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Many Hiaasen fans think STRIP TEASE is his best novel. The complex and
entertaining plot ---a hilarious look at what a politician will do for love and money ---
seems more timely now than when the book was published in 1993.
Congressman David Dilbeck is lovesick over stripper Erin Grant. Erin is a no-nonsense mom
with a drop dead body and talent for dancing that pulls down a lot more money than her
former secretarial job with the FBI, which she lost because her ex-husband is a
felon. An unsympathetic judge has given custody of her daughter to her ex, who
uses the child to help him in his chosen line of work --- stealing
wheelchairs. Erin needs to earn $15,000, fast, to launch a child custody
battle.
Congressman Dilbeck's infatuation with Erin, one in a long history of beautiful ladies, is
making his political handlers nervous --- very nervous. Especially when he is
recognized and photographed bashing one of Erin's fans over the head with a champagne
bottle when the fan gets out of hand during a bachelor party at the Eager Beaver dance
club. Dilbeck sees his addiction to beautiful women as a harmless, occasional
recreation, but his "fixer" lawyer is prone to settling matters more
permanently.
In the following excerpt the fixer, Malcom Moldowsky, confronts Dilbeck when they learn
that of the incriminating photo and they don't know who has it, and what, if anything,
Erin may know about it.
"People are trying to harm you, David. We need to be sure she's not one of
them."
Dilbeck shook his head. "You're completely paranoid."
"But she's just a stripper."
Malcolm Moldowsky grabbed Dilbeck's shirt. "Fannie Fox," he said," was
‘just a stripper.' Donna Rice was just a model-slash-actress. Elizabeth Ray was just
a secretary who couldn't type. Gennifer Flowers was just a country singer. Don't you get
it? Ask Chuck Robb. Or that horny idiot Hart. Teddy Kennedy, for pity's sake...
Moldy released his grip. Exhausted, he wilted on a bar stool. "Those who ignore
history," he said, "are doomed to get their nuts cut."
Sound familiar?
Al Garcia, a Cuban cop with the Dade County sheriff's department, becomes involved when
bodies start popping up in odd places, and Garcia tries to put the clues together.
STRIP TEASE the movie starred Demi Moore as Erin, Burt Reynolds as David Dilbeck, Armand
Assante as Al Garcia, the Cuban cop and Ving Rhames as the bouncer at the Eager Beaver
dance club. In a word, it stunk. Had the screen writer and director
stuck to the plot, the ending would have offered a thrill ride with the signature Hiaasen
diabolical twist. But, alas, somebody gave up on the movie about two thirds of the way
through --- the plot went astray, direction got sloppy; scenes that started out at night
in a refinery suddenly switched to a cane field in full sun. Too bad --- with a
cast like that, Strip Tease the movie might have made a successful transition to the
screen and been as a big a hit as the book. Billed as a comedy, instead it is a comedy of
errors. Put it on your list of book to movie flops. Read the book.
--- Reviewed by Roz Shea
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