WHERE. IS. HE. Thrills going through my body. Wondering what happened? This book provided the right about his ambition and surprised me that this was all done by a young kid. I never expected this book to be this interesting.

This book is named “SKINK NO SURRENDER” by Carl Hiaasen. The first time reading that title made no sense to me at all. Then after I have read this book it makes complete sense why the author chose that title. The adventurous go-getting characters made this story eventful. Skink, one of the main characters, is the antagonist of the story or the hero in some cases. He's the old governor of Florida, but now he's an old skinny washed-up man. In this 14-year-old boy, Richard's perspective, he and Skink don't stop till they save Malley from T.C.

Well who's Malley and why should she be saved by T.C.? Malley is Richard's cousin, the outgoing and unbothered girl. Her parents were going to send her off to a boarding school but she had other plans. She met someone on the internet that goes by T.C. or Tommy Chalmers if that's his name. Thought it would be a good idea to run off together. But, no he kidnapped her instead. Richard and Skink have crazy adventures along the way, fighting a vicious alligator, running away from a pig, and having a gun pointed at them.

When the protagonist T.C. took Malley captive, Richard had to leave his home. He found a Skink at a beach in the sand breathing out of a straw. Richard and Skink team up to leave the town and travel to find Malley across Florida. While the boy drives with no license to the other side of Florida to rivers and boat lunches, trying to get closer to Malley. The rest is questionable when Skink went to fight the alligator and didn't return for almost a whole day. I would describe this book as thrilling because Skink popped back up out of the water when Richard was fighting with T.C. But also confusing because how did the Skink know that they were?

I like this novel because it didn't just end with Richard finding Malley but went further in the story with Skink and how he was involved. Richard found Malley but they lost Skink again so instead of going home they went back and found him. What I didn't like about this story is that the ending was a little too long because it would bring up random stuff like Richard going on a date, that really had nothing to do with the book. I recommend this novel to those who like being or reading about being spontaneous, eventful, mysterious, questioning, worried, and adventurous activities. But I wouldn't recommend this to those that don't like reading about kids being adventurous and having to question things because that is basically what the story is about. ( )