Customer Rating:  
Summary: AWFUL, says this once-loyal reader
Comment: I guess that writers of series of books obligate themselves to write a set number of them for a set price, and then try to meet the obligation by making an effort at writing the first few, then churning out the last one while half-asleep. I got the sense that this book was Dorsey's final effort in this particular publishing sequence. Unreadably absurd. Understanding that the Storms novels are intended to be over the top, there is a certain skill at work in keeping the ridiculous still plausible. All pretense of "absurd plausibility" is gone in this meager effort - culled, it seems, from a series of whacky ideas conceived while jogging (or driving or walking), noted, and then incorporated all at once into a single volume with no attempt at continuity, plot, or narrative. And when, by the way, did Coleman get so articulate? This book is a bust, folks. Avoid it! [P.S. - I have never personally communicated with an author. . . until I read this book. Inconsequential that it was, I still picked the "contact" tab on Dorsey's website, and asked where, please, can I get my money back? I haven't heard back.]
Customer Rating:
Summary: In This Novel, The "Serge" is Definitely Working!!!
Comment: Every now and then I have to read a novel set in Florida. I don't usually do it back to back, but in this instance I had just finished James W. Hall's latest, Hell's Bay. If Hall can be said to be Carl Hiassen without the humor, then Dorsey is Carl Hiassen on steroids and with little regard for the ecology of the area.
What he does have in abundance in a strange stable of interesting and zany characters which he manages to bundle together in sometimes mind bending adventures. Sometimes he lets his penchant for black humor get somewhat out of control. In this particular book, I would say he has the ingredients just about right.
It is a waste of time to try and give a plot line to these books as I am not even sure I know exactly what it was. You just open the book, climb on and let the story unwind.
This type of novel is not everyone's cup of tea, but if it is yours, this is a keeper.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Carl Hiaasen's Evil Twin
Comment: If you've read Tim Dorsey, you know what to expect: black comedy thrown in your face at a manic pace, an unrelenting joyride so fast and furious that it almost makes reading an aerobic exercise. Like the venerable Carl Hiaasen, Dorsey taps into Florida's seemingly endless source of material provided by its wacky residents and sordid history, an embarrassment of riches in the outlandish and the unthinkable that is uniquely the Sunshine State. And like Hiaasen, Dorsey is passionately protective of Florida's natural beauty and heritage, a fierce preservationist you uses cynical humor to attack the developers and other despoilers of Florida landscape and culture. But compared to Dorsey's amphetamine-like rush, colored with violence so creative one nearly forgets the brutality, Hiaasen's clever prose and well crafted characters lose color.
Back with a vengeance - literally - is Serge Storms, and predictably, the sex, murder, drugs, more murder, more sex, and history - the usual Dorsey fare. In Serge, Dorsey was concocted one of the most lovably bizarre characters of pop fiction, the serial killer with an encyclopedic knowledge of all-things-Florida and a refreshingly black-and-white sense of frontier justice that he delivers without hesitation and without remorse. Coleman, his loyal and in his perpetual drug and alcohol induced coma is back as well, providing an extra dose of comic relief - as if more was needed - as well as contrast to Serge's drug and alcohol free regimen. Not that plot matters much to Dorsey - or his readers - but "Atomic Lobster" mostly picks up where "Triggerfish Twist" left off, with the despicably dangerous Tex McGraw out of jail and Hell-bent for revenge on the docile Jim Davenport and his family. But what follows is not all "decapitation-by-train" or "bobbing-for-fried-catfish-in-boiling-oil" depravity. Dorsey has a keen and insightful understanding of American culture - from cruise ships to the NFL to drug smuggling - as well as the human soul - both peaks and depths - and has an unparalleled knack of capturing these wildly diverse topics in prose that is zany, entertaining, outrageous, and, paradoxically meaningful. Like the best stand up comics, Dorsey knows it's all about timing, and uses bits of nonlinearity and a keen sense of pace in delivering his screwball goods. If you've never had the pleasure of a Tim Dorsey novel, this is probably not the best place to start - "Hammerhead Ranch Motel" is as good as any for some indoctrination.
In short, don't let the frantic antics of Serge and the strong cast of supporting actors camouflage Dorsey's genius: this is pop fiction as good as it gets, a not-too-destructive addiction that will have you laughing out loud while not being able to turn the pages fast enough.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Serge Storms is a God and Tim Dorsey is his voice
Comment: This book is another in the long but amazing series of Tim Dorsey's books. It once again is about everybody's favorite and lovable serial killer, Serge Storms. I'm not going to give you the whole story and synopses, that's amazon's job... so I'll just say it like I always do:
If Carl Hiaasen and Elmore Leonard had the balls and drug appetite the size of Hunter Thompson, they might be able to write like Tim Dorsey! Maybe...
Customer Rating:
Summary: atomic lobster
Comment: Dorsey again shows how a psychotic and his drugged out sidekick can help rid Florida of its worst characters and foibles. Serge and Coleman destroy the bad, the greedy, the drug runners, the terrorists, and the crazed rednecks, all with polish and aplomb that seriously calls into question the author's sanity. Very funny!! Not too gory, and lots of surprises!!! A good read!!!
Edmund Doering III
Jupiter, Fl
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