Skinny Dip (novel)
First edition cover
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| Author | Carl Hiaasen |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Novel |
| Publisher | Alfred A. Knopf |
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Publication date
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2004 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 355 pp (first edition, hardback) |
| ISBN | (first edition, hardback) |
| OCLC | 54349637 |
| 813/.54 22 | |
| LC Class | PS3558.I217 S575 2004 |
| Preceded by | Basket Case |
| Followed by | Nature Girl |
Skinny Dip is a caper novel by Carl Hiaasen first published in 2004.
Set in South Florida in the course of April, 2003, it is about a woman, Joey Perrone, who takes revenge on her cheating husband after he has tried to murder her. It is also one of Hiaasen’s more topical novels, since the plot also revolves around the ongoing restoration of the Everglades to a natural habitat.
A skinny-dipper is someone who swims in the nude, thus showing all their skin. Skinny Dip refers to the fact that when Joey Perrone is thrown overboard the impact when hitting the surface of the water tears off all her clothes so that on the following morning her rescuer finds her not only completely exhausted but also stark naked. Also, throughout the novel people find themselves in embarrassing situations due to their — occasionally inexplicable — nakedness.
Charles Regis “Chaz” Perrone, Ph.D., is a young, handsome marine biologist whose expertise in his field is marginal, and whose interest in it is nonexistent. Since his adolescence, he has devoted his life solely to the lazy pursuit of money, sex, golf, and an otherwise undisturbed, pleasurable existence devoid of any intellectual ambitions, or the urge to explore and experience the great outdoors. His main source of personal pride seems to be his sexual stamina. Despite his marriage to Joey, a beautiful and rich woman, he frequently has affairs with other women.
Chaz’s insatiable greed drives him to collude with Samuel Johnson “Red” Hammernut, a crooked farm tycoon who owns large vegetable fields adjacent to the Everglades, which he relentlessly pollutes with fertilizer run-off. Officially employed by the state authorities to test swamp water for pollutants, Perrone is secretly also on Hammernut's payroll, forging the test results and allowing Hammernut to avoid having to cut back on his overuse of fertilizers, or spend large amounts of money on purification. Perrone's worst days at work are those when he actually has to leave his office and make field trips and wade into the Everglades to take water samples.
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