Highfire

 Highfire by Eoin Colfer, 379 pages.

Vern, previously Wyvern Lord Highfire of the Highfire Eyrie, is now a dragon living in the swamps of Louisiana. He's living a quiet life, drinking copious amounts of vodka and watching cable on his isolated island in the swamp, carefully avoiding detection. It's this kind of carefulness that has made him the last living dragon.

Of course this comfortable, if lonely, life is completely unseated when Everett "Squib" Moreau comes into it, accompanied by explosions. Squib is a Cajun kid who can't seem to stay out of trouble, despite his best intentions not to break his mother's heart. This time his mistakes are looking especially lethal, with both a dragon afraid of detection and Regence Hooke, crooked cop and professional bad dude, out to get him. Given those circumstances, being a dragon's lackey doesn't seem like such a bad deal.

Highfire is mostly a very sweet story about interspecies friendship in the weirdest of circumstances. It's a fun adventure carried by a soft emotional core and a villain you don't feel even a little bit bad about hating. This is Eoin Colfer's first adult novel, and I was really happy to see that this novel has the same charm and wit as his Artemis Fowl books. I would definitely recommend this as a fun summer read.