Product Description

Clinging to a bale of Jamaican pot, she manages to stay alive, and is plucked from the ocean by former cop, current loner, Mick Stranahan. But instead of rushing to the police and reporting her husband's crime, Joey decides to stay dead and (with Mick's help) screw with Chas until he screws himself.As Joey haunts and taunts her homicidal husband; as Chaz's cold blooded cohorts in crime grow uneasy with his increasingly erratic behaviour; as Mick Stranahan discovers that six failed marriages have not killed his ability to fall in love all over again, Carl Hiaasen takes us on a hilarious, romantic, page-turning journey through the warped politics of southern Florida, and through the madness and mayhem created by the human heart.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1053165 in Books
• Published on: 2004-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 368 pages

AMAZON.CO.UK
Skinny Dip is a highly pleasurable reminder that Carl Hiaasen is one of the most quirky and entertaining of modern crime writers. His shadow on the genre has been so massive that his idiosyncratic, brittle-edged prose and sardonic humour may be found served up in the work of a host of imitators. There is no doubt that Hiaasen is at the top of the tree in his chosen field – and if a certain faltering has been evident of late, admirers were more than ready to be patient. Skinny Dip is a signal that the worries of Hiaasen admirers are at an end – the Master is back on form.

The protagonist here is a woman, the luckless Joey Perrone. Joey has not made the wisest matrimonial choice, and her lowlife spouse Chaz has dumped her in the briny from the deck of a luxury cruise liner. She survives – but is her first action to shop her treacherous husband to the police? No, Joey has other ideas. She opts to maintain the fiction that she is now fish food, and inaugurates a little canny retaliation. Utilising her own support group – along with several individuals who have no love for Chaz – she begins to even the score.

This is vintage Hiaasen, with all the old splenetic energy back in place, along with the scorching one-liners that were the author’s traditional stock-in-trade. Joey is a wonderful heroine, and the off-the-wall gallery of characters she encounters in her fightback against her husband are well up to the colourful standards we expect. --Barry Forshaw

From the Back Cover
Joey Perrone is a woman with a mission. She's just been pushed overboard from a cruise liner into the icy Atlantic Ocean by Chaz, her scumbag of a husband – and survived to tell the tale.

She knows that Chaz is not the brightest marine scientist in the world – hell, he can't even work out which way the Gulf Stream runs. And if there's one place he hates it's the Florida Everglades, an area he's supposed to be working to protect. But he's on to something; and it's something so big and so lucrative it's worth killing for.

Joey turns to the man who's pulled her from the sea: former cop, current loner, Mick Stranahan. And with a little help from her friends, Mick's dog, and a few of Chaz's enemies, they hit on a scheme that should drive Chaz mad, while allowing her to get even.

As Joey haunts and taunts her homicidal husband; as Chaz's cold-blooded cohorts in crime grow uneasy with his increasingly erratic behaviour; as Mick discovers that six failed marriages have not killed his ability to fall in love all over again, Carl Hiaasen takes us on a hilarious, romantic, page-turning journey through the mayhem created by the human heart.

About the Author
Carl Hiaasen was born and raised in Florida. He is the author of nine previous novels, including Sick Puppy, Lucky You, Stormy Weather and Basket Case. He also writes a twice weekly metropolitan column for the Miami Herald.

Customer Reviews

Why Did He Marry Me?
I strongly encourage you NOT to read either the jacket blurb or most reviews of this book. For some reason, people seem to want to give away most of this story to nonreaders. If you do read the spoilers, you will probably only think this a three or four star book . . . yet it is really a tour de force if you let Mr. Hiaasen work his magic without any preconceptions about the story.

As the book opens, Chaz and Joey Perrone are enjoying their second wedding anniversary by taking a cruise that is about to return them to Port Lauderdale. But there's a problem! Despite experiencing great sexual energy, Joey finds herself unexpectedly not enjoying the bliss that such a trip might suggest. Clearly, something's very wrong with her marriage . . . and she doesn't have a clue!

The rest of the book develops for her the reasons why Chaz married her and why the marriage suddenly soured for him. Once she realizes what's been going on, she also wants revenge. What ensues is one of the funniest and most original turning-of-the-tables you can imagine. In the process, Joey learns a lot about herself and what she really wants from life.

As usual, Mr. Hiaasen draws imaginatively on the themes of how greed and self-interest cause people to lead artificial lives that threaten both the environment . . . and ultimately all of us. There's a brilliant symbol involving a deformed snake that makes this book haunting as well as humorous. Snakes also play symbolic roles in other parts of the story. Remember the garden of Eden whenever you read about a snake in this book.

The book does a superb job of helping many of its characters develop and grow based on their experiences. I thought that the evolution of the character named "Tool" was especially well done. Tool goes from being someone who blindly follows orders to someone who takes responsibility for his choices, and makes better ones than those who have been ordering him around. Joey, Ricca, Corbett, Karl, and Chaz also experience meaningful changes as they come to appreciate what they have done.

For long-time fans of Mr. Hiaasen's writing, you will be pleased to meet two old friends in this book.

Fantastic!
Why has it been three full years since Hiassen has written a novel for adults when he can churn out stuff this good?

The story of Joey, Stranhan, Chaz and Tool is right up there among the best that Hiaasen has ever produced, with a great set of characters who make an everlasting impression on the reader. The initial plot is almost (but not quite) farcical but works brilliantly because of Hiaasen's characterisation and humour. A novel about how to get revenge on those who wrong us; brilliantly executed as only Hiassen can.

I couldn't wait until October for this to be published in the UK and bought a copy from the United States... I'm so glad I did. It's my book of the year! Buy it!

I can't stop laughing
I am on the penultimate audio tape of this great story and I can't wait until the end to tell you how happy Carl Hiaasen has made me, listening to this story, the last few days.

Problem is I keep laughing out loud; I'm wondering if people around me think I'm as bonkers as some of the people in Carl's story. I'm sure my husband is cursing at night when I'm listening to this story in bed - am I keeping him awake?

You know the world is a sad old place sometimes and we all, eventually, have a lot to bear as we travel through life. To have the ability to make people laugh, and be as happy as I feel listening to this story, is a great reward, I hope, for Carl Hiaasen.