Review: Skinny Dip
I’ll admit it. I had never read any of Hiaasen’s work before, even if “New York Times Bestseller” was listed across the top of his books. Okay, to be perfectly honest, I may have avoid his work BECAUSE of the New York Times banner.
I admit it… I’m a non-conformist.
Anyway, this isn’t the type of book I would normally select, but I’m glad I picked this one up.
The premise of the book is that Chaz Perrone decides to kill his wife, Joey, by throwing her off a cruise ship. Chaz isn’t that smart. In fact, he’s pretty much a self-centered jerk. He doesn’t seem to realize or remember that Joey was a champion swimmer in college.
Joey survives the tumble and decides to get even with Chaz. She is able to mess with his head and get her revenge.
Hiassen uses multiple points of view to move the story forward. And he does it very well! I can’t imagine the story being told only from Chaz’s or Joey’s point of view. As a reader, we wouldn’t have enough information to keep the story moving forward.
I also noticed that Hiassen used humor in the novel. As a bit of a smartypants myself, I appreciated his use of irony and the way he twisted the events to make the story work. Hiassen also used (mostly) believable situations in the novel.
Most impressive, however, were the characters he created. And were they ever characters! If you’ve been following the “villain talk” on Frightening Journeys this month, you know I like my fictional characters to be multidimensional. The characters in Skinny Dip cover a variety of ranges and Hiassen explains them amazingly. For me, it really was the characters who made the book worth reading.
Blessings!
Nichole