Skin Tight

Classic Hiassen. A little bit darker and more violent than a lot of his other books, but still full of that sun-baked neo-noir, dark humour, and sardonic mockery of media culture.

I used to find Hiaasen's books funny; now I just find them depressing. Was I not in the right mood this week, or am I a different person? Anyhow, this was fun in the slow-motion-wreck kind of way: you don't read it for the mystery or the narrative arc, you do so in a chewing-gum way to while away a few hours with explosions and ever-increasing body count. (I haven't watched TV in about thirty years, but it reminded me of what TV shows were like).

But the absurdity in this one was a little over the top; it wasn't clear what was deliberate farce and what was just carelessness. And the real-world aspects — half the characters are shallow, or venal, or corrupt, or all three — just reminds me too much of Puerto Rico and why I left. Even though Hiaasen plays it for yuks, it just saddens me to know there are so many people like that. The good characters, otoh, are a little too good, too decent. Which is enjoyable, I guess. We need some of that once in a while.

Full review at hhttp://bookwi.se/skin-tight-by-carl-hiaasen/

Short review. I like Carl Hiaasen's writing style. I don't really care for his characters. So I am not all that excited about the book.

Have been putting off reading Hiaasen for so long, and I don't know why. I enjoyed this one. It's fun, it's funny, the Florida flavor made me nostalgic and I enjoyed reading a mystery set in a time before email and cell phones and such. Kind of wish it'd been more of a mystery rather than discovering whodunit right at the onset, but whatever, I still had fun.