Customer Reviews

Skin Tight (G K Hall Large Print Book Series)

5 star:		(56)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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.

"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.

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!!

Skin Tight is a classic roller-coaster comic mystery by that Carl "Florida - paradise lost" Hiaasen. His satire has never been so caustic, or so humorous. Some folks might find it all a bit cruel and, if you've read anything else by Hiaasen, a bit repetitive. Yet Skin Tight delivers belly laughs, which has to be a good thing.

As for the (complicated and over-the-top) plot, we have an incredibly crooked and incompetent plastic surgeon suspected of killing a patient and disposing of the body (in a very creative fashion). As the police and other interested parties come down on this surgeon he employs very colorful thugs to eliminate these troublemakers ... yet everything goes wrong. On top of this he has a Hispanic shock-TV host (similarities to Geraldo Rivera are probably intentional) wanting to capture this ... on live television. Everything spins wildly out of control. Yet the vibrant characterizations, the clever one-liners, and cruel attacks on these rich, selfish and vain individuals make Skin Tight very enjoyable. And unlike his other works, the story is not too Florida-centric (although it takes place in Miami) ... and so it should be enjoyable to most everyone who is familiar with American popular culture.

Bottom line: sick, twisted and very funny. Perhaps Hiaasen's best. Strongly recommended.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Mick Stranahan and his crazy antics keep this novel moving along in a "laugh out loud" kind of way. The basis of the plot is a plastic surgeon gone Hollywood and a murder cover-up/nose job gone bad. The antics start from the very first page and Mick and his friends are out to expose one Dr. Rudy Graveline along with his hit man Chemo. The list of comical characters goes on from pretty boy Reynaldo Flemm, TV investigative reporter, his assistant, Christine Marks, who turns out to befriend Mick, and Mick's own, brother-in-law, attorney for all occasions, Kipper Garth. Carl Hiaasen does it again and if you are into the satirical writing of this author and the Abbot and Costello type of comedy, then Skin Tight is your book. I enjoy Mr. Hiaasen, but need a break in between his books. The over-the-top shenanigans become a little too much for me as a steady diet.

My first book by this author was Skinny Dipping. This is as good. I love the humor and it's a great sit down and escape read. It reminds me of Dave Barry. I like the serious mysteries too but sometimes you need a lighter fun book. Now I want to read all the rest by Hiaasen.