Synopses & Reviews
Chaz Perrone night be the only marine scientist in the world who doesn't know which way the Gulf Stream runs, but he's out to make a killing--by doctoring water samples for a ruthless agribusiness tycoon illegally dumping fertilizer into the endangered Everglades. When Chaz suspects that his wife Joey is on to his scam, he pushes her overboard from a cruise liner. Unfortunately for Chaz, she doesn't die in the plunge. Clinging blindly to a bale of Jamaican pot, Joey Perrone is plucked from the ocean by former cop (and current loner) Mick Stranahan. But instead of rushing to the police to report the crime. Joey enlists Mick's and to help her stay dead and haunt her husband. Meanwhile, Chaz's cold-blooded partners in pollution grow uneasy about his ineptitude and increasingly erratic behavior, and Mick discovers that six failed marriages haven't killed the skewed romantic in him after all. Skinny Dip, Carl Hiaasen's biggest bestseller to date, was published in hardcover (Knopf, 7/04 with a first printing of 400,000 copies, hitting the New York Times bestseller list at #2, and the Los Angeles Times and Washington Post bestseller at #2. Warner has had a phenomenal track record with the paperback editions of Carl Hiaasen's novels Basket Case (1/03). Sick Puppy (2001). Lucky You (1998). Stormy Weather (1997) and Strip Tease (1994) have sold over 2.1 million copies combined. Warner Books is planning a major promotional push for all of Carl Hiaasen's trade paperbacks in 2005. Hiaasen's brand of irreverent humor has been critically praised and has vaulted his books to bestseller status. Sick Puppy spent 10 weeks on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list and 11 weeks on the Publishers Weekly list; and Stormy Weather also hit the New York Times hardcover list.
Review
"Carl Hiaasen did not need to get any better....But Skinny Dip...[is] a screwball delight so full of bright, deft, beautifully honed humor that it places Mr. Hiaasen in the company of Preston Sturges, Woody Allen and S. J. Perelman." Janet Maslin, The New York Times
Review
"Another delirious romp through the swamps of South Florida from irrepressible Miami Herald columnist Carl Hiaasen....Like Hiaasen's nine previous novels, this one's a corker, chock-full of belly laughs and blistering truths." Allison Block, Booklist (Starred Review)
Review
"[B]itingly satirical, sublimely zany, and deeply satisfying." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Writers who can construct a wide-ranging plot without losing sight of the mystery at its center are rare; Hiaasen is one....Skinny Dip is...rich with incidental rewards wry lines, savagely etched minor characters, comic set pieces... (Grade: A)" Entertainment Weekly
Review
"It has rarely been this much fun to read about the act of revenge. All of the trademark characters and Florida locales are used to maximum effect. One of Hiassen's best and that's the naked truth." Library Journal
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"[Hiaasen] has produced his best work to date with his newest novel, Skinny Dip....Hiaasen has taken a subtle but impressive step forward in what is already a literary career to be proud of." Minneapolis Star Tribune
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"Hiaasen ultimately does not trust his readers enough to challenge them by dropping the shtick, the tricks with smoke and mirrors, and applying his intelligence to fashioning serious characters learning serious lessons." Chicago Sun-Times
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"Hiaasen seems to have turned down the burner on the sarcasm....Hiaasen may have lost a bit of the anger, but rest assured he's in the best of humors for this latest." Rocky Mountain News
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"Carl Hiaasen's anger and humor make for an entertaining brew in Skinny Dip....Like his other novels, it bubbles over with oddball characters and affection for nature, which is sacrosanct to Hiaasen no matter how savage." Boston Globe
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"Carl Hiaasen at his merry-prankster best....It's a testament to Hiaasen's talent that he can maintain his freshness and control after 10 novels even if he may bemoan the fact that he'll probably never run short of material." Cleveland Plain Dealer
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"Here Hiaasen is at his best. The anecdotes soar to heights of absurdity so imaginative and unexpected that one can't help to suspend disbelief." Baltimore Sun
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"Though his books are often classified as mysteries, Hiaasen's writing...rises high above that or any other genre. Hiaasen is a great inheritor to [John D. MacDonald] and Skinny Dip, like his other books, is entertainment with an emotional punch." Orlando Sentinel
Review
"Skinny Dip is Hiaasen's latest escapade, and like the others it is hilarious and furious. It is also his most topical novel, using as its backdrop the $8 billion effort to restore the ravaged Everglades ecosystem, the most important public works project in the history of Florida and the largest environmental project in the history of the planet. That said, I must make an observation about Hiaasen's fiction that will border on blasphemy in many Florida precincts: it is fiction." Michael Grunwald, The New Republic (read the entire New Republic review)
Synopsis
Chaz Perrone might be the only marine scientist in the world who doesn't know which way the Gulf Stream runs. He might also be the only one who went into biology just to make a killing, and now he's found a way doctoring water samples so that a ruthless agribusiness tycoon can continue illegally dumping fertilizer into the endangered Everglades. When Chaz suspects that his wife, Joey, has figured out his scam, he pushes her overboard from a cruise liner into the night-dark Atlantic. Unfortunately for Chaz, his wife doesn't die in the fall.
Clinging blindly to a bale of Jamaican pot, Joey Perrone is plucked from the ocean by former cop and current loner Mick Stranahan. Instead of rushing to the police and reporting her husband's crime, Joey decides to stay dead and (with Mick's help) screw with Chaz until he screws himself.
As Joey haunts and taunts her homicidal husband, as Chaz's cold-blooded cohorts in pollution grow uneasy about his ineptitude and increasingly erratic behavior, as Mick Stranahan discovers that six failed marriages and years of island solitude haven't killed the reckless romantic in him, we're taken on a hilarious, full-throttle, pure Hiaasen ride through the warped politics and mayhem of the human environment, and the human heart.
Synopsis
A shady marine scientist suspects that his wife knows that he has been doctoring water samples so that a ruthless tycoon can continue polluting the Everglades, so he pushes her overboard from a cruise liner, but she's saved by former cop Mick Stranahan and that's when the real adventure begins.
Synopsis
Marine biologist Chaz Perrone can't tell a sea horse from a sawhorse. And when he throws his beautiful wife, Joey, off a cruise liner, he really should know better. An expert swimmer, Joey makes her way to a floating bale of Jamaican pot-and then to an island inhabited by an ex-cop named Mick Stanahan whose ex-wives include five waitresses and a TV producer. Now Joey wants to get revenge on Chaz and Mick's happy to help her. But in swampy South Florida, separating lies from truths and stupidity from brilliance isn't easy. Especially when you're after a guy like Chaz-who's bad at murder, great at fraud, and just terrible at getting caught...
About the Author
Carl Hiaasen was born and raised in Florida. He is the author of ten previous novels, including Sick Puppy, Lucky You, Stormy Weather, Basket Case, and, for young readers, Hoot. He also writes a regular column for the Miami Herald.
Kids Q&A
Read the Kids' Q&A with Carl Hiaasen