A vodka-chugging, suicidal dragon and a delinquent 15-year-old Cajun boy team up against a corrupt cop in this rollicking adventure that features high-stakes battles, daring rescues and hilariously timed pop-culture references.
Vern, the last of the dragons, maintains a low-key life, surfing Netflix in his Louisiana swamp shack. Thinking he owes it to his species to survive, he rarely leaves his La-Z-Boy, crippled by depression. When he smacks a grenade meant for teenager Squib Moreau back at the town's notoriously crooked constable, Regence Hooke, Vern exacerbates a rivalry that might get him extinct.
His existence now known to Squib, Vern blackmails him into work, making Squib deliver essentials like oil to fuel his fire breath, plus Amazon and QVC orders of vegetable spiralizers and charcoal exfoliators. But Squib is happy running errands and crafting Vern's martinis if it means protection from Hooke, whom Squib witnessed killing a drug smuggler. A sociopath who murdered his own father, Hooke wants Squib dead, and protecting the kid gives the dragon what he desperately needs: a reason to live.
Immersing readers in the bayou with its distinctly Southern voice, Highfire by Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl; Illegal) delivers an important message about mental illness: that opening the heart to others is a boon to self-worth. Confiding in Squib that he "don't wanna go out" but "don't wanna stay in," Vern is repaid with Squib's healing companionship--and his mutual appreciation of Highlander and Blade Runner. Uproarious hijinks and violent showdowns abound in this outrageously fun fantasy about living life to its fullest. --Samantha Zaboski, freelance editor and reviewer