Skin Tight

Have you rooting for the good guy who's not always good have you enjoyed the come up and set the bad guys get and also having a moment to think about nature and humanity and what really matters without realizing you're having those thoughts. He's fantastic and I literally read every single book he's written. A few twice

Hiaasen somehow sucks you into believing the most ridiculous things and being glad to go along for the ride. Absolute absurdity simply becomes the milieu in which the least likely characters commit the most unreasonable acts, and you watch the parade with suspended logic. My husband and I read these out loud, which more than doubles the enjoyment. We laugh so much that it does slow things down. Be aware that there is a real edge of anger (entirely justified) about corrupt politicians and rapacious land developers. You also always get a flawed hero and a morally pure, but behaviorally challenged female. One more reason to read these books.

"Skin Tight" is one of Carl Hiaasen's earlier novels. Given the consistent quality of Hiaasen's prolific and wickedly funny skewering of south Florida and its wacky inhabitants, it is difficult to pick a Hiaasen "best", but "Skin Tight" is definitely a contender. In other works, Hiaasen has taken on south Florida institutions from televangelism to trophy bass fishing to stripping. In "Skin Tight", he tackles cosmetic surgery as the unlikely but content-rich target. Fans of this summer's Hiaasen bestseller, "Skinny Dip", will find this introduction to retired state investigator Mick Stranahan a somewhat darker and more grisly prequel. Cast with the author's usual collection of miscreants, sleaze balls, corrupt officials and incompetent crooks, "Skin Tight" ricochets from one bizarre and brutal high jinx to next, each one more depraved and disturbed than the previous. Given the seemingly endless stream of mayhem and murder in this zany tale, superlatives are risky, but certainly the method in which two terminally corrupt Miami detectives are dispatched is especially memorable. Yet at the core of Hiaasen's carefully crafted chaos and black humor lies an insightful dissection of the shallowness and material corruption of American culture. In a tribute to Hiaasen's skills considerable literary skills, these messages never overshadow the entertainment value, nor require "progressive" political views to be appreciated. Ironic, sarcastic, and biting, "Skin Tight" represents another page-turner from Carl Hiaasen, today's undisputed master of mordancy.

South Florida has been a national stereotype of corruption since developers began selling underwater real estate in swamps at premium prices in the 1920s to out-of-state "investors." It's been all downhill in the national psyche since then. Is it any wonder that many question the Presidential election results for their honesty in 2000? Carl Hiaasen is one of our great comic crime writers, and Skin Tight is one of his best efforts. I missed the book when it first came out, but wanted to know more about Mick Stranahan after reading Skinny Dip (which I also loved). Mick Stranahan is retired from the state police . . . because he was too good at his job. A crooked judge ended up dead, and the judge's friends didn't like that. The reverberations from that event continue in Skin Tight. Mick spends his days with a little fishing and a little lazing in the sun in his stilt house built over the water. That idyllic existence is disturbed when someone sends a hit man to take him out. Being totally unprepared, Mick defends himself as best he can (in a way you'll never forget). Soon another hit man is on his way who presents a different challenge. Dead bodies are soon piling up on the beaches in south Florida, and his friends in police work keep asking him what he knows. Actually, he doesn't know very much at first. Gradually, he finds out that he's been set up to take a fall by a crooked witness in an investigation he ran four years earlier into the disappearance of a young woman after her plastic surgery. Before he's done, Mick finds out who's after him . . . and closes up that old wound. In the process, there's more comic mayhem than you can imagine. You will probably find Chemo to be one of the best comic villains since "Jaws" in the James Bond movies. If you dislike phonies, you will find several to dislike in the story . . . and each will get their comeuppance in deliciously appropriate ways. If you enjoy Mick, be sure to read Skinny Dip as well.

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.

This was my first Carl Hiaasen book and I thought it was terrific. The characters are excellent, the story moved along at a brisk pace and some of it was downright hilarious. After reading more serious crime/thriller type novels, this was a great break. I tore through the book quickly. People looked at me funny when I laughed out loud on the exercise bike or treadmill trying to read as much as possible, anxious to find out what happens next. I will definitely order more books from Hiassen in the future!!