Florida’s ecology plays a major part in each of Randy Wayne White’s novels, whether he is writing about Marion “Doc” Ford, marine biologist who doubles as a government agent, or Hannah Smith, the Gulf Coast fishing guide and private detective.

White’s latest novel Seduced is his fourth about Hannah and true to form he includes a major plot point about Florida’s ecology and history and how the two meld.

White also looks at a problem that Floridia environmentalists are grappling with—the rise in the python population in the Everglades.

While pythons might not seem to be a problem to those who don’t live in Florida, residents of the Sunshine State know the python invasion is not a joke.

This snake population, which is not native to Florida, has decimated wildlife in certain area of the Everglades where they have been found.

These predators have been found to measure 5 to 8 feet, with the record being an 18-foot, 8-inch monster. Alligators and deer have been found in their systems.

This background is interesting, but White doesn’t just spew out facts in Seduced. He includes several heart-stopping scenes in which people and pythons meet..

These scenes add to the suspense of Seduced and show just how authentic White’s research is in his novels.

And further mixing fact with fiction, White based these scenes on a personal experience in which he and two friends were chased by a python. He details his own adventures in the foreward to Seduced.

Let’s hope in the future, all of the author’s python encounters are on the page, not in real life.