Skinny Dip

Acerbic wit and social critique

This was my first foray into Hiaasen territory, and I loved it, particularly in Jeff Harding's rendition. His female voices are very good for someone with such a gravelly voice.
The story starts as a failed wife murder that comes back to bite the husband who fancied that throwing his wife overboard on a cruise would solve the problem of his irritation with her and rejuvenate his bank account. The wife survives, teams up with a better man and finds out a thing or two about that husband of hers that makes him look more than just homicidal: phoney degrees, environmental pollution, fraud, and serial adultery - oh, and he's stupid as well, a fact previously glossed over by his remarkable sexual prowess. Plenty of motives for revenge, and so the game begins...
Hiaasen delights the reader with plot twists, ironic comments on Florida's social mores and protagonists who are intelligent, articulate but lovably flawed. The prose has plenty to recommend it too, not least the quasi-hardboiled wit and the wisecracks. The genre is crime fiction but the characterisations are solid and have psychological depth. This would be fabulous as a holiday read (unless you go to Florida, of course) or on a long, cold journey. Or if you're just hacked off with the rich-and-irresponsible getting richer-and away with everything. Here they don't. They get their heads blown off or at least their arses kicked.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

is revenge sweet?

Any additional comments?

this is fast paced and kept me listening just to know what happened in the end and I thought what, is that it. it ended so abrupt.
this is the first book I have listened to by carl Hiaasen which leaves me undecided whether to try any more.
jeff harding did a reasonable job of performing the book.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Its just brilliant!

What did you like most about Skinny Dip?

It fun and more fun, laugh out loud

What did you like best about this story?

The way the book tells a story about how greed and consumerism is bad for us

What does Jeff Harding bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

His ability to act out each character is amazing

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Hiaasen at his surreal best

I adore Hiaasen's books, and this is my all time favourite. It's splendidly read here. A murderous husband, the world's most hirsute body-guard, a seriously cool dude and his daft doberman, and a supposedly dead wife who's determined to get even. Classic Hiaasen, hugely entertaining.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

SKINNY DIP by CARL HIAASEN

Great story. comical, twisting, swampy tale.
Pity the reader had to spoil it by reading the heroine's part in such a soppy voice.
Irritated me to the point of abandonment. Glad I persevered.
Latter chapters are brilliant.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Entertaining but not gripping

What did you like best about Skinny Dip? What did you like least?

The plot was interesting enough for me to want to finish the book and I most enjoyed the humour and characters, particularly the 'bodyguard' Toole, who had real depth. The least enjoyable aspect was the narration of the female characters - grating, harsh, whiny and caricature-like.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I'd probably change the narrator - I think it's Jeff Harding as announced on the soundtrack, although my library says it's Kerry Shale.

Any additional comments?

I'd had Carl Hiasson's books on a mental to-do list because the blurbs made them seem like my kind of thing, smart, funny crime novel, but I'm not as impressed as I'd expected to be and I'm not sure if it was the narrator or the book.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Very dry humour, loved it!

Would you listen to Skinny Dip again? Why?

Probably not as i'll never get through my wishlist if i do. I also found the narrator to be a little grating at times, the nasal accent for the Chaz character worked and was fitting but I didn't find it a touch painful at times!

What did you like best about this story?

The light hearted, if slightly dark 'twist' (it's not really a twist as you know fairly early on but I shan't ruin it!

What about Jeff Harding’s performance did you like?

The characters were versatile and the accents clearly different but some of the accents really got to me after a while!

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It made me laugh quite a lot. It also made you think quite long and hard about the one clear underlying message about the destruction of the planet.... i'm not a die hard green but still the whole premise of solution and not caring does ring true!

Any additional comments?

It was a very different book to anything i've read before, but i enjoyed it immensely!

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Unchallenging entertainment

This was an engaging and entertaining romp, reminiscent of Wilt (Tom Sharpe) and books by David Lodge. It is full of weird characters and amazing escapes from death; only the baddies die. I liked it so much I happily spent more hours gardening than planned just so I could listen.

My version was narrated superbly by Kerry Shale; he had a different voice for each character, and his women’s voices were totally believable.

very funny - loved it

What made the experience of listening to Skinny Dip the most enjoyable?

Wonderful story and so enjoyable - the actor reading the story is so good...

Who was your favorite character and why?

Tool !!!

Which scene did you most enjoy?

too many to list

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes

Any additional comments?

anyone I have told to read this book has found it very funny and a great story - great holiday read.

How I loved this book

Only ever reading one other Carl Hiassen book "Native Tongue" I was more than pleased to purchase this book. It was highly entertaining and filled with the usual collection of Hiassen characters. You'll find yourself chuckling away and the time flies by.