Strip Tease (book)
Encyclopedia
Strip Tease is a 1993
1993 in literature
The year 1993 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Professor Stephen Hawking's book, A Brief History of Time, becomes the longest running book on the bestseller list of The Sunday Times....

 novel by Carl Hiaasen
Carl Hiaasen
Carl Hiaasen is an American journalist, columnist and novelist.- Early years :Born in 1953 and raised in Plantation, Florida, of Norwegian heritage, Hiaasen was the first of four children and the son of a lawyer, Kermit Odel, and teacher, Patricia...

. Like most of his other novels, it is a crime novel set in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

 and features Hiassen's characteristic black humor. The novel focuses on a single mother who has turned to exotic dancing to earn enough money to gain legal custody of her young daughter, and ends up matching wits with a lecherous United States Congressman and his powerful corporate backers.

Like many Hiaasen novels, the book’s plot is set against a backdrop of a particular environmental crime or corruption issue that angers the author. In this case, it is the plutocracy
Plutocracy
Plutocracy is rule by the wealthy, or power provided by wealth. The combination of both plutocracy and oligarchy is called plutarchy. The word plutocracy is derived from the Ancient Greek root ploutos, meaning wealth and kratos, meaning to rule or to govern.-Usage:The term plutocracy is generally...

 of sugar growers in Florida, and the exorbitant subsidies regularly granted to them by the U.S. Congress.

Strip Tease was a New York Times bestseller in 1993.

Plot

During a late-night bachelor party
Bachelor party
A bachelor party , also known as a stag party, stag night or stag do , a bull's party , or a buck's party or buck's night , is a party held for a man shortly before he enters marriage, to celebrate his "last night of freedom" or merely to spend...

 at The Eager Beaver, a striptease
Striptease
A striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner...

 club in Fort Lauderdale Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, the drunken groom-to-be, Paul Guber, climbs on stage and grabs one of the dancers. Before the club's bouncer
Bouncer (doorman)
A bouncer is an informal term for a type of security guard employed at venues such as bars, nightclubs or concerts to provide security, check legal age, and refuse entry to a venue based on criteria such as intoxication, aggressive behavior, or attractiveness...

 can act, Guber is attacked by another customer, swinging a champagne bottle. Chaos ensues, during which the attacker disappears in a hurry, and the groom is hospitalized.

The man with the bottle was U.S. Congressman David Lane Dilbeck, an incorrigible (yet secret) patron of strip bars, nude dancers, and other forms of erotic entertainment. Dilbeck's main function in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 is to rubber stamp
Rubber stamp (politics)
A rubber stamp, as a political metaphor, refers to a person or institution with considerable de jure power but little de facto power; one that rarely disagrees with more powerful organs....

 lucrative price supports for Florida's sugar cane farming industry. His "handler," political fixer Malcolm Moldowsky, is furious at the Congressman's stupidity, since Dilbeck is up for re-election.

The dancer is Erin Grant, a single mother engaged in a bitter legal fight with her ex-husband, Darrell, for custody of their young daughter, Angela. Erin was fired from her job as a secretary for the F.B.I. after Darrell was arrested for grand larceny
Grand Larceny
Grand Larceny is a 1987 thriller film directed by Jeannot Szwarc and starring Marilu Henner, Ian McShane, Omar Sharif and Louis Jourdan.-Plot summary:...

 (his "profession" is stealing and re-selling wheelchairs). The legal costs of her divorce impelled Erin to take up erotic dancing as a career. Ironically, her occupation has given the judge a prejudiced view of her, while Darrell's criminal record has been expunged after he has agreed to become an informant
Informant
An informant is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law enforcement world, where they are officially known as confidential or criminal informants , and can often refer pejoratively to the supply of information...

 for the police. As a result, Darrell has been given custody of Angela, and Erin desperately needs even more money to reverse the court decision.

One of Erin's lovestruck fans, a bookish man named Jerry Killian, recognizes Dilbeck from the club, and tries to blackmail the Congressman into influencing the judge in Erin's favor. But when the judge proves resistant to Dilbeck's probing, Moldowsky decides the only way to safeguard Dilbeck is to have Killian murdered. His body is found floating in the Clark Fork River in Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...

 - to be found by Miami homicide detective Al Garcia, on vacation with his family.

Another blackmailer surfaces in the person of Mordecai, a sleazy lawyer related to Paul Guber's fiancee. One of Guber's friends from the bachelor party inadvertently snapped a picture of Dilbeck during the champagne-bottle attack, with which Mordecai demands hush money
Hush money
Hush money is an informal term for financial incentives or rewards offered in exchange for not divulging information.Hush Money may also refer to:* Hush Money , a 1921 silent film directed by Charles Maigne...

. But Mordecai and Paul's greedy fiancee are likewise murdered on Moldowsky's orders.

The photo has indirectly sparked Dilbeck's memory of that night, and he becomes obsessed with Erin, refusing to continue with his reelection campaign until he can "possess" her. Moldowsky, conscious that Dilbeck is necessary to his employers' continued prosperity, is forced to assist him.

Garcia returns to Florida and compares notes with Erin and her main ally, the club's bouncer Shad. Garcia discovers evidence linking Jerry Killian's murder to Moldowsky, but nothing that will stand up in court.

At the same time, Darrell Grant, who is also a drug addict, becomes totally irresponsible and is busted for larceny yet again. Disgusted, the police drop him as an informant and restore his criminal record, tipping the dispute in Erin's favor. Deciding not to wait, she snatches Angela while Darrell is away, from her aunt's house.

Moldowsky approaches Erin's boss and asks for her to give the Congressman a private performance. Erin agrees, knowing that it is the best way of gathering evidence.

During her first private show, Dilbeck is rendered nearly helpless with lust, and Erin finds it easy to manipulate him. He offers her even more money for a repeat performance, and she agrees.

Having realized that, under normal circumstances, Dilbeck will probably escape implication in Jerry Killian's murder, Erin comes up with a plan to "destroy" him.

On the night of the second performance, Darrell follows Erin to the meeting place, where he comes upon Moldowsky, watch-dogging the show, and beats him to death in a drug-induced rage.

Inside, Erin is dancing for Dilbeck again. Being used to women who are easily awed by his title, or by his extravagant favors, Dilbeck tries to seduce her, and is vexed when she proves unimpressed by either. Darrell enters, demanding to be taken to his daughter, and Erin moves to the next phase of her plan, drawing a pistol and ordering them both out.

With the help of Dilbeck's limousine driver, Erin drives Dilbeck and Darrell to a sugar cane field owned by Dilbeck's most prominent supporters. When the car stops, Darrell takes off running into the cane (unknown to anybody at the time, he winds up falling into a drug-induced slumber in a bed of freshly cut cane, and is killed when the cane is fed into a milling machine).

Erin offers to slow-dance with Dilbeck in the cane field. Dilbeck believes the dance is a prelude to "wild cowboy sex," but when he realizes it is not, he loses control and tries to rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...

 Erin - at which point he is seized by a squad of F.B.I. agents, led by Erin's old boss, who received an anonymous call saying she had been kidnapped.

Dilbeck, caught in the middle of an attempted rape, is now trapped. Erin gives him an ultimatum: in exchange for avoiding arrest and public exposure, he must resign from his Congressional seat. If he refuses - "have you ever been on Hard Copy
Hard Copy
Hard Copy is an American tabloid news television show that ran in syndication from 1989 to 1999. Hard Copy was aggressive in its use of questionable material on television, including gratuitous violence....

?"

With Darrell gone, and the threat to her from Dilbeck and his patrons removed, Erin resigns from the club and starts a new life with Angela. In the epilogue, it is said that she has gotten back her old job as a secretary with the F.B.I., and a night job dancing in the Main Street Parade at Walt Disney World, and is currently applying to become an F.B.I. Special Agent herself.

Critical reception

Times reviewer Donald E. Westlake
Donald E. Westlake
Donald Edwin Westlake was an American writer, with over a hundred novels and non-fiction books to his credit. He specialized in crime fiction, especially comic capers, with an occasional foray into science fiction or other genres...

  described Hiaasen's style as "a cross between Dave Barry
Dave Barry
David "Dave" Barry is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American author and columnist, who wrote a nationally syndicated humor column for The Miami Herald from 1983 to 2005. He has also written numerous books of humor and parody, as well as comedic novels.-Biography:Barry was born in Armonk, New York,...

 and Elmore Leonard
Elmore Leonard
Elmore John Leonard Jr. , better known as Elmore Leonard, is an American novelist and screenwriter. His earliest published novels in the 1950s were westerns, but Leonard went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thrillers, many of which have been adapted into motion pictures.Among his...

." While noting that Hiaasen's books are somewhat formulaic, he said that
In among his freaks and obsessives... the author has dropped a real honest-to-God human being, an appealing young woman named Erin Grant. Her presence... makes the cartoon nastiness around her less cartoony and more nasty than in previous Hiaasen novels.

Connections with Hiaasen's Other Works

  • Al Garcia, who has appeared in Tourist Season
    Tourist Season
    Tourist Season is a 1986 novel by Carl Hiaasen. It was his first solo novel, after co-writing several mystery/thriller novels with William Montalbano.-Plot:...

    , Double Whammy, and Skin Tight
    Skin Tight (novel)
    Skin Tight is a novel by Carl Hiaasen. It focuses on a former detective for the Florida State Attorney's office, who becomes the target of a murder plot by a corrupt, and egregiously incompetent, plastic surgeon.-Plot summary:...

    , makes his fourth, and (to date) last appearance in Hiaasen's novels.
  • The book rails against the sugar cane industry for its exploitation of migrant labor and pollution of the Everglades
    Everglades
    The Everglades are subtropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large watershed. The system begins near Orlando with the Kissimmee River, which discharges into the vast but shallow Lake Okeechobee...

    , both of which crimes are also carried out by "Red" Hammernut, the corporate villain of Hiaasen's later novel Skinny Dip.
  • Malcolm Moldowsky is a political fixer, but his ostensible occupation remains unspecified. Palmer Stoat, the main antagonist of Hiaasen's novel Sick Puppy
    Sick Puppy
    Sick Puppy is a novel by Carl Hiaasen.-Plot summary:Florida's corrupt governor, Dick Artemus, pursues schemes to line his pockets and those of his rich entrepreneur backers at the expense of the environment. His schemes have always foundered in the past, but he has high hopes of a plan involving...

    , plays a similar role to Moldowsky's, and is a lobbyist by profession.

Allusions to Actual History, Geography, or Persons

  • In his book, The Swamp, a history of the Everglades, Michael Grunwald opines that the fictional Rojo brothers, Dilbeck's main patrons in the sugar cane industry, are thinly-veiled parodies of Jose and Alfonso Fanjul
    The Fanjul Brothers
    The Fanjul brothers — Alfonso "Alfy" Fanjul, José "Pepe" Fanjul, Alexander Fanjul, and Andres Fanjul — are owners of Fanjul Corp., a vast sugar and real estate conglomerate in the United States and Dominican Republic, comprising the subsidiaries Domino Sugar, , C&H Sugar, Redpath Sugar, Tate & Lyle...

    , the owners of a large sugar cane conglomerate in Florida. Like the fictional Rojos, the Fanjul brothers became notorious in Florida for their ostentatious displays of wealth, and so served as a living indictment of the "struggling family farmer" myth used to promote agricultural subsidies.
  • Moldowsky's hero and mentor is John Newton Mitchell, Richard Nixon
    Richard Nixon
    Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...

    's Attorney General, convicted of multiple crimes in connection with the Watergate scandal
    Watergate scandal
    The Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement...

    .
  • In berating Dilbeck for his stupid behavior, Moldowsky reviews the names of several past politicians soiled by sex scandals: Gary Hart
    Gary Hart
    Gary Hart is an American politician, lawyer, author, professor and commentator. He served as a Democratic Senator representing Colorado , and ran in the U.S...

    , Chuck Robb, and Teddy Kennedy.
  • Moldowsky also lists women whose names have been associated with such scandals, including Fanne Fox (associated with Wilbur Mills
    Wilbur Mills
    Wilbur Daigh Mills , was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from the state of Arkansas...

    ), Elizabeth Ray
    Elizabeth Ray
    Elizabeth Ray was the central figure in a much publicized sex scandal in 1976 that ended the career of U.S. Rep. Wayne Hays ....

     (associated with Wayne Hays
    Wayne Hays
    Wayne Levere Hays was an American politician whose strong rule of the House Administration Committee extended to even the smallest items. In the mid-1970s, lawmakers avoided crossing Hays for fear that he would shut off the air conditioning in their offices...

    ), Donna Rice
    Donna Rice
    Donna Rice Hughes is the president and chair of Enough Is Enough, an American non-profit organization in the anti-pornography movement that seeks to make the Internet safer for families and children...

     (Gary Hart) and Gennifer Flowers
    Gennifer Flowers
    Gennifer Flowers is a model and actress who allegedly had a sexual relationship with former U.S. President Bill Clinton. Prior to Bill Clinton's presidency, she also posed nude for Penthouse magazine and was an actress in two films and one TV show...

     (former president Bill Clinton).
  • In lecturing Dilbeck, Moldowsky crudely paraphrases George Santayana
    George Santayana
    George Santayana was a philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. A lifelong Spanish citizen, Santayana was raised and educated in the United States and identified himself as an American. He wrote in English and is generally considered an American man of letters...

    's famous aphorism, "Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it."
  • Several real-life members of Congress are also mentioned by name as supporters and/or enemies of Dilbeck, including John Kerry
    John Kerry
    John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...

     and Moynihan
    Daniel Patrick Moynihan
    Daniel Patrick "Pat" Moynihan was an American politician and sociologist. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected to the United States Senate for New York in 1976, and was re-elected three times . He declined to run for re-election in 2000...

    .
  • In trying to impress Erin, Dilbeck shows her photos of him with Tip O'Neill
    Tip O'Neill
    Thomas Phillip "Tip" O'Neill, Jr. was an American politician. O'Neill was an outspoken liberal Democrat and influential member of the U.S. Congress, serving in the House of Representatives for 34 years and representing two congressional districts in Massachusetts...

    , Colin Powell
    Colin Powell
    Colin Luther Powell is an American statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army. He was the 65th United States Secretary of State, serving under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African American to serve in that position. During his military...

    , Newt Gingrich
    Newt Gingrich
    Newton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich is a U.S. Republican Party politician who served as the House Minority Whip from 1989 to 1995 and as the 58th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999....

    , and Chuck Norris
    Chuck Norris
    Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris is an American martial artist and actor. After serving in the United States Air Force, he began his rise to fame as a martial artist and has since founded his own school, Chun Kuk Do...

    , among others.

Film Adaptation

In 1996
1996 in film
Major releases this year included Scream, Independence Day, Fargo, Trainspotting, The English Patient, Twister, Mars Attacks!, Jerry Maguire and a version of Evita starring Madonna.-Events:...

, it was adapted to the screen, under the title Striptease
Striptease (film)
-Release:Striptease was distributed by Sony and was finally released in the United States on June 28, 1996, after a June 23 premiere in New York City. It opened in Australia, France and Germany in August, and Argentina, Italy, Bolivia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Brazil and Japan in...

,
written and directed by Andrew Bergman
Andrew Bergman
Andrew Bergman is an American screenwriter, film director, and novelist. New York magazine in 1985 dubbed him "The Unknown King of Comedy".He graduated from Binghamton University and earned a Ph.D...

, and starring Demi Moore
Demi Moore
Demi Guynes Kutcher , known professionally as Demi Moore, is an American actress. After minor roles in film and a role in the soap opera General Hospital, Moore established her career in films such as St...

 as Erin, Burt Reynolds
Burt Reynolds
Burton Leon "Burt" Reynolds, Jr. is an American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Bobby "Gator" McCluskey in White Lightning and sequel Gator, Paul Crewe and Coach Nate Scarborough in The Longest Yard and its...

 as Dilbeck, Ving Rhames
Ving Rhames
Irving Rameses "Ving" Rhames is an American actor best known for his work in Bringing Out the Dead, Pulp Fiction, Baby Boy, Don King: Only in America, and the Mission: Impossible film series.-Early life and education:...

 as Shad, Armand Assante
Armand Assante
-Personal life:Assante was born in New York City and raised in Cornwall, New York, the son of Katherine , a music teacher and poet, and Armand Anthony Assante, Sr., a painter and artist. His father was Italian and his mother was Irish, and was raised in a devoutly Roman Catholic family...

 as Al Garcia, Robert Patrick
Robert Patrick
Robert Hammond Patrick, Jr. is an American actor, known for his leading and supporting roles in a number of films and television shows....

 as Darrell, Rumer Willis
Rumer Willis
Rumer Glenn Willis is an American actress, the oldest daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore and the stepdaughter of Emma Heming and Ashton Kutcher.-Personal life:...

 as Angela and Paul Guilfoyle
Paul Guilfoyle
Paul Guilfoyle is an American television and film actor. He is currently a regular cast member of the forensic television drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation where he plays Captain Jim Brass.-Early life:...

as Moldowsky.
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