The project requires the construction of a massive new bridge to the mainland to accommodate Clapley's cement trucks.

By random happenstance, Stoat becomes subject to the obsessive wrath of ecoterrorist Twilly Spree after he witnesses him litter the highway from his luxury Range Rover.

Twilly tracks Stoat back to the Fort Lauderdale residence he shares with his wife, Desirata.

Desi, who is increasingly unhappy with her marriage, tells Twilly that he is "aiming low" if he is trying to correct Stoat's misbehavior.

Twilly orders Desi to tell Stoat that he will kill the dog if he doesn't stop the bridge project.

Stoat convinces Artemus to veto funding for the bridge but has no intention of letting the project fail.

He tells Clapley and Artemus that the funding can be put back into the budget later, through a special session of the Florida legislature.

Clapley sends a hit man, Mr. Gash, to kill Twilly, while Artemus, in an effort to avoid the project being tainted by a violent death, locates ex-governor Clinton Tyree, a.k.a.

A violent confrontation with Twilly, Desi and Skink on Toad Island leaves Mr. Gash mortally wounded.

Accompanied by Skink, Twilly trails Stoat, Clapley and Artemus to a private canned hunting reserve in northern Florida, where Stoat has arranged for Clapley to shoot a black rhinoceros and win over Willie Vasquez-Washington, a crucial member of the Florida House who is opposed to the special session.

Twilly is on the verge of shooting Clapley, but McGuinn runs into the preserve and nips playfully at the rhino's tail.

Sure, Hiaasen himself may not be ready to kidnap the dogs of unregenerate litterbugs or clobber drunken jet skiers, but it's the thought that counts.

The rapacious villains of Hiaasen's crime novels do not just commit murder, extortion, assault, fraud, and every conceivable variety of larceny; they also park in handicapped spaces, cheat on their trophy wives, tell racist jokes, flaunt their wealth in unusually obnoxious ways, and mangle the lyrics to good rock-and-roll songs.