Skin Tight

By: Carl Hiaasen

Narrated by: George Wilson

Length: 14 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

This novel by Carl Hiaasen, author of Tourist Season and Native Tongue, begins as most thrillers do, with a killing. But this is no everyday, hum-drum, garden variety killing. Our hero, Nick Stranahan, a 42-year-old private investigator who has killed five men and been married five times, skewers his attacker's aorta with the razor-sharp bill of a stuffed marlin, setting off a roller coaster ride of events that will drop-kick Stranahan into the deep slime of Miami's prosperous plastic surgery industry.

As with Hiaasen's other books, Skin Tight is one long, extended farce, a comic take on everything from TV tabloid hosts to ambulance chasers, chronicling modern America's ever-growing penchant for tastelessness, self-absorption, and high sleaze.

You will find yourself laughing in spite of yourself at wildly improbable characters like Chemo, a 7-foot monster with a face like a bowl of breakfast cereal; Heather Chappell, who wants to completely renovate her Barbi-doll body; and Reynaldo Flemm, the host of prime time's In Your Face, who stages mock attacks to his person in order to increase the Nielsen ratings.

©1989 Carl Hiaasen (P)1993 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"Hiaasen's latest thriller is his funniest and sharpest novel to date....This wickedly amusing story is the work of a keen satirist who off-handedly exposes the moral rot at every level of society." (Publishers Weekly)

Lots of murder for no good reason

Entertaining story with lots of gratuitous violence and "over the top" characters. If you don't mind lots of cussing and lots of killings its a good choice.

Story

Great colorfully characters. A fun read. Nice plot. Easy to follow. Highly recommend for casual enjoyment.

Needed a touch from Chemo's appendage...

Typical Hiaasen with a cast of wonderful misfits, colliding through unimaginable circumstances, complete with a very thinly veiled television sleezebag named Raynaldo Flem. The humor is here, the characters are here, but there are passages that could have benefited with some editing.

Funny and Twisty

Hiaasen's stories are always dark, fun, and fully of surprises. George Wilson does a good job but I've heard better. It's tough when you have such a gruff voice and you have to do a woman's voice.

Good Story, Decent Transfer

A standard Hiaasen novel with great character and location to carry the story along. It gets a bit lost in how to wrap it up, but still a fun and fast moving story. The Audible product is a rip of an old "book on tape". The audio is solid, but for some reason they lumped multiple chapters in the book into each chapter in the audio files. It is a moderate drawback. and one that would seem to have been simple to avoid.

Hilarious!

Unable to stop listening to this book! LOVE the characters. Hiassen is a master storyteller. Can't WAIT to read his other books!

Love Hiaasen you'll love this book

What made the experience of listening to Skin Tight the most enjoyable?

It was a Hiassen book .... all that needs to be said

Who was the most memorable character of Skin Tight and why?

It's a Hiaasen book there are always many memorable characters and several I'm sure to see again but the one I laughed about most was Reynaldo Flemm loved that he was a parody character of a well known celebrity.

Any additional comments?

I always highly recommend Hiaasen books!

lost the funk in the middle

lost edge in the middle and so just became violence. and I love Hiaasen.

Classic Hiaasen

Fans of the “Skink” series will enjoy this new adventure with Mick Stranahan. He’s not as outright crazy as Skink (who is crazier than a giant, one eyed former governor who lives in the swamps) but he’s a unique none the less. The story follows a similar patter as his other books (bad guy gets a crazy idea with other crazy bad guys and hilarity ensues), but it’s still a lot of fun. Well written as always I really enjoyed “Skin Tight” its classic Hiaasen set in warm and sunny south Florida.

Mr. Wilson does a good job with the narration in both his characters and timing. It's a older recording so there is some white noise in the background but I didn't find it too distracting.

Classic Hiaasen!

If you could sum up Skin Tight in three words, what would they be?

Funny, well written

What did you like best about this story?

Memorable characters, fast paced story, the humor.

Which scene was your favorite?

Too many to single out.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Made me laugh.

Any additional comments?

Highly recommended.