SICK PUPPY: A Skink Novel

Brilliantly twisted entertainment wrapped around a powerful ecological plea, this is a classic thriller in the Skink series from the king of satirical crime fiction. When Palmer Stoat notices the black pickup truck following him on the highway, he fears his precious Range Rover is about to be carjacked. But Twilly Spree, the man tailing Stoat, has vengeance, not sport-utility vehicles on his mind. Idealistic, independently wealthy and pathologically short-tempered, Twilly has dedicated himself to saving Florida's wilderness from runaway destruction. After watching Stoat blithely dump a trail of fast-food litter out of the window, Twilly decides to teach him a lesson. Stoat's prized Range Rover becomes home to a horde of hungry dung beetles which could have been the end of it had Twilly not discovered that Stoat is one of Florida's cockiest and most powerful political fixers, whose latest project is the 'malling' of a pristine Gulf Coast island. Now the real Hiaasen-variety fun begins. Dognapping eco-terrorists, bogus big-time hunters, an infamous ex-governor who's gone back to nature, thousands of singing toads are just some of the denizens of this outrageously funny novel. Also available in the series Stormy Weather code 95670. 434pp, paperback.