really liked the environmental piece, audio version was very well done. ( )

Fun read with great characters. Skink is awesome. ( )

Classic Hiaasen. If you are looking for a quick off-beat mystery set in a swampy place, this is a fun read. The dialogue made me laugh more than once. The characters are pretty two dimensional, but the mystery and adventure are fun. ( )

The narrator's voice was a bit irritating with with the first person narrator, reading this is likely better than listening to the audiobook. ( )

Suitable for teens AND adults!

I didn't actually realize this was a young adult book until the end. I knew Hiaasen had written Hoot among others, but I just didn't catch on. Even the shortness of the book failed to make me recognize the fact. In any case, I did notice that when Skink disappeared from the story for longer parts that I was less engaged and wondered why he was missing, now I know.

Skink--No Surrender is about both Skink (former Florida Governor Clinton Tyree) and two 14-year-old cousins Richard and Malley. Malley is "catfished" by an older man and disappears. A very plausible story since this past week in California, a Virginia sheriff's deputy catfished a teenager, drove across the country, killed 3 of her family members, set fire to her house, and tried to kidnap her.

Teen fiction or not, I enjoyed the book and it was typical hysterical, laugh out loud funny Hiaasen. I also like how Hiaasen goes all-in on the conservation ethic; the book even starts out with the cousins and their frequent beach walks searching for nesting sea turtles and / or nests so they can then alert the Florida wildlife officials to their location(s). Lots of other good wildlife bits including weaving the Ivory-billed Woodpecker into the story.

I would say this book is like the John Sandford and Michele Cook Singular Menace series, it doesn’t come off as a children's book. More like Rated PG-13: Parents strongly cautioned - Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. Richard running off with Skink (a questionable character), underage driving, and chasing after an unknown criminal might not be advisable parenting measures... but it makes for good reading. ( )