Totally topical, Scat is a brilliant fast-moving eco-aware thriller set in the swamps of Florida. Nick and Marta get sucked into the world of corrupt oil prospectors and fanatical eco-activists when Mrs Starch, a formidably horrible teacher at Truman School, takes the class on a trip to Black Vine Swamp and simply disappears. Behind the great adventure are serious messages and warnings about the despoliation of a very special area.
When Mrs Starch, the most feared biology teacher in Florida, goes missing during a school trip to the Black Vine Swamp, her class is secretly relieved. The school principal tries to cover it up as a 'family emergency', but Nick and Marta just aren't convinced. They think it's much more likely to have something to do with Smoke, the local troublemaker - whose run-ins with Mrs Starch are infamous - and decide to do some investigating of their own. But there's more going on in Black Vine Swamp than either one of them could guess. And Nick and Marta must see off an eccentric eco-avenger, a stuffed rat named Chelsea, a crooked oil prospector, a singing substitute teacher, and an angry Florida panther before they really begin to see the big picture.
Carl Hiaasen was born and raised in Florida, where he still lives. He is a prize-winning journalist with a regular column in the Miami Herald and many articles in varied magazines. He started writing crime fiction in the early 1980s and has recently branched out into children's books; he has also had several works of non-fiction published.
