Carl Hiaasen writes a book that is very much grounded in the events of the past few years with topics around the realities of the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccinations, and the history of violence against people of color. If that sounds like a heavy book or like the news headlines, don’t worry too much because you are in safe hands with Mr. Hiaasen. He finds a way to work those topics into a Florida adventure with Wrecker, a high school student who really is one of the good guys. Wrecker is smart and has a big heart so it is easy to get behind him as a character. There is peril, some mystery, and adventure. This book is definitely a great pick for middle grade and high school students.
It wouldn’t be a Hiaasen novel if it wasn’t also a love letter to Florida and with an implicit plea to protect its waters, creatures, and environment. (Readers may now think twice before hopping on a gargantuan cruise ship.)
Review of a Digital Advance Reading Copy provided by Knopf Books for Young Readers
Content Analysis:
Profanity/Language: 11 religious exclamations; 9 mild obscenities; 5 scatological words; 9 anatomical terms.
Violence/Gore: Report of someone in the past being hit by a drunk driver, resulting in paralysis; true account of an islander dragged from shop by Klu Klux Klan and description of the beating, shipping, tar and feathering and ensuing violence (killing by gunshot a man) and a in lynching (this is a factual, but descriptive passage that is upsetting/hard to read); character is told that someone jumped off a boat to take their own life; report someone died by snakebite; report of historical sinking of a ship killing 260 American soldiers; report of someone dying from the Corona virus; implied and verbal threats of harm to individuals and people they care about; twisted ankle; individual tackled; report of a person shot in the line of duty; dead man found in the water; various reports of individuals who died from COVID-19; character is pretty sure that some individuals have been murdered and are in unmarked graves; historical account of an individual’s embalmed head; multi-racial teenage boy tackled by a police officer and roughly handled (mention of blood) and dragged into the police station; frightening dream; sea creature bites a character resulting in injury; death threats on social media; gunshots fired at characters; report of self-inflicted injury.
Sex/Nudity: Reference to a romance between individuals of a mixed racial background; report of an affair; girl kisses boy on the cheek; girl teases a boy and ask him if he “wants to make out”; boy holds girls hand to comfort her and then she makes a flirty comment; boy and girl embrace; two women at a park, implied that they are a couple; girl puts arm around boy’s waist; some flirty banter between girl and boy; boy kisses girl on the cheek.
Mature Subject Matter:
COVID-19, racial discrimination/violence, murder, Klu Klux Klan, environmental damage/issues, parental abandonment, fraud/rackeetering, suicide (reported), vaccination hesitancy, conspiracy theories, peaceful protesting.
Alcohol/Drug Use:
Adults smoke; reference to someone chain-smoking self to death; smell of cigarette smoke and marijuana; characters wonder about drug smuggling; report of someone in the past being hit by a drunk driver; reference to bootleg booze; adults drink beer, alcohol; comment that someone boozes like a maniac.
