Skinny Dip

One minute Joey was talking to her husband on the deck of cruise liner, Sun Duchess and the next she's in the Atlantic Ocean, off Miami, wondering what the hell happened. It seems after apparently bending down to pick up their stateroom key, Joey's husband Chaz, grabbed her ankles and flipped her over the rail.

So begins the newest Carl Hiaasen novel, Skinny Dip, one of the absolute funniest books I've ever read. After recently grinding through The 9/11 Commission Report and other dry publications, I was ready for something light and whimsical and from my experience nobody's writing is more droll than my man Hiaasen.

Let's see in addition to our somewhat normal heroine, Joey and her rescuer Mick, a retired cop who lives on a tiny island off the coast, her husband Chaz, a biologist who hates his work.(testing for water pollution in the Everglades) He's not particularly smart but thinks he's God's gift to women and is oversexed to boot. Then there's Detective Karl Rolvaag, who has two rare six foot Pythons for pets. He's investigating Joey's disappearance and despite copacetic appearances, smells a rat.

As for the bad guys (beside the husband that is) we have Red Hammernut owner of a large farm whose polluting ways lead him to hire Chaz (who doctors official reports for Red's benefit). And then we have Earl Edward O'Toole, known as Tool, a mountain of a man, who Red hires to keep an eye on Chaz after Joey's disappearance. Tool has a proclivity for for taking those homemade crosses that people sometimes set along highways as memorials and transplants them into his front yard. Some of the most jocular situations involve Tool.

STORY

After Joey is rescued by Matt, she starts to plot her revenge on her murderous husband. Being unfaithful was bad enough but trying to drown her is too much. For starters she starts leaving little signs for Chaz that something is wrong. Then after a while they settle on a blackmail scheme. Not so much for money since Joey is independently wealthy but to continue rattling her husband.

On Chaz's part, he thinks Detective Rolvaag is behind both the occurrences at his house and the blackmail scheme. Additionally, Chaz seems to be having unforeseen problems sexually and for the first time in his life hears the old expression from his mistress, Ricca, "don't worry about it, it happens to all men from time to time"

The situations that Hiaasen portrays are simply precious. I don't want to give too much away so I'll stop here.

CONCLUSION

Boy, can this guy write. I was sitting in the family room reading this book and my sixteen year old daughter came in and asked me what's so funny. I said this book and she said a book made you laugh like that, I thought you had flipped out. Yes parts of this book had me laughing so hard that my throat got sore and I got hiccups. Having absolutely nutty characters doesn't hurt and certainly adds to the absurd wacky feeling in each Hiaasen book.

Hiassen's writing is simple and straight forward. Being an editorialist this is a man that knows how to write. His preposterous stories are so interesting that the pages just wiz by. His characters are also unbelievably interesting if not outright wacky. For instance the six foot five, ex-Governor, Skink who Hiaasen seems to reprise in most of his novels, makes a short appearance but this time refers to himself as Captain.

For those of you who are not familiar with Skink, it's a funny story. When he was governor his liberal conservationist programs were thwarted by the legislature at every turn. Rumor had it that he just flipped out. He got so disgusted that he walked out of the Governorship and from time to time is spotted, cavorting in the Everglades sporting a shower cap and not much else.

Skinny Dip is Hiassen's tenth solo novel and as with the others is set in his home state of Florida. At 354 pages it's a fast, thoroughly enjoyable read. While Hiaasen's wit is undeniable, there is an underlying agenda in his books. It is obvious that Mr. Hiassen is an environmentalist and is not happy with the wanton rapid, seemingly unregulated development taking place in Florida, but true to his nature, he makes light of his concerns, showing his displeasure through his unsavory if not hilarious heavies.

If you are in the mood for a light entertaining read I highly recommend Hiaasen, especially Skinny Dip.

WRITERS NOTE

If you are easily offended by sexual innuendos and connotations, you may want to pass on this book. It is not vulgar by any means but their are some very funny sexual situations contained within.