Rating: 
Summary: delightful romp into South Florida excess...
Review: 'Strip Tease' by Carl Hiaasen might be better known through the rather horrendous Demi Moore film 'Striptease', which is a shame. It was because of its relationship to the film that I avoided reading anything from Hiaasen. But the reviews in amazon.com were so overwhelmingly positive I decided to take the gamble. And boy, am I glad I did. 'Strip Tease' is a delight.'Strip Tease' is a somewhat farcical story of a stripper with a heart, doing her dirty business only to put bread on the table and pay back debts related to a (losing) custody battle with her hoodlum ex-husband over their daughter. Our stripper heroine has the most wacky friends and associates, and is caught up into a political murder/sex scandal involving a rather perverted congressman. Surprising, the story holds together well despite sounding much like a cheap made-for-TV film script. However it is Hiaasen's well-timed one-liners and satiric/sarcastic wit which really makes 'Strip Tease' shine; this book is seriously funny. Bottom line: South Florida at its worst, and its funniest. Hiaasen puts together a comedic mystery with a nasty bite. Recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Amazing...
Review: ...how this garbage not only gets published but finds its way onto the best seller list! This isn't even a decent draft. The only reason I bought it is because I heard Hiaasen being compared to Elmore Leonard. It won't take but a few pages for TRUE Leonard fans to realize that Mr. Hiaasen couldn't carry Mr. Leonard's lunch. My advice: wait for the next Elmore Leonard novel; he's in a class of his own.
Rating: 
Summary: Wow! I'm surprised!
Review: After reading Double Whammy, there was something about Hiaasen's style that addicted me to every word in the book. Sure, the story was only average, but the way he writes it makes it special. I wondered what he could do with a better story than Double Whammy had. I wonder no more. The story here is great, the characters are unusual, the situations are unusual, and the setting is unusual (you don't see many books talking about strip clubs). The story is somewhat clichéd (good mother after her daughter, that was unjustly taken away by the bad father), but Hiaasen's talent makes you forget that. I actually picked up this book without knowing anything about the Demi Moore movie. Of course, I knew of it's existence (how could you not know about it? With all the hype surrounding it), but I didn't know it was based on this novel. I can't make comparisons, but I seriously doubt Hiaasen's words could translate well into film. Great book. Definitely addictive. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Absurd, cynical, twisted and credible
Review: Again Hiaasen provides a delightfully savage lampoon of the political system with particular scorn for politicians and lobbiests. He clearly has a formula, but its one that results in books that are a tonic for those who are totally cynical politically with a taste for somewhat warped sardonic humor. In "Strip Tease" Hiaasen flays the criminal justice system and corporate agriculture in particular. This farce is formed around a strip tease bar, and the story's heroine is one of the performers. Hiassen uses a misogynistic set to highlight what he highlights as the Achilles heel in male judgement as well as corporate greed and decadence and the political system which enables it (or it enables). This is not great literature, but is an entertaining romp. A great poolside, airplane, or vacation novel for the reader with a more than three digit iq.
Rating:
Summary: Savage Satire of Lust, Bad Taste in Men and Crooked Politics
Review: Anyone who has ever traveled to south Florida has probably noticed an abundance of establishments offering entertainment by nude or partially unclothed women. Carl Hiaasen takes the establishment of the strip club as the center for his hilarious look at the ways that men and women manipulate each other, and how politicians get away with murder.
Although Mr. Hiaasen notes that the story is all fictional, he does remind the readers that the accounts of topless creamed corn wrestling are based on fact.
The central puzzle behind this book's story is how an intelligent, hard-working staff member of the FBI ends up as an exotic dancer in a strip club. That's a tale that will unfold in all its gory detail as you laugh your way through this hilarious book.
As the book opens, a bachelor party on the eve of the wedding goes horribly wrong. As the groom clutches onto the unclothed Erin Grant at the Eager Beaver, a wild man jumps onto the stage and begins belting the groom over the head with a champagne bottle. In the ensuing mess, the wild man escapes. As his car speeds away, it turns out that the attacker doesn't even know what he did . . . and doesn't want to know. Since the attacker is local Congressman David Lane Dilbeck, it looks like he'll need a political fixer to help him out. But some things cannot be fixed as easily as others. And the trail of deception heads off in a totally unexpected and deadly course.
The targets for satire are mostly among the patrons, managers and bouncers of the strip clubs as well as those who try to help them take advantage of others. But there's also a very mixed up husband who you will never forget.
This book could have easily slid into a sort of quasi-pornography but Mr. Hiaasen rigorously steers away from any tendency in that direction. Instead, the story is relatively chaste considering its subject matter.
I love books with memorable, well developed characters. Strip Tease has several. Erin Grant is one of the most original and inventive heroines that you will ever read about. Her husband is one of the funniest criminal incarnations you can imagine -- a unique portrayal of stupidity in action. Her friend Shad is a highly nuanced man of muscle and intent to protect, with a very hard head. As usual, Mr. Hiaasen's best comic genius is for those we would normally not come close to in real life . . . but who act as best they can according to a code of honor.
The best character though is Al Garcia, a policeman whose family vacation is interrupted by his children finding a floater from south Florida in Montana. Without jurisdiction, he finds a way to solve the murder and right the wrongs . . . as best he can. The whole family gets into the action before the story is over. It's a nice counterpoint to all the sleazy people in the story.
Although it will seem obvious where the story is probably going, Mr. Hiaasen is so inventive with his detailed plot development that you will find yourself racing through the book wondering what in the world he will offer next. The results are constantly surprising, entertaining and enormously funny.
Superb job, Mr. Hiaasen!
Rating:
Summary: Hiaasen's best, and that says a lot.
Review: As a Floridian, I eagerly await every one of his books. Strip Tease was by far his best. Darkly comic, and bitingly sarcastic, Hiassen makes his points while entertaining the reader. His latest (Lucky You) is a good read, but nothing close to this one.
Rating:
Summary: There's Moore to the Book--And a Lot Less Demi
Review: As a mystery writer with my first book in initial release, I greatly admire the wacky works of Carl Hiaasen. STRIP TEASE is one of Hiaasen's best. A reluctant stripper and a unique cop join forces in this novel to nail a corrupt congressman and solve the heroine's child custody problems. Hiaasen has his usual fun with Florida's lifestyle and social/environmental problems. His biting satire may seem too tough, but one has to remember this state's role in Bush v. Gore. Don't let the infamous film scare you off from this fine book. There is no Demi Moore in these pages, yet there is plenty of terrific writing.
Rating:
Summary: Strip Tease is an absolute joy to read.
Review: Carl Hiaasen has created some of the best characters ever. In a perfect world every man would have a "good" friend like Al Garcia, a "bad" friend like Shad, and a woman like Erin
Rating:
Summary: Bring it on!!
Review: Carl Hiaasen is the bomb! so good, so entertaining, i can't tell you how much i enjoyed this book! a good fun read, funny at times, poignant at others, with a satirical underlying throughout. if only the film was this good, i'd be a bigger fan of demi moore!
Rating: 
Summary: If You Hated the Movie, You'll Love the Book!
Review: Don't let the movie steer you away from this title! Check out the book, and see all the funny stuff that was left out of the script.
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