Squirm is Carl Hiaasen's new young adult novel.

Squirm is the latest of Carl Hiaasen‘s series of young adult novels with one-word titles. Hoot, Scat, Flush, Chomp, Skink, and now Squirm. Every one of these books I’ve read, and every one of his adult novels I’ve managed to read, is infused with an intense love for nature. In Squirm, Hiaasen takes that love to a new level. The book is virtually a naturalist’s tour of Montana.

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Hiaasen’s protagonist this time around is 13-year-old Billy Audubon Dickens. Billy loves snakes. His mother moves him and his sister around because she “has a weird rule: We’ve got to live near a bald eagle nest, and by ‘near,’ my mother means fifteen minutes max. She’s totally obsessed with these birds.” Billy’s father, Dennis Dickens, is nowhere to be found. He left the family many years ago to take up a mysterious job about which he will say absolutely nothing. But Billy is a resourceful kid. He’s determined to find a way to find the old man and learn his secret.

Billy’s odyssey from Florida to Montana

Billy’s odyssey takes him from Fort Pierce, Florida to Livingston, Montana, a tiny town 30 miles from Bozeman. There he finds his dad’s new family but no dad. Dennis is out on a mission, allegedly for a government agency. Whatever his job is, it involves drones. Dennis is living with an Apsalooka (Crow) Indian woman named Little Thunder-Sky and her 14-year-old daughter, Summer Chasing-Hawks. The mother, known as Lil, is a river guide for visiting fishermen. And you just know that, whatever Dennis is doing, it involves nature as well. So you quickly figure out where this is going even if the mystery continues.

Squirm is a worthy addition to Hiaasen’s growing body of young adult novels. It’s not nearly as funny as are most of his novels for grown-ups, but it’s infused with the same reverence for the natural world and a gentle way with the characters.


Squirm by Carl Hiaasen (2018) 288 pages ★★★★☆


For related reading

I’ve reviewed six other novels by Carl Hiaasen. You can find them by typing his name into the Search box in the upper left-hand corner of the home page. My favorite is Razor Girl, which I reviewed at Reality TV, African rodents, and the roach patrol.

You might also enjoy My 10 favorite funny novels and Christopher Buckley writes satirical novels that are very, very funny.

And you can always find my most popular reviews, and the most recent ones, on the Home Page.