Flush

By: Carl Hiaasen

Narrated by: Michael Welch

Length: 5 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

A hilarious, high-stakes adventure involving crooked casino boats, floating fish, toxic beaches, and one kid determined to get justice. This is Carl Hiaasen's Florida - where the creatures are wild and the people are wilder!

You know it's going to be a rough summer when you spend Father's Day visiting your dad in the local lockup.

Noah's dad is sure that the owner of the Coral Queen casino boat is flushing raw sewage into the harbor - which has made taking a dip at the local beach like swimming in a toilet. He can't prove it though, and so he decides that sinking the boat will make an effective statement. Right. The boat is pumped out and back in business within days and Noah's dad is stuck in the clink.

Now Noah is determined to succeed where his dad failed. He will prove that the Coral Queen is dumping illegally...somehow. His allies may not add up to much: his sister Abbey, an unreformed childhood biter; Lice Peeking, a greedy sot with poor hygiene; Shelly, a bartender and a woman scorned; and a mysterious pirate - but Noah's got a plan to flush this crook out into the open. A plan that should sink the crooked little casino, once and for all.

©2005 Carl Hiaasen (P)2005 Random House, Inc. Listening Library, an imprint of the Random House Audio Publishing Group

Critic reviews

"...Hiaasen still succeeds at relating an entertaining story while getting across a serious message about conservation and the results of just plain greed." (Booklist)

Carl Hiaasen never disappoints!

My son and I listened to this in one day. Carl Hiaasen truly brings Florida to life on the page, and to do it from a kid's point of view only makes it more genuine!

A must read for older children and adults!

Master storyteller Carl Hiaasen doesn’t disappoint in this amazing adventure in enviironmental activism. While the book is from 2005, it sounds very fresh.

The characters are well-defined and believable, each speaking in their own voice. I would recommend for 6th grade and up, though 4th and 5th graders might be emotionally mature enough too, though parents might want to read it first.

The narrator is really good at suggesting each character’s voice.

Finally, understand that Carl Hiaasen writes mostly for adults, so just because his name is on the spine doesn’t mean it’s juvenile literature. Next book to listen to should be Hoot by the same author.

Good Reader, audio is frustrating.

Any additional comments?

I generally do not listen to an entire book straight through, so I tend to want to stop at the end of a chapter. My problem with this audio is that there's not a good way to access the spot where I left off--especially from another device. I tried accessing the chapter by the links, but when clicking on chapter 2, I was taken to Chapter 6. If this issue was resolved, I would thoroughly enjoy and recommend this book.

Boring

This book was very disappointing. Very blah characters and no energy or spunk. Hoot is a much better book with a similar storyline. This seems like half a book, with all the exciting bits removed. Sorry Carl

what stood out the most to me was the funny comedy it was the best part of the book

I liked that they also added some mystery in this book it was a good match with the comedy I have no dislikes absolutely none because the book was SUPER fun to read thank you for this book 📖 :]

EPIC

Very good in the end but a little bad at the beginning. Still a good book.

should have a different reader

narrirator was bad but the book was really good I had to use this amazing app for my book club because I'm a slow reader

Awesome

I love voice narrator. Hi bye cool loves it it is amazing kobo kook hi bye love ya zzz zz

Highly recommended

Another great story from Carl Hiaasen! Great characters, great storyline, fabulous ending. As usual I didn’t want to put the book down until it was finished. “What goes around, comes around.” Good line - for the story.

Adequate, but something's missing

Maybe it's because most of Carl Hiaasen's books conjure up such gritty, quirky characters that this book -- which would rate as a good book if it were written by someone else -- is a bit of a let-down. The plot has great potential but the characters just don't run with it. The usual irreverent humor is much subdued. Hoot, Hiaasen's first book for young people, was written in a young boy's voice and was rich with the conflicts and everyday details of early-teen life. Flush lacks these savory details. The reader of this audio version is also adequate but lacks the delicious irony which infused Chad Lowe's reading of Hoot. I feel as if the writer -- who's not capable of writing a BAD book, as far as I can tell -- just didn't have his heart in this one, and the narrator isn't inhabiting the book, just reading it aloud.