Scat by Carl Hiaasen(YA HIA Main; J HIA Main)
Reviewed by Nancy
So how did this happen? Why am I reading teen fiction? Same old story, I guess. I saw it so now I'm reading it. My thought line went something like, "Oh, hmmmm. A teen book by Carl Hiaasen. Gee, well, Carl Hiaasen writes great adult books. I guess I'll give this a try."
For the first many pages I was on the edge of putting it down, because the voice in my head kept saying, "Teen fiction? Teen fiction? Why are you reading teen fiction?" I guess now I realize I was reading it because it's good.
The book is Scat by, as I mentioned before, Carl Hiaasen. The plot involves a wonderfully zany cast of characters in South Florida, a locale which is a completely believable setting for zany characters.
Some are what we might call "normal" characters: Nick, the teenage boy, as well as his mother, his friend, and his father. But then there's Mrs. Starch the biology teacher who disappears during a field trip to the black vine swamp, Wendell Waxmo the whacked out substitute teacher who takes her place, Duane Scrod, Jr. who bites a pencil in half and eats it when Mrs. Starch waves it in his face, and Duane Scrod, Sr., a depressed husband whose wife has run away to Paris to operate a cheese shop.
There's also Drake McBride the native-Floridian wannabe oil baron who wears cowboy hats and cowboy boots talks Texan and takes riding lessons in an effort to appear to be a Texan, but can't remember the word "stable" (the place where they keep the horses). Other characters central to the plot are a Florida panther and her cub, members of an endangered species, Horace, a bloodhound, and Nadine, Duane Scrod, Sr.'s macaw. Nadine can shriek in three languages.
Wow. All these zany characters and not a vampire or werewolf in sight. Can this be true? Yes! It's true. No vampires and it's still a good book.
In the end, the bad guys get what they deserve, the good guys get everything straightened out, and the reader has a fine time. With no vampires.
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