Skin Tight (novel)
First edition
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| Author | Carl Hiaasen |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Putnam |
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Publication date
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September 1989 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 319 pp |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 19511900 |
| 813/.54 20 | |
| LC Class | PS3558.I217 S57 1989 |
| Preceded by | Double Whammy |
| Followed by | Native Tongue |
Skin Tight is a novel by Carl Hiaasen. It focuses on a former detective for the Florida State Attorney's office, who becomes the target of a murder plot by a corrupt, and egregiously incompetent, plastic surgeon.
Dr. Rudy Graveline, M.D., the director of the prestigious "Whispering Palms" Surgery Center in Bal Harbour, Florida, is in fact a complete fraud. Apart from the fact that he has never been trained or certified in cosmetic surgery, he is a dangerously clumsy and inept surgeon. He has built his reputation through social connections and by taking credit for the work of his more-competent associates. On the rare occasions when Graveline himself performs surgery, the results are inevitably disastrous. He has weathered numerous malpractice complaints and investigations by the state, through bribery and intimidation.
However, there is at least one mistake in Rudy's past that no amount of money or prestige could fix, were it ever to come to light: the accidental killing of a college coed named Victoria Barletta, during a botched nose job. So, when Rudy's former surgical nurse, Maggie Gonzalez, tells Rudy that Mick Stranahan, a retired investigator for the Florida State Attorney's office, is looking into Victoria's disappearance again, Rudy decides to have Stranahan killed.
In reality, Maggie is the whistleblower. After promising to repeat the true story on live television, for the sensationalist talk show "In Your Face!", Maggie has pointed to Stranahan to misdirect Rudy.
Stranahan is eating breakfast on his house in Stiltsville, in Biscayne Bay, when a hit man from the mob appears at his front door with a gun. Mick ambushes the man, impaling him through the chest with the sword of a stuffed marlin head, then pushes the body out to sea and decides to find out who wants him dead. He meets the obnoxious host of "In Your Face!", Reynaldo Flemm, and his producer, Christina Marks, who have come to Miami looking for Maggie after she left New York City without warning. Mick has no time for Reynaldo, but finds himself attracted to Christina (and vice versa).
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