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''Sick Puppy'' is a 2000 novel by Carl Hiaasen. ==Plot summary== Florida's vapid, corrupt Governor, Richard "Dick" Artemus, has no agenda beyond unquestioning obedience to the whims of his major campaign contributors. One of these contributors, a former drug smuggler-turned-developer, Robert Clapley, plans to bulldoze the small Toad Island and remake it into "Shearwater Island," with high rise condominiums and golf courses. The project requires the construction of a massive new bridge to the mainland, to accommodate Clapley's cement trucks. On Artemus's recommendation, Clapley hires Palmer Stoat, a lobbyist, to expedite the government funding for the bridge construction. By random happenstance, Stoat becomes subject to the wrath of Twilly Spree, an independent ecoterrorist. Spree obsessively pursues Stoat after watching him litter the highway from his luxury Range Rover, and tracks him back to his Fort Lauderdale residence where he and his wife, Desirata, live. Twilly begins by arranging ironic pranks - hijacking a garbage truck and dumping its load into Desirata's open convertible, and filling Stoat's Range Rover with dung beetles - but is aggravated when the "unfathomably arrogant" Stoat fails to get the point, and continues to litter. When Twilly breaks into Stoat's home, he is followed out by Stoat's massive Labrador Retriever, "Boodle," and then by Desirata herself. "Desi," who is increasingly unhappy with her marriage, tells Twilly that he is "aiming low" if he is trying to correct Stoat's misbehavior. She guides him to Toad Island, the site of Stoat's latest "fix," and Twilly becomes vehemently opposed to the despoiling of the island. Even Desi is appalled to see that Clapley's construction crew deliberately buried thousands of oak toads (the island's namesake) to avoid later protest by environmentalists. Twilly orders Desi to return to Stoat and tell him that Twilly will murder Stoat's beloved dog if he doesn't kill the bridge project. At first, Stoat doesn't take the threat seriously, until Twilly sends him a Labrador's severed ear via FedEx (actually sliced from the corpse of a roadkill Labrador Twilly found). The dog becomes Twilly's companion, after he changes his name to "McGuinn." Stoat convinces Governor Artemus to veto the funding for the bridge, though he has no intention of letting the project fail. He tells Artemus and Clapley that the funding can be re-inserted into the budget later, through a special session of the Legislature, once the "dog-napper" releases Boodle. Clapley is unconvinced, and sends a hit man, Mr. Gash, to track down Twilly and kill him. Artemus, in an effort to avoid the Shearwater Project being tainted with violent death, seeks out and locates ex-governor Clinton Tyree, a.k.a. "Skink", who vanished in the mid-1970s after a short and unsuccessful (but honest) term of office and is said to be hiding out somewhere in the remaining wilderness of Florida. Artemus knows Skink will be unsympathetic to his situation, and resorts to blackmail: Skink's mentally disturbed elder brother, Doyle, is still on the state's payroll as the keeper of a lighthouse that has not been in use for years. Artemus warns Skink that his brother will be tossed out on the street if Skink doesn't apprehend Twilly. Artemus fails to realize the dire consequences of threatening a man with Skink's volcanic temper, or of putting him and Twilly in contact with each other. Desi becomes attracted to Twilly, and the two eventually develop a relationship. Stoat is disgusted and washes his hands of her and Boodle, telling Twilly that the bridge is going up no matter what Twilly does. After a violent confrontation on Toad Island involving Twilly, Desi, Skink, and Mr. Gash, Mr. Gash is left mortally wounded on the island, and Twilly is left in Skink's care while Desi returns to her parents' home in Atlanta. Despite her pleadings, Twilly is still committed to stopping the Shearwater Island project. 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 an African Black rhinoceros, and also 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 with a rifle, but then Boodle/McGuinn runs into the preserve and nips playfully at the rhino's tail. The rhino - so ancient that it has hardly moved since it arrived at the ranch - goes berserk and charges at the hunting party. Clapley is gored to death on the rhino's horn, and Stoat is trampled flat. The governor escapes the chaos, but is mortified to learn that Willie snapped plenty of pictures. Clapley's death leaves the Shearwater project doomed without financial backing and, apart from his many lobbying clients and crony politicians, only a few friends and family members show up at Palmer Stoat's funeral. Desi is among the mourners, during which she is approached by McGuinn, holding a note with Twilly's new address on it. Meanwhile, Twilly Spree and Clinton Tyree are driving along the highway towards Tyree's wilderness when they see another group of litterbugs throwing lighted cigarette butts, empty bottles and other rubbish out of their speeding car. They immediately agree they have to teach them a lesson. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sick Puppy」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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