Carl Hiaasen is becoming one of my favorite JFic authors. I just finished “Scat” and found it to be perfectly aligned with his other books. What I have come to admire in his novels is his subtle inclusion of those who are determined to damage and destroy the environment or the animal life living in it. I say subtle only because he doesn’t really throw it in our faces, as I fear I would do if I were to tackle a similar subject in my novels. I have often thought about it and wondered how I could approach the topic, without sounding too offensive (should I care if I offend?) of careless polluters or “great white hunters” who kill for sport without concern for anything except their own egos and/or potential for money in their pockets. See, too much anger. I’m not sure how he does it because he does seem to have an interest and concern for all things ecological.
But back to "Scat". Hiaasen has a way of keeping you interested from chapter to chapter, giving you some information but withholding enough so that you want to keep reading and find out what happens to the good guys, in this case Nick and some of his friends, and hope the bad guys get what is coming to them. Is it any surprise to anyone that Drake McBride is one of the bad guys? Along with some of the other main characters, like Mrs. Starch and Smoke, the story takes many twists and turns and keeps you guessing to the end.
In other Hiaasen books that I’ve read, the main ecological interest in "Hoot" was nesting owls and in "Flush" polluting the Florida Keys (Florida is the usual backdrop for his novels since this is where Hiaasen lives). In "Scat" the interest is the disappearance of the rare-sighted Florida Panther. Lies and deception, secrets and illegal exchanges, and lessons learned, Hiaasen books never disappoint.
I rate 'Scat' 5 out of 5 stars.
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