My father-in-law recommended this book to me and subsequently lent it to me in the summer. I returned it as his Christmas gift. It goes without saying that I have made it a resolution to read more books in 2015. I mean, 6 whole months to finish one book??? The situation is dire. Since then, however, I have actually read 6 books, so I feel pretty accomplished. I'm starting off the year right. Strip Tease started my reading habit back up, so I just have to review it.
This is the only novel by Carl Hiaasen I have read as of now, but it will not be the last. If
Strip Tease is any indication of his writing ability, I'm in for years of reading pleasure.
The story follows Erin Grant, a stripper with a heart of gold who lost her job and decided she could make more money taking her clothes off for men than working for the government (duh). Erin went through a costly divorce to rid herself of a drug-addicted, abusive husband, but since her ex is a criminal informant and Erin is a stripper, Darrell got custody of their daughter Angela. So Erin spends her nights shaking it on stage to get enough money together to pay for her lawyer to fight against the ruling.
One night a man in a fake mustache visits the club, and when a bachelor party gets a little rowdy and snuggly with Erin, the mustachioed man takes a champagne bottle to the bachelor's head. The man gets escorted out by his entourage who paid off the bouncer to let them leave. The bachelor ends up in the hospital.
It turns out the fake-mustache guy is Senator David Dilbeck. Only one other person at the club actually realizes this though, Mr. Peepers, a man who has a crush on Erin and watches her dance almost every night. He tells Erin he has a plan to get her custody ruling over-turned. Obviously, a Senator would have some pull with a civic judge. Mr. Peepers' black mail scheme doesn't exactly play out though, and he ends up sleeping with the fishes. Turns out, Dilbeck has a "handler" that keeps him out of the newspapers using payoffs and, apparently, even murder.
On vacation, homicide detective Al Garcia finds the body of Mr. Peepers and decides to investigate. With the help of Erin, Shad, the bouncer at the club, and the FBI, Detective Garcia ends up closing his case and looking forward to vacations without dead bodies. Erin gets custody of her daughter while her ex definitely ends up getting his. I won't ruin that story for you; it's a good one. Plus there's the fiance of the man in the hospital and her cousin, a lawyer, looking to make a easy million for so with their own ideas for black mail. And the ever-present brains and muscle behind Senator Dilbeck that add to the stories varied characters and growing plot lines. So much happening in such a average sized book. Hiaasen knows how to add color to a story without everything coming out muddied.
What a fun book! The characters are rich and witty while the varying plot lines intersect each other to make a web of beautiful fiction. Everyone is out to get something in this story, and Hiaasen does a great job of explaining their motivations and processes without being boringly specific. There's a semi-crooked lawyer, a scheming fiance, FBI agents, strippers, bouncers, feuding clubs, sugar daddies, playboys, wolves, trailer parks, and pretty much anything else you can imagine that might happen in Florida. When their goals meet in the climax, it's a heck of ride. Plus, you gotta love a story with a happy ending.
What I enjoyed most about this book was the witty and dry humor Hiaasen writes. Sometimes it's situational, what with pasta wrestling at the club getting the health inspector called in, but most of the time one of the characters has the perfect quip at the perfect moment that makes you smile, if not laugh out loud. I recommend this to anyone looking for a fun, stand-alone book to bring up their reading mood (I just finished
Gone Girl, so I need a palette cleanser myself.). You'll thank me for it.
