Tim Schneider's Reviews > Skin Tight

My third book by Hiaasen (and the third he wrote) and, I'll be honest, if this one hadn't grabbed me I was tempted to give up on him. But this one definitely grabbed me...so I'll keep him in the rotation.

Mick Stranahan is an ex investigator for the States Attorney who was put out to pasture after shooting a judge (usually a righteous kill). Now he just kind of hangs out in his stilt house and leads the life of a beach bum...that is until someone decides that he needs to die. Judicious use of a stuffed marlin saves the day and pulls Stranahan back in to an unsolved missing persons case. We get a very bad plastic surgeon (in more ways than one), an ex-Amish killer with a very bad skin condition and a weed whacker for a hand, a thinly veiled version of Geraldo Rivera who is just as annoying and just as incompetent and a whole lot of silly fun.

I've noticed a number of people kvetching about the "number" of women that Stranahan sleeps with in the book. A.) it's a genre convention. You got to deal with that sort of thing. B.) It's two. Two women. And both of them actually make sense. So...just a dumb complaint. There are legit avenues to critique the book (I do think it's very good) but that ain't one of them.

This is a fun book and it definitely shows growth by Hiaasen as a writer.