This book has everything: a thrilling adventure mystery with diverse and intriguing characters, an immersive setting, local activism, local history, niche history, and a touch of pirate vibes. This book deals with COVID, environmentalism, racism, the KKK, lynchings, and violent smuggling; so it has some pretty serious topics, but I felt they were all handled really well and appropriately. I think middle grade and YA readers who were in school during COVID lockdowns would relate to the main character, and for those burnt out on COVID stories, rest assured that the virus isn't the main theme of this book at all. (I rather appreciate this handling of peak COVID- despite your personal opinions, it affected all of us, so why shouldn't it show up as a matter of fact in our books?)

The main character calls himself Wrecker after the profession of "wreckers" who dived to salvage from shipwrecks. I absolutely loved reading and coming across facts about this topic and seeing how this piece of history played a part in the story. I love love love when characters in books have an interest or a hobby like this and the author introduces me to the topic, and then all of a sudden I find myself on the Wikipedia page reading up on it. Hiaasen did a great job of weaving in not only wrecking but also racism, COVID, and environmentalism, creating a complex and well-rounded story that isn't entirely about any of these topics, but seamlessly includes them and therefore the book also isn't NOT about these topics. My only complaint is that the ending felt slightly rushed - I felt it came up suddenly and all too quickly was gone - but it was a pretty clever ending so I do give it that.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children's for the e-ARC!