I think of all the books I’ve read so far written by Carl Hiaasen, Strip Tease is my favorite. It can be hard to tread the line between dark humor and offensiveness. Hiaasen does that very well. I sometimes struggle with books where we’re supposed to laugh at people dying. In some cases in Strip Tease there are some tragic deaths. More often than not, though, the bad guys find themselves in trouble due to their own poor choices.

It all begins at the Eager Beaver strip club, where Erin Grant is working to earn money to pay for the legal bill in trying to get custody of her daughter from her no-good ex-husband. One night, a Congressman is there, in disguise, who falls head over heels for the stripper. When Erin is manhandled by an over-eager drunk soon-to-be bridegroom, David Dilbeck is so incensed that he attacks the man. It would normally all be swept under the rug as Dilbeck’s handler gets him out of the club, and the bridegroom doesn’t want his fiancee finding out what really happened. However, another club regular who has a crush on Erin sees this as an opportunity to be the hero in her eyes and tries to blackmail the Congressman into fixing Erin’s court case.

From there, it’s a steady stream of misadventures with a whole lot of adult humor mixed in. The owner of the Eager Beaver has a rivalry going with another strip club down the road which plays into events. The Club’s bouncer is a nice enough guy who thinks he’ll find his way on easy street by suing a multinational corporation for finding a roach (that he planted) in a cup of yogurt. Meanwhile, a local police officer is vacationing in Montana with his family when they stumble across a body. That the victim has ties back to the mess at the Eager Beaver isn’t surprising, but brings in the character of a detective with a heart of gold who’s determined to be able to tell his son that he found the killer.

If you’ve seen the movie Strip Tease, which was based on this, but not read the book, I urge to run, not walk, to your nearest bookstore (or order it from Amazon). The book is way better than the movie. There are the usual hallmarks of Hiaasen’s books with quirky characters that fit our idea of the “Florida Man” headlines. It’s Dilbeck, though, that did it for me. This man has no business even being a dog catcher, nevermind a Congressman. His sexual proclivities are hysterical. He’s not a violent person himself, but there are people who desperately want to keep him in power so they can use him.

George Wilson is the narrator and does a great job. He gives the characters different inflections in the story without making any of it sound ridiculous. I honestly don’t know how he made it through the reading without cracking himself up.

If nothing else, Strip Tease will make people think twice about their assumptions about strippers. It’s not easy or fun, not by a long shot. There’s always an envelope to be pushed (wrestling in creamed corn?) and practically everyone in the audience at the Eager Beaver seems to be drunk perverts. All Erin wants is to get her daughter back. Her ex-husband is no prize, and how he even won custody in the first place is appalling. In the end I smiled a lot and was very satisfied how things turned out.