever had the misfortune to read. I can't believe it got into print. Too bad, as Hiassen is an excellent columnist and certainly has the intellect and familiarity with Miami to produce something better

Rating:
Summary: Carl Hiassen's Best!!
Review: If you like great characters and humor coupled with plot twists, Hiassen is at his best in "Skin Tight"

Rating:
Summary: Hiaasen's best
Review: Although it's a real tough call, I would rate this as Carl Hiaasen's absolute best, (w/ Stormy Weather a close second). Chemo is one of his most over the top characters in a plethora of bizarre and delightful misfits in the Hiaasen universe. The Weed Whacker is a touch of genius. READ THIS BOOK IMMEDIATELY!!!!!! Daryl Neyens [e-mail]