Reviews: (by author)

Hiaasen, Carl. Flush. New York: Knopf, 2005. $16.95

Noah's dad is a real nice guy with some anger-management issues. When a greedy casino boat's owner starts dumping raw sewage into the ocean, Noah's dad loses it and sinks the boat. Now Dad's in jail and the Coral Queen is back afloat. Noah and his little sister, Abbey, decide to take matters into their own hands and deal with the illegal dumping once and for all (and maybe save their parents' marriage, to boot). Flush is vintage Hiaasen. What's not to like? The cast of supporting characters includes jewels like Lice Peeking, ex-mate of the Coral Queen, a scruffy, unscrupulous drunk, and Dusty Muleman, the former fisherman turned gambling boat captain and wanton polluter. Noah and Abbey have their hands full as they negotiate the obstacle-strewn path to environmental justice. With clever plotting and a lot of luck, Noah comes up with a foolproof scheme to foil the bad guys and save the beaches.now if he can just get everything to go as planned. ike its predecessor, Hoot, this book is aimed at young readers. Hiaasen unerringly adapts his particular brand of barbed hilarity to his chosen audience, toning down the merry mayhem just enough without losing his uniquely dark comic vision. Flush is precisely aimed to encourage sensitivity to environmental issues among today's youth. This is a superb book and will bear rereading more than once over the years.

Mark Janssen, January 2006

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