Skinny Dip
Written by Carl Hiaasen
Narrated by Barry Bostwick
3.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
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.
Carl Hiaasen
Carl Hiaasen (b. 1953) is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of more than twenty adult and young adult novels and nonfiction titles, including the novels Strip Tease (1993) and Skinny Dip (2004), as well as the mystery-thrillers Powder Burn (1981), Trap Line (1982), and A Death in China (1984), which were cowritten with fellow Miami Herald journalist Bill Montalbano (1941–1998). Hiaasen is best known for his satirical writing and dark humor, much of which is directed at various social and political issues in his home state of Florida. He is an award-winning columnist for the Miami Herald, and lives in Vero Beach.
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Reviews for Skinny Dip
1,358 ratings97 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Just good! A fun read for the beach or plane ride...
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5funny and a great read but the ending was weak and disappointing
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5There are a lot of things that Chaz isn’t good at - marriage, his job, telling the truth, and murder, but he is good at fraud, at least for a while. He throws his wife off a cruise ship, but she manages to survive, and at that point, Chaz is in for a boat-load of trouble, all of it deserved. Author Carl Hiaasen has liberally dosed this tale with humor, made sure the good guys come out on top, and even redeems a bad guy through an unusual relationship. This fun read is a quirky ride through the swampy land of the Everglades and is peopled with equally quirky characters sure to entertain you from beginning to end.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One of my favorite Hiaasen books in a long time. Completely over the top but just what I needed right now.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5A pointless, predictable (from basically page 2) book. The bad guy never has a chance, we feel no sympathy for him. He is a sitting duck the entire book. The style is repetitive and boring. Not worth the time it takes to read. I wish there was an option of Zero stars.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Zany justice
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An inept biologist employed by the state of Florida and is also on the payroll of a crooked farmer. The biologist fudges the water quality reports so that the farmer can continue to pour chemicals into the Keys. "Farmer" is used loosely here, this character owns many many acres of farm land and uses cheap labor who are abused in countless ways by sadistic overseers. In any event, the biologist, Chaz, is ruled entirely by greed and his libido. He thinks his wife may be on to his scheme so he "kills" her. Did I mention he is inept? She doesn't die and goes on the reek havoc in his life until at last justice is hilariously served.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Wacky and entertaining, as always.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Funny, dark, Hiaasen is good as usual.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Chaz Perrone is the very definition of hapless. Always looking for the easy way out, he generally finds it and then screws it up. He thinks his wife has discovered his fraudulent work activities so he tosses her overboard on a cruise, forgetting that she is a champion swimmer. In true Hiaasen fashion, this is only the tip of the iceberg of wonderful fun. Skinny Dip is another Hiaasen treasure.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5One of those off-the-wall stories based in Florida. Carl Hiasen, Tim Dorsey, Elmore Leonard. I have never been to Florida, and between these 3 authors, not sure if I want to!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great book, start to finish. One of Hiaasen's best. I would recommend this book to anyone that likes a good story with good writing that keeps the plot moving along.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A humorous and ingenious crime story.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Adventure! Perseverance and doggedness, mystery and intrigue, this book has it all wrapped up in a whimsical romp on the beach. An unusual tale of stupidity and revenge, a crooked scientist decides to dump his wife overboard because--well, that is part of the mystery, so I'll leave that out. He thinks she's dead, but she swims to safety, and plots her revenge.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How is it that Hiaasen has such a unique way of creating characters whom his readers can't help but end up feeling sorry for and rooting for?even though those characters are unworthy of our compassions?
In Skinny Dip, Hiaasen does just that again. Hilariously funny and heart-string-tugging is this novel which revolves around a crazy cast of characters?including a couple of appearances by one of Hiaasen's most legendary of them all.
The plot is fairly decent, but you get the sense that Hiaasen is giving it his all?and making it work. Excellent author. For me, the ending was simply a tear-jerker, what with "Tool" and Maureen and their unlikely friendship. I speak in these tones so as not to give too much away. I hate spoiling, but I really liked this book. I both laughed out loud and cried. Skinny Dip is well worth the read?as are all of Hiaasen's masterpieces.
(Original Kindle review.) - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Entertaining and easy to read.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Carl Hiaasen - hilarious, and dead on with his viewpoints on life, culture and society. Need to read more Carl.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The language got on my nerves (there's a word for a lady's private area and that's not it, Carl) and I just did not like the female protagonist, which is unusual for a Hiaasen book. The plot made me laugh a lot, though, so actually this is 2.5 stars.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Typical Hiaasen fare with the older lonely outcast, younger woman with an edge, environmental crooks and greatly crafted supporting characters, not to mention a cameo by Skink. The only letdown was the ending. It wasn't a typical dark, morbid, macabre (yet hilarious) Hiaasen ending. Please tell me he isn't getting soft in his old age. Other than a somewhat unsatisfying ending, this was an excellently crafted novel.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The opening scene cascades the story into a fast-paced hilarious mystery. I had read this book before, but needed to reread for a book club. Some of the events seem surreal, but continue to emit laughs from me. I especially enjoy the cast of characters and the coastal settings. As usual, Hiaasen floats stories of man's rape of nature into the story. This story centers on the Everglades and the mass pollution of the waters by huge farming corporations, and the corruption of government and politicians. Even though this is a lengthy book, the reading flows quickly.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5This is my brother-in-law's favourite book ever. I read it to pacify him, but I'm not taking any more recommendations.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Another winner. Similar in many respects to his next book, Bad Monkey, but a fun read.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This is a 3.5 for me. I think one of his best really. Good guys get their girl, the bad guys get their just desserts, but I was sad that the Captain was going through a rough spot. Read it in a day while frying to a crisp at the beach. How it was meant to be!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Very enjoyable mystery. Though in reality it wasn't a mystery, more of a cruel practical joke played on a man who deserved it. Chaz planned a 'romantic anniversary' on a cruise ship to the Caribbean and tossed his wife overboard the first chance he got. Chaz is a loser, who can't do anything right and it's a bit of a comedy of errors. Chaz keeps getting more desperate to 'fix' things and just keeps digging himself deeper into a hole. His wife who survived the fall and being a castaway decided to get even instead of running to the police.Lots of humor and quite a bit of it dirty. Certainly helped keep me awake on the drive home from Colorado that took until 4:00 in the morning.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Carl Hiaasen's prose has a flavor that is as distinctive as they come. Each character springs up from the page. Even the heroes, who in books of this sort are often too vanilla to hold up against the more colorful, and villainous supporting cast, come across as more than just plot contrivances.This novel is no exception. It's a quick read and a fun one, a book that makes its environmental point without bashing the reader over the head with it. The humor throughout is mischievous without being cruel, and while it's rarely laugh-out-loud funny, it is entertaining from start to finish.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Fun read -- the style is tongue-in-cheek ironic, with outlandish situations and resolutions. Ultimately I like my characters with a little more depth.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On a Caribbean cruise to celebrate their second wedding anniversary, a man shoves his wife overboard, leaving her in the middle of the ocean to either drown or be eaten by sharks. She does neither, though, and instead clings to a bale of marijuana that a smuggler has dumped overboard. The bale carrying the dehydrated and disoriented woman drifts into the vicinity of a retired investigator who lives on an unpopulated island off the Florida coast while he tries to sort out the pieces of his own broken life. Together, the detective and the woman plot her revenge while trying to figure out exactly what went wrong with her marriage. Naturally, the two fall in love—or at least something that approximates love under the circumstances—while they solve the crime and help stem the tide of the ecological destruction of the Everglades in the process.Does any of that—which is the essential plot of Skinny Dip--sound plausible? Of course not, but then implausibility is a big part of the charm of any Carl Hiaasen novel, this one being no exception. Hiaasen definitely mines a familiar vein here, with the usual cast of greedy South Florida low-lifes and con artists doing their usual best to promote their own self-interests while leaving their fellow men and the environment to pay the toll. However, as is also the case in the author’s work, the good guys and gals show remarkable resourcefulness and ultimately win, while the bad guys ultimately lose (some more than others in this case). While Skinny Dip will never be mistaken for Serious Literature—or even place among the best of the mystery genre—it is a cleverly plotted romp that is also very funny despite the occasionally heavy-handed promotion of social causes. It would make a perfect summer beach read, particularly if that beach is located somewhere near Miami!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Chaz Perrone is a marine biologist that hates wildlife and basically all outdoors activities that don’t involve golf. He’s falsifying phosphorus testing results to benefit mega-farmer Red Hammernut (one of the best names ever), whose operation relies on “rampant pollution and the systematic mistreatment of immigrant labor.”When Chaz thinks his wife, Joey, has stumbled onto his scheme, he tries to kill her by throwing her off a ship during their anniversary cruise. Joey survives by clinging to a bale of pot until she is rescued by the early-retired, island-living cop, Mick Stranahan, who now lives a “slow-motion existence, revolving peaceably as it did around a dog, a boat and some corroded fishing gear.” There are many schemes and counter-schemes that stem from Chaz’s plots and stupidity.Most people get what they deserve in Carl Hiaasen’s novels. It’s satisfying that way. There is order in his extremely disorderly world. His characters are some of the best in fiction and his plots are complicated but somehow logical enough to follow without hurting yourself. He has a solid bead on the madness of South Florida. And the humor is some of the best in fiction.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Audiobook read by Stephen Hoye
On their anniversary cruise, Chaz Perrone throws his wife Joey overboard. He has to kill her because she’s discovered his secret. But Joey was a champion swimmer in college and she manages to survive the night, clinging to a bale of Jamaican weed. She’s rescued by Mick Stranahan, former investigator for the Dade State Attorney’s office, now “retired” and living on a remote island with his dog Strom. Rather than go to the police, Joey convinces Mick that they should “mess with Chaz” until he goes bonkers. And the fun begins.
This is typical Hiaasen: outlandish situations and inept crooks with a dose of environmental concern. The bad guys are, as usual the most colorful of the lot – a hirsute giant with an addiction to painkillers, an incompetent scientist who would rather be golfing (when he’s not boinking his mistress), and a moneyed “farmer” who believes environmental regulations don’t (or shouldn’t) apply to him. The women are naïve one minute and incredibly clever when scorned. As usual they get the best of the bad guys. The good guys – Detective Rolvaag and Mick – are straight arrows, strong, and silent. They have their own quirks, of course – Rolvaag has two pet pythons, and Mick has been married six times – but they are definitely good guys. Recurring character Skink makes a brief appearance, though his name is never used (but who can forget a one-eyed hermit given to wearing a plastic shower cap and eating road kill?).
I love Hiaasen’s books for their wit and craziness. Like his others, this novel is a fast read and entertaining from the first sentence to the last.
Stephen Hoye does a fine job narrating the audio version. He has a good pace and his interpretation is at once incredulous and resigned to the craziness. He brings this zany cast of characters to life. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/53.75 stars. Joey was pushed off a cruise ship by her husband, Chaz. Little does he know, she survived and has no idea why he would want to kill her. She is rescued by Mick, who lives alone on an island. Joey convinces Mick to help her with a plan to get revenge on Chaz. That was really good. The book included environmental issues, mystery, humour, plenty of characters (many of whom were followed throughout the story) and a lot going on. I don’t read very many mysteries, but this one seemed much more complex than most of the others I’ve read. I thought it was very good, and I likely will read more of Hiaasen’s books.