Native Tongue (Carl Hiaasen novel)

Native Tongue is a novel by Carl Hiaasen, published in 1991. It is set in Florida, where a journalist, Joe Winder, investigates the disappearance of the last two rare "Blue Tongued Mango voles" from the "Amazing Kingdom of Thrills" in north Key Largo.

Themes

The themes of the novel include corruption, environmentalism, exploitation of endangered species, and animal rights.

Characters

• Joe Winder is the protagonist of the book. He works in PR for The Amazing Kingdom, and was formerly an investigative reporter.
• Pedro Luz is the fitness-obsessed head of security at The Amazing Kingdom who regularly uses steroids in an IV drip.
• Molly McNamara is the seemingly 'sweet' old lady who hires two former robbers to steal the Voles. She is a member of the Mothers of Wilderness, a fictional environmentalist group whose highly funded work usually comes to nothing.
• Skink, otherwise known as Clinton Tyree, is the former governor. After giving up faith in the political system he decides to live in the everglades. He always wears a shower cap and an electronic tracking device he found on a wild panther (leading to the appearance of the trackers at the climax). Skink saves Joe's life on more than one occasion and is instrumental at the ending of the book.
• Francis X. Kingsbury, the owner of the "Amazing Kingdom of Thrills" and ex felon, is a member of the witness protection program after grassing on some mobsters in order to preserve himself.

Plot

Joe Winder is a journalism dropout employed to compose press releases for the Amazing Kingdom, a Florida based theme park that aspires to achieve the greatness of Disney World. The park is owned by a former “wise guy” whose court testimony forced him to seek refuge in the Federal Witness Protection Program. A new identity and a change of venue, however, did nothing to alter the morals of Francis X. Kingsbury. He thinks nothing of faking wildlife exhibits, destroying the fragile environment of the Florida Keys, or using lethal means to protect his nefarious schemes from public exposure. When an equally amoral environmentalist resolves to thwart Kingsbury’s designs. Winder comes out of retirement as an investigative reporter to attempt to rescue the last of a near-extict species. He finds himself in alliance with an ex-governor seeking absolution in the life of a hermit, law enforcement officials with a peculiar sense of justice, two of the most bumbling burglars ever to circumvent an alarm system, and an incredibly bloodthirsty senior citizen. This motley group, with the assistance of a contract killer sent by the mob to eliminate Kingsbury, put paid to those who would damage the environment and subvert the democratic process.^[1]

References