Saturday, May 12, 2007

"Skinny Dip," by Carl Hiaasen



This is my first Carl Hiaasen book, even though I've had numerous people ordering me to read one. So I finally did, and you know what? I liked it.

Joey and Chaz are on cruise to celebrate their second anniversary. But on their last night as the ship is sailing back into Florida, Chaz pushes Joey overboard into the Atlantic Ocean. The next morning, he puts on a frightened-husband act for the police, who start searching immediately for the missing wife. Chaz, however, has given them false information to the last time he saw Joey, ensuring that the search will be conducted in the wrong area and that Joey will never survive.

Lucky for Joey, even though her husband is a biologist, he's a complete idiot. Joey, a champion swimmer, manages to swim for hours before finding and clinging onto a bale of Jamaican marijuana. She is found by Mick Stranahan, an ex-cop who lives alone on a nearby island. He helps her recuperate and, after agreeing not to notify the police of her whereabouts, sets out to help Joey figure out the reasoning behind her husband's murderous actions. Oh, and maybe drive Chaz a little insane, too.

This book was part mystery, part quest to save the Florida Everglades. With quite a bit of humor thrown in. The only thing that bothered me was the budding romance between Joey, who is young and hot, and Mick, who is like 53. Why do male authors always do this? There's nothing that shows why the characters like each other or anything. I'm just supposed to believe that an age difference like that doesn't matter? Pah.

4 stars

7 comments:

John Dent said...

There's nothing that shows why the characters like each other or anything. I'm just supposed to believe that an age difference like that doesn't matter?

If a gap of that width weren't to matter, they'd have to love each other very much. So either he's failing by adding an unneccessary dimension to their relationship, or he's not able to write about love capably.
How old is Hiaasen anyway?

April said...

Good question. According to Wikipedia, Hiaasen is 54.

Given the fact that the entire plot takes place in about 2 weeks, I'm thinking Hiaasen was counting on the romantic implications of Mick saving Joey as reason enough for the characters to fall in love, rather than showing meaningful moments between them.

Kristen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kristen said...

a) I've seen this book on the shelves so many times, but never picked it up because the title annoyed me (as do many things). I will fo-sho read it now.

b) quit reading more than me.

c) must ill heart shaped box NOW.

i i eee said...

I've read a book by him before. It was also fairly entertaining. And also a "save the evergreen" kind of thing.

Sounds like Hiaasen was looking into starting something up with a younger woman on his own -delving into his own characters with his fantasies. What a sly bastard.

TOWR said...

They have to include a sexual link no matter how contrived because men don't believe that men and women can ever really just be friends.

LAME.

The book sounds good!

April said...

Yay! Someone else reading my book blog!