Skink: No Surrender by Carl Hiaasen

There is this crazy subgenre of gonzo crime caper novels mostly set in Florida. These books are brutal and absolutely enthralling. While they are no more violent or bloody than other books in the horror or crime genres, I find them much more disturbing for the bizarre inventiveness of the crimes. For example, in one book a woman is murdered by having fix-a-flat sprayed down her throat and into her lungs which sounds like an awful way to go. There are a handful of authors in this genre. Apparently Florida is a pretty wacky place.

One things I can conclusively say is that this genre of books is not YA. However, one of the authors of the genre, Carl Hiaasen, has written a few highly regarded YA/middle reader books. I was intrigued and picked up Skink: No Surrender for cheap on my recent buy. It was a quick read and indeed totally appropriate for YA/Middle readers.

Skink is apparently a recurring character in some of Hiaasen's nonYA but the main character of this book is actually a kid named Richard. Richard's friend/cousin Malley has run off with some guy she met online. Malley's a bit of a wild child so no one is really surprised that she ran off, but her friends and family are understandably worried. Richard, after doing some online research, becomes increasingly alarmed and eventually goes out to look for her aided by Skink.

Skink is a mentally unhinged ultra moral eco-warrior. A self-styled vigilante who protects Florida's wilderness from litterbugs, poachers, and industrial polluters. Apparently, he's quite out of control in the non-YA books. However, in this book, he serves as a kind of guardian-protector for Richard as he tries to rescue Malley.

This is a fast paced adventure story featuring a series of unlikely but highly amusing events. As bizarre as Skink is, the interaction between him and Richard is not creepy at all. It's a good book to hand teens as it illustrates the dangers of online predators without being at all heavy-handed.