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MIAMI HERALD columnist and sometime songwriter Carl Hiaasen turned to writing fiction in 1986 when he wrote TOURIST SEASON. This debut novel was very well received and since then Hiaasen has produced a steady stream of fiction (including one book for children) although, perhaps, not as many as his fans would prefer or as many as a full-time author would create. Hiaasen has been an investigative journalist and his books reflect topics in which he has been interested and at which he has been appalled. Garnished with cruel humour, the narratives have been successful at making a horrified audience laugh. SKINNY DIP is told in the third person, mostly from the point of view of Joey Perrone, the former swimming champion whose degenerate husband Chaz attempts to murder her by pushing her from a cruise liner. Chaz is not terribly bright, as he proves constantly throughout the narrative, although perhaps it is unfounded optimism that makes him believe he has succeeded in murdering his wife of two years. Joey, understandably, is furious with her perfidious spouse. She swims strongly and, against the odds, survives after encountering a bale of marijuana (which she mistakes for a rough-skinned shark) in which her fingernails break off, for the later delectation of detective Karl Rolvaag. Recluse Mick Stranahan is an unlikely saviour, but he cares for her on his isolated island and the pair devise an appropriate revenge. Chaz has finagled a PhD with his specialty being wetlands ecology. He works, officially, for the government to reclaim the polluted Everglades. In reality, his main employment is with the millionaire whose farming enterprise is helping in the destruction of the fragile environment. Earl O'Toole (more popularly known as Tool) is a tough who works for the millionaire. His hobby is divesting nursing home patients of their fentanyl patches in order to dull the pain that he feels from a bullet lodged near his coccyx. Karl Rolvaag, too, has a hobby -- looking after his two albino pythons which are much loathed by his neighbours who own tempting morsels of bite-sized canines and felines. He is, justifiably, suspicious of Chaz Perrone and is determined to prove that the sex-mad biologist has made away with his wife. One of Hiaasen's popular creations, the one-eyed man who insists on being addressed as Captain appears briefly, but to good effect, in this novel. The former politician could well be seen as embodying Hiaasen's own feelings of resentment against those who are hell-bent on destroying the wonderful ecology of the Everglades. Hiaasen's work is characterised by its unlikely situations and cruel humour. His narratives are jam-packed with action, provoking helpless hilarity despite which a strong moral message is conveyed. Any reader would be hard put to it to read this talented writer's work and not enjoy it to the utmost.
Reviewed by Denise Pickles, July 2004
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