Skink—No Surrender

Hiaasen uses the opening chapters of Skink—No Surrender to establish characters, tone, setting, and the novel’s central mystery. Richard narrates the story using the first-person point-of-view. As such, Hiaasen gives clues to Richard’s mental and emotional state, and he focuses less on a physical description.

Richard is grieving: His father died in a skateboarding accident, years before the events of the novel. The loss still impacts Richard, who remembers that “Dad was an awesome guy, and I miss him worse than anything” (10). However, Richard also possesses a sarcastic, somewhat dark sense of humor. He recalls that at his father’s funeral, one of his father’s friends said, “Randy died doing something he truly loved,” which prompts this response from Richard: “What? I thought. Bleeding from his eardrums?” (10). There is a bitterness in Richard’s humor that tracks throughout the novel. Richard is also an observant young man. He sees through Malley’s lies about the boarding school orientation after piecing together clues, such as the fact that “she hadn’t taken her winter clothes to school” (14). He also notices that the letter she left behind for Talbo was a fake to throw her parents off her scent. Because Skink—No Surrender is primarily a mystery story, Hiaasen establishes Richard’s strong observational skills right away.

Richard and his cousin Malley “were born only nine days apart” (13). They have grown up together and are close friends. Malley is more rebellious than Richard. Her father “takes away Malley’s cell like twice a week as punishment for acting up” (1). Lying to her family doesn’t bother Malley; she lies to Richard about her whereabouts before he learns that she also deceived her parents. Richard doesn’t seem shocked by that. Malley is also a risk-taker. When she meets Talbo at the airport, she “had never met him in person, but she’d made friends with him online, which was beyond stupid” (15). Her actions have unintended consequences for the people in her life. She threatens to blackmail Richard by “telling [his] mom what happened in Saint Augustine” (22). While the incident is still unknown to readers, this shows that Malley allows her emotions to guide her actions.

The novel’s title character, Skink, arrives with fanfare: “A full-grown man shot upright in a spray of sand, and my heart must have stopped beating for ten seconds” (4). Skink’s resourcefulness is clear, though his methods—beginning with hiding in a fake turtle nest—are unorthodox. His physical appearance mirrors his strangeness. Skink is a large man, “Built like a grizzly” but also wears “a flowered plastic shower cap. Even weirder, his left eye and right eye were pointed in totally different directions” (4). Skink is ragged and dirty, but his teeth are “the whitest, brightest, straightest teeth I ever saw” (7). These contradictions between eccentricity and wisdom continue throughout the novel.

Skink’s introduction sets the novel’s tone. Skink does not arrive as a metaphorical knight in shining armor. In fact, Richard is initially worried that Skink might be dangerous: “I saw that I was on my own […] There was a row of private houses on the other side of the dunes, so I figured I could take off in that direction, if necessary” (6). However, Skink’s bizarre physical appearance undermines that seriousness. The stakes are high, but Richard’s narration ensures that the novel has a great deal of humor. That tonal balance continues throughout the story.

The setting of the novel plays a vital role in its plot. Hiaasen establishes the Florida location immediately. Richard is looking for sea turtle nests when the novel begins, and he touches on aspects of the Florida setting that will become increasingly important. For example, the line, “The moon was full and the ocean breeze felt warm” (1), focuses on the positive aspects of Florida’s natural beauty and weather. The moon illuminates the beach, and the air is comfortably warm. As Richard’s quest grows complicated, nature and weather become larger obstacles.

Environmentalism is one of the novel’s central themes. Richard’s interest in animals and nature is clear: He and Malley often search for sea turtle nests together. Richard also knows a lot about the animals. He briefly covers the routine of a mother sea turtle laying eggs and condemns egg thieves who “[get] caught stealing the eggs, which are sold as a romantic ingredient in certain places. Pathetic but true” (2). Skink has similar values. He is waiting in the sand for a man named “Dodge Olney. Digs up turtle eggs and sells them […] One night he’s gonna dig up me” (5-6). This moral alignment will serve as a point of bonding for Richard and Skink later in the story.

The novel’s central mystery is teased in its opening line: “I walked down to the beach and waited for Malley, but she didn’t show up” (1). Skink—No Surrender is a mystery novel in many ways, and Malley’s disappearance kicks off Richard’s search for clues. In the mystery genre, dishonesty plays a large role in the continuation of the journey. Readers know right away that Malley is willing to lie to her family. She isn’t the only dishonest character, though. Richard has a secret that only Malley knows, one that he doesn’t want to reach his mother. As his journey progresses, Richard uses dishonesty more often to advance his search and rescue of Malley. This serves to keep the reader engaged, as there is always some truth not yet revealed. It also adds moral ambiguity. Hiaasen does not harshly judge all his characters’ lies. In fact, Richard uses dishonesty as a successful tool as the novel moves forward.