Review: Dorsey's _Florida Roadkill_ has it all: drugs, serial killers, football, and oh yeah, Serge...

@Telynor (1763)
United States
April 13, 2016 11:55pm CST
Some time ago, thanks to a fellow Epinionator, Teamfreak16, I was introduced to the works of Tim Dorsey, a writer in south Florida who takes a very strange, very twisted look at the nearly continual mayhem that is Florida in our modern times. Florida Roadkill is the first of the many-volumed series about the adventures of Serge A. Storms, a drifter with an odd sense of humour and a truly amazing ability to put things together. Along with him this time is Coleman, his not-quite-as-smart sidekick and perpetual alcoholic-junkie, and Sharon, a truly amazing lap-dancer of incredible beauty but also with a talent to inhale drugs and alcohol more than Coleman is capable of. The story opens as Sharon is expressing her talent for marrying men with money and then disposing of them for the hefty insurance payouts. Nice girl, Sharon. Naturally, when she meets up with Serge and Coleman, she spots an opportunity to get more of what she needs -- drugs and money, with sex as an additional bonus. Coleman is pleased as peaches to have a drug buddy who doesn't give him a bad time, and Serge is happy to have a sexual partner who is as raring' to go as he is. When a scam with a dentist goes awry, the trio find themselves on a mad chase through Florida by way of Tampa, Miami and the Keys to get their hands on millions. Bad news is, they're not the only ones tracking those millions. There's a drug cartel that is so messed up that they tend not to get invited to industry barbeques, a holy roller politician with some bad habits and a way of terrorizing the retired, and two guys who just to go see the '97 Superbowl and have a good time. I have to say that this is one of the most incoherent novels that I have ever read, arranged as it was in a series of vignettes that were loosely tied together by the drugs and money theme. What saved this from being hurtled through the wall was that I was laughing so hard at some of the situations that it saved the book for me. Too, after reading some of the later books, I wanted to know more about Serge, who despite his psychological pathology is one of the more interesting anti-heroes that I have ever come across -- he may be unnerving in the creative ways in how he disposes of various bad-doers, but he's so damn inventive about it that I simply had to learn more. Indeed, one of the more serious incidents in the book involves a flashback to a scene in the past which for a careful reader will reveal a great deal. Mr. Dorsey has a careful eye for detail, and a true talent for zippy one-liners and setting up the reader for an encounter with the absurd. These three abilities are awful fun, and mixed in together can create a story that keeps moving at a brisk pace from beginning to end. It's also very clear that the author has written in newpapering for a long time, giving short, somewhat choppy sentences, and evidently culling the archives for tales of the strange, as much of what I was reading had the feeling that it was simply too weird to have happen, but knowing the newspaper trade as I do, I know that bizarre things happen all of the time, and each of these little misadventures have a little nugget of fact at their heart. It's a novel that isn't too long, about 250 pages or so, so it makes a fine read for an evening when you need a wee bit of bubble gum to distract your brain from watching too much of the evening news. While I would never, ever want to meet Serge or Coleman in real life, reading of their misadventures is always a treat, and leaves me feeling good in the knowledge that somewhere, somehow a malefactor is getting theirs in the Sergiverse. While this one isn't as tightly written or plotted as other entries in the series, it still gets a solid three and a half star rating, rounded up to four stars. I do caution that what with all of the drug use, sex, violence and craziness, this isn't a book that I'd like to see a teenager reading, as it's pretty over the top. But if the dark side of you needs some taking care of, I can happily recommend this one. Four stars. The Serge A. Storms Series by Tim Dorsey: Florida Roadkill -- you are here Hammerhead Ranch Motel Orange Crush Triggerfish Twist The Stingray Shuffle Cadillac Beach Torpedo Juice The Big Bamboo Hurricane Punch Atomic Lobster Nuclear Jellyfish Gator A-Go-Go Electric Barracuda When Elves Attack: A Joyous Christmas Greeting from the Criminal Nutbars of the Sunshine State Pineapple Grenade The Riptide Ultra-Glide Tiger Shrimp Tango Shark Skin Suite Tropical Warning: An Original Serge Storms Story and Other Debris Coconut Cowboy For more about Tim Dorsey, his books and some neat swag from the books, go to Florida Roadkill Tim Dorsey 1999; HarperCollins Publishers ISBN 0-360-73233-5
1 person likes this
2 responses
@teamfreak16 (43451)
• Denver, Colorado
14 Apr 16
Yay Serge!
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@Telynor (1763)
• United States
14 Apr 16
I hope to get the entire series posted here if I can.
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@teamfreak16 (43451)
• Denver, Colorado
14 Apr 16
@Telynor - Yeah, I need to go back and read them again. My girlfriend just finished reading Hammerhead Ranch Motel, Atomic Lobster, Coconut Cowboy, and I'm drawing a blank on the last one. She liked them. Maybe between the two of us, we can spread the word about the non-medicated genius that is Serge Storms.
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@xstitcher (30087)
• Petaluma, California
14 Apr 16
Definitely doesn't sound like my kind of read.
1 person likes this
@Telynor (1763)
• United States
15 Apr 16
If you like to read the absurd, then this does work. Otherwise, umm, no, it wouldn't.