2006-05-10 Flush - great for kids (but has nothing for adults)

For the past few years the children's fiction market has become increasingly profitable. This has meant that otherwise adult orientated authors have written juvenile literature to get their hands on this moola. In the cases of Colin Bateman and Anthony Horowitz this has worked brilliantly as they have written fiction that kids will love but can also be enjoyed by their adult fans.

It is a different matter all together with Hiaasen. 'Hoot', his first attempt at juvenile literature, was received well and I thought a reasonable book. 'Flush' follows similar ecofriendly themes as it as we follow the attempts of a family to stop a boat from flushing sewage into the sea, but does not have the same appeal.

The book for 6-11 year olds is great, fast paced and very readable. For an adult though it holds no such appeal. It is basically a Hiaasen book-lite with all the bite taken out so the kids won't be upset. The story is too short and not that much really happens, essentially it holds no appeal to the older reader (unlike a Harry Potter for example).

I am reviewing this from the point of view of an adult who occasionally reads children's fiction and in that sense it is worthy of only two stars. However if you are in the correct age group I can see this book being a great treat and easily be worth 4 ****.