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February 20, 2007
Skinny Dip - Carl Hiaasen
Still on the thriller trail, I thought I'd give Hiaasen a try. I've not read many comedies recently, and if the reviews were to be believed, I'd be laughing out loud at this one. He's written a fair number of books, and I read the first page of 'Skinny Dip' in the bookshop and decided that this one would do - it had a nicer cover than the other monochrome themed ones as well.
Unfortunately, it's a very disappointing let down. It does start with a great idea - Joey is on a cruise ship off the coast of Florida with her husband Chaz, when he suddenly throws her overboard. It's dark, and he thinks she is dead, but she survives the fall and starts swimming to shore. She is confused. Why did he do it? She means to find out and get her revenge.
The problems start right away - why doesn't she go to the police and have him arrested. The flimsy excuse is that she thinks he's a good talker, and would probably get off if it went to court. I wasn't convinced. Amazingly she is rescued by an ex policeman, who agrees to help her wreak her revenge in a more unconventional manner. This is bizarre and unbelievable. Her next steps are disproportionate and in some cases illegal. She loses the reader's sympathy with each new crazy way she tries to pay her husband back instead of doing the sensible thing and alerting the authorities. In fact, she even drives him to another attempted murder.
So I've covered the thriller part, sort of, I don't want to give away too much plot in case you want to read this rubbish. How about the comedy aspect. Well, Hiaasen thinks he's Elmore Leonard, but he isn't. Comedy novels are notoriously difficult to get right. The characters need to behave in a believable way, and their situations have to force them into doing things that are funny. Here, the characters all make completely stupid decisions that make no sense to anyone, just to set up a comedy moment. Wouldn't it be funny if Joey was hiding under the bed while her husband had another woman with him. Sure, though why she'd risk being in the house when she is trying to make him believe she is dead is a small detail we'll gloss over. And you also need rare skill to make attempted murder in cold blood funny, Hiaasen doesn't possess it.
By the end it's Chaz we start feeling sorry for, and wish Joey would just leave him alone.
The only positive thing you get from the book is an appreciation of the ecological problems facing the everglades swamps. Hiaasen obviously feels stongly about this, and, in fact, some of his other books deal with this theme also. But it's not enough, if you want to try this genre, stick with Elmore Leonard I think.
Posted by se71 at February 20, 2007 09:57 AM
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