I'd always meant to read Carl Hiassen after seeing him speak at a book event. He's funny and smart.
And, Skinny Dip shows that Hiassen is both funny and smart.
The novel opens when the heroine is tossed overboard, on a cruise she took with her husband to celebrate their second anniversary, by that same husband.
Luckily for her, she's a championship swimmer. She survives, and while it takes her some time to recover from the shock of what's happened to her, she undertakes a complicated scheme to get revenge on her husband.
Along the way, we meet a wonderful cast of highly original characters. One is the police detective investigating her disappearance, Rolvaag. As in the best thrillers, the investigation of one crime leads to the discovery of another -- the systematic destruction of Florida's Everglades by agricultural polluters.
Hiassen is a newspaper reporter from Miami who's crafted a mystery/romance/revenge fantasy/satire/farce out of the sobering facts of south Florida's economy.
As a reader, I was delighted by Hiassen's many literary allusions, from the copy of Madame Bovary the detective finds by the disappeared woman's bedside, to his own name, to the name of the criminal mastermind Samuel Johnson Hammernut, to his enforcer, a character right out of Flannery O'Connor.
If you enjoyed the movie The Orchid Thief, you'll definitely enjoy this novel. While I was reading it, I was frequently asked, "Is it funny?" by a friend and I said, "It's not ha ha funny." But when I read a passage between Rolvaag and his commander out loud to her, we both laughed.
Hiassen is a masterful writer. The novel is well-structured and he has a gift for dialogue that is both funny and rings true. While the plot's twists and turns would leave any sensible reader saying, "This could never happen in real life," Hiassen builds his plot on current economic realities that give his prose the ring of truth.
I see this novel has having something for everyone: a cop who's a masterful player of office politics; a world-weary retired cop; a lovelorn heroine who finds herself; some southern Gothic characters; a satisfying ending and a briskly-paced plot. Enjoy.
Monday, February 21, 2011
A Quick Bite by Lynsay Sands and Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill
Paranormal romance is hot, hot, hot. So I decided to read a couple to learn more about the genre.
A Quick Bite is the "first" book in the Argeneau series about a Canadian vampire family (Sands's first publisher published only later books in the series, so this first novel was published after some books from later in the saga).
Lissianna is a vampire with a problem (aren't they all?): she has problems feeding. She's unable to feed from bags of blood, as is the current "civilized" practice in vampire circles: she has a fear of the sight of blood.
For her 30th birthday, Lissianna's mother uses her powers of mesmerism and mind control to kidnap a psychologist she believes can cure Lissianna of her fear of blood.
Unfortunately, that psychologist is very good looking (and a professional man, no less). What no one reckoned on was the marvelous chemistry Lissianna would find with her new friend, complicating matters for the entire family.
Merit (she goes by one name, like Cher) is the former graduate student -- and reluctant vampire -- at the heart of Some Girls Bite. She crosses the quad at the U of C one late night on the way to her office when she's attacked by a vampire. Barely conscious, her attacker is startled by another vampire, who "converts" Merit -- saving her life by making her a vampire.
Overnight, her life is turned upside down. She's forced to leave the University of Chicago -- they don't admit vampires, unfortunately. Her social-climbing father, a well-known real estate developer, is shocked and dismayed by this social lapse on his daughter's part, and the man who rescued her wants her to "pledge" his "house" -- a kind of vampire dorm/corporation. Merit doesn't want to be a vampire; she doesn't want to pledge her fealty to this strange man; but, she doesn't want to be a vampire on her own and she can see that the bossy vampire who saved her life -- without her consent -- is really, very, very good-looking.
Along with the romance, there's a mystery: there's a been a murder, by a vampire, in Grant Park. Perhaps Merit was the next intended victim. Is she safe? And who's the killer?
Some Girls Bite interested me particularly because the protagonist is a Chicagoan -- a graduate student from the University of Chicago. There are some familiar characters here: imperious good looking-men, faithful best friends, a semi-retired cop who's the salt of the earth, a social climbing real estate developer. There are a few references to Chicago places like the University of Chicago, Bucktown, and Oak Park.
Something Neill does well is "world-building." She spends a good bit of time helping us to understand the politics and organization of the vampire world, which mirrors our own to a surprising degree. Here, too, a lot of time is spent on exposition; the ending is a little less satisfying because the book is meant to be the first in a trilogy.
A Quick Bite is the "first" book in the Argeneau series about a Canadian vampire family (Sands's first publisher published only later books in the series, so this first novel was published after some books from later in the saga).
Lissianna is a vampire with a problem (aren't they all?): she has problems feeding. She's unable to feed from bags of blood, as is the current "civilized" practice in vampire circles: she has a fear of the sight of blood.
For her 30th birthday, Lissianna's mother uses her powers of mesmerism and mind control to kidnap a psychologist she believes can cure Lissianna of her fear of blood.
Unfortunately, that psychologist is very good looking (and a professional man, no less). What no one reckoned on was the marvelous chemistry Lissianna would find with her new friend, complicating matters for the entire family.
Merit (she goes by one name, like Cher) is the former graduate student -- and reluctant vampire -- at the heart of Some Girls Bite. She crosses the quad at the U of C one late night on the way to her office when she's attacked by a vampire. Barely conscious, her attacker is startled by another vampire, who "converts" Merit -- saving her life by making her a vampire.
Overnight, her life is turned upside down. She's forced to leave the University of Chicago -- they don't admit vampires, unfortunately. Her social-climbing father, a well-known real estate developer, is shocked and dismayed by this social lapse on his daughter's part, and the man who rescued her wants her to "pledge" his "house" -- a kind of vampire dorm/corporation. Merit doesn't want to be a vampire; she doesn't want to pledge her fealty to this strange man; but, she doesn't want to be a vampire on her own and she can see that the bossy vampire who saved her life -- without her consent -- is really, very, very good-looking.
Along with the romance, there's a mystery: there's a been a murder, by a vampire, in Grant Park. Perhaps Merit was the next intended victim. Is she safe? And who's the killer?
Some Girls Bite interested me particularly because the protagonist is a Chicagoan -- a graduate student from the University of Chicago. There are some familiar characters here: imperious good looking-men, faithful best friends, a semi-retired cop who's the salt of the earth, a social climbing real estate developer. There are a few references to Chicago places like the University of Chicago, Bucktown, and Oak Park.
Something Neill does well is "world-building." She spends a good bit of time helping us to understand the politics and organization of the vampire world, which mirrors our own to a surprising degree. Here, too, a lot of time is spent on exposition; the ending is a little less satisfying because the book is meant to be the first in a trilogy.
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