SOLVED. YA General Fiction - Teenage boy finds statue of pink otter in a thrift store, goes on worldwide hunt to find the artist. [s]

[Callaen]

From what I remember of the book, it was a first-person narrative (so not many descriptions of the protagonist) from the perspective of a boy in his late teens, about 17-18, soon to be applying to university. He was in a thrift store/charity shop for some reason that now eludes me, and happens to find an erotic statue of a man and a pink otter with bright red lips. He is so perplexed by it he decides to try and find out where it came from, as he notes it is of pretty good quality despite being such a strange subject, and ends up tracking the company the made it down in (I think) Hong Kong. He uses his university savings to travel to Hong Kong, and from there to other countries seeking out the original artist - the one who commissioned the multiple productions of the statue, blowing his university funds in the process and getting himself into all sorts of capers, including at one point getting in trouble with a gang, and hooking up with a stranger on an airplane. The whole thing was pretty absurd, but the story has stuck in my brain for years and since I cannot find the book in my collection I assume at some point it got given to a charity shop itself (oh the irony).

I read this book when I was in my teen years, so roughly a decade ago now. I remember picking the book up in a charity shop (this is in the UK, at the time I was living in East England) then, but the cover was in good condition, as were the pages which suggests it wasn't too old - early 2000s/late 90s at a push but I'd guess sooner. It was a standard B-format paperback (198mm x 129 mm), and had a pink otter with bright red lips on the front cover. I'm afraid I don't remember the author name or gender, but it was written in English and the story itsef was based in the UK as far as I can recall (I may be wrong about this however!).

[Becca]

Sea Otters Gambolling In The Wild, Wild Surf by John Bennett. That cover art has made my day!

[Callaen]

Becca wrote: "Sea Otters Gambolling In The Wild, Wild Surf by John Bennett. That cover art has made my day!
"
Wow that was so fast! This is definitely the book, thank you for your help!