Helpful Score: 1
This is one of Tim Dorsey's best! I love the character Serge A Storms, he is wild, bizarre and hyterical. Laugh out loud funny! This is a twisting, turning, hurricane tracking romp. Loved it!
Didn't finish, too weird.
Start on the 4th paragraph if you only want to see what the books are about. Read the whole thing if you are interested in an opinion of the author, his entire series, and the overall outlook they represent.
Let me preface this review with the statement that the following is actually a review of author Tim Dorseys overall series and his lunatic with a social conscience serial killing main character Serge Storms rather than a review of the plot of any individual book in this phenomenally unbelievable series. So, fix a glass of Hurricane Punch and read on if you are curious about Tim Dorseys books but not yet familiar with them:
Serge Storms is the single most unique character I have personally ever followed in a series and as a 52 year old bibliophile that is saying something. Tim Dorsey, as an author, is a combination of Terry Pratchett satire, Douglas Adams lunacy, and James Patterson murder drama. Take that for what it says and just realize that the Serge Storms novels defy any simple description and yet are absolutely fascinating. Now on to the review of the books:
Serge Storms the serial killing main character of Tim Dorseys series is a true treat. I was lying in bed thinking about the plotline of Hurricane Punch and how to explain it when the Jim Croce song Dont Mess Around With Jim came on the oldies station to which I was listening. It was a serendipitous moment. If you are familiar with the song and know the story of it then you will know what Im speaking of. If not, pop it up on YouTube and just listen to the song once then continue reading this review from this point. .
Back now? Okay then. In Jim Croces song Willie Slim McCoy represents Serge Storms. Slim is a country hick who comes to the city to find and take revenge on Jim, the King of 42nd Street, who had robbed him at some time in the recent past. Jim represents any flaming jerk who just truly needs to die in order to improve society as a whole. In the song the fearful Big Jim Sycophants on 42nd street change their overall tune to You Dont Mess Around With Slim when this vengeful country boy kills their leader Jim in a horrific, albeit deserved, manner.
Now imagine Slim McCoy as an intelligent redneck hick played by Jim Carey while hyped on speed and cocaine after memorizing a book on historical trivia of Florida. Put Jim Slim Willie Carey McCoy on a road trip during a spate of hurricanes criss-crossing the state of Florida (exactly as occurred in 2004) while accompanied by an alcoholic dope fiend wastoid side kick named Coleman. Place in their path several idiots who just need to die such as a price gouging sociopath selling bags of ice for $10 each to suffering people in dire need of it to keep their children alive or to survive the horrors of power outages and destruction that accompany any major hurricane making landfall in populated areas. Serge has a few control issues and a very active imagination so the manner in which such wastes of air die are extremely unique and entertaining. Given his social conscience and desire to improve our culture, Serge and Coleman target such persons as woman beaters, child molesters, and anyone stupid enough to really piss Serge off (maybe by cussing him out in traffic in a fit of needless road rage or maybe daring to get upset at Serge because the fries Serge served him at McDonalds drive thru window were cold).
Now that you have a general idea of what occurs in Tim Dorseys novel, add to the mix an obsessed police officer with mental issues of his own who has spent time in the nuthatch due to getting inside Serges head a little too far while tracking him for years. Of course there are the rest of our proud states fine law enforcement community also on the trail of the serial killing combo that is the unstoppable team of Serge and Coleman. Overall the Keystone Cops have been replaced with the Key West Po-Po chasing their own tails on the trail of a crime spree through every historical site in the Florida peninsula. Add to the mix a crime beat reporter who hates the crime beat due to his overage of empathy that leads him to cry like a baby due to sharing the pain of the survivors of the tragedies he is forced to report on. And dont forget the Party Parrot which the news stations keep sending around to any high profile news scene to disrupt the television feed. Getting the gist yet? The entire series is like this.
Did I mention that in the movie which should definitely be made, Serge Storms should be played by Jim Carey in a lunatic hodgepodge reprisal of his roles as Ace Ventura Pet Detective, Edward Nigma (aka The Riddler in Batman Forever), Dumb and Dumber, and The Number 23? The scripts for the movie(s) would of course be liberally sprinkled with satirical diatribes on every single social issue that plagues the USAs modern culture. The society addressed by Tim Dorsey via Serge Storms consists of a culture rude, self-obsessed, instant gratification seekers that seem to make up about 70% of our population. It amazes me how Tim Dorsey perfectly describes big business, small potatoes, and self-centered A-holes in not one but many fell swoops. The entire series is so real it is INSANE and so crazy it is HILARIOUS.
Ever read Terry Pratchetts Disc World? Familiar with or fondly recall Douglas Adams Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy [42!]? Enjoy the crime dramas of James Patterson or John Sandford? Read the Serge Storm series and, if you are a reader who actually desires to understand what is underneath the words, I dare you to not stop every few pages, replace your dropped jaw, think for a minute or so, then just try not to dive back in.
Let me preface this review with the statement that the following is actually a review of author Tim Dorseys overall series and his lunatic with a social conscience serial killing main character Serge Storms rather than a review of the plot of any individual book in this phenomenally unbelievable series. So, fix a glass of Hurricane Punch and read on if you are curious about Tim Dorseys books but not yet familiar with them:
Serge Storms is the single most unique character I have personally ever followed in a series and as a 52 year old bibliophile that is saying something. Tim Dorsey, as an author, is a combination of Terry Pratchett satire, Douglas Adams lunacy, and James Patterson murder drama. Take that for what it says and just realize that the Serge Storms novels defy any simple description and yet are absolutely fascinating. Now on to the review of the books:
Serge Storms the serial killing main character of Tim Dorseys series is a true treat. I was lying in bed thinking about the plotline of Hurricane Punch and how to explain it when the Jim Croce song Dont Mess Around With Jim came on the oldies station to which I was listening. It was a serendipitous moment. If you are familiar with the song and know the story of it then you will know what Im speaking of. If not, pop it up on YouTube and just listen to the song once then continue reading this review from this point. .
Back now? Okay then. In Jim Croces song Willie Slim McCoy represents Serge Storms. Slim is a country hick who comes to the city to find and take revenge on Jim, the King of 42nd Street, who had robbed him at some time in the recent past. Jim represents any flaming jerk who just truly needs to die in order to improve society as a whole. In the song the fearful Big Jim Sycophants on 42nd street change their overall tune to You Dont Mess Around With Slim when this vengeful country boy kills their leader Jim in a horrific, albeit deserved, manner.
Now imagine Slim McCoy as an intelligent redneck hick played by Jim Carey while hyped on speed and cocaine after memorizing a book on historical trivia of Florida. Put Jim Slim Willie Carey McCoy on a road trip during a spate of hurricanes criss-crossing the state of Florida (exactly as occurred in 2004) while accompanied by an alcoholic dope fiend wastoid side kick named Coleman. Place in their path several idiots who just need to die such as a price gouging sociopath selling bags of ice for $10 each to suffering people in dire need of it to keep their children alive or to survive the horrors of power outages and destruction that accompany any major hurricane making landfall in populated areas. Serge has a few control issues and a very active imagination so the manner in which such wastes of air die are extremely unique and entertaining. Given his social conscience and desire to improve our culture, Serge and Coleman target such persons as woman beaters, child molesters, and anyone stupid enough to really piss Serge off (maybe by cussing him out in traffic in a fit of needless road rage or maybe daring to get upset at Serge because the fries Serge served him at McDonalds drive thru window were cold).
Now that you have a general idea of what occurs in Tim Dorseys novel, add to the mix an obsessed police officer with mental issues of his own who has spent time in the nuthatch due to getting inside Serges head a little too far while tracking him for years. Of course there are the rest of our proud states fine law enforcement community also on the trail of the serial killing combo that is the unstoppable team of Serge and Coleman. Overall the Keystone Cops have been replaced with the Key West Po-Po chasing their own tails on the trail of a crime spree through every historical site in the Florida peninsula. Add to the mix a crime beat reporter who hates the crime beat due to his overage of empathy that leads him to cry like a baby due to sharing the pain of the survivors of the tragedies he is forced to report on. And dont forget the Party Parrot which the news stations keep sending around to any high profile news scene to disrupt the television feed. Getting the gist yet? The entire series is like this.
Did I mention that in the movie which should definitely be made, Serge Storms should be played by Jim Carey in a lunatic hodgepodge reprisal of his roles as Ace Ventura Pet Detective, Edward Nigma (aka The Riddler in Batman Forever), Dumb and Dumber, and The Number 23? The scripts for the movie(s) would of course be liberally sprinkled with satirical diatribes on every single social issue that plagues the USAs modern culture. The society addressed by Tim Dorsey via Serge Storms consists of a culture rude, self-obsessed, instant gratification seekers that seem to make up about 70% of our population. It amazes me how Tim Dorsey perfectly describes big business, small potatoes, and self-centered A-holes in not one but many fell swoops. The entire series is so real it is INSANE and so crazy it is HILARIOUS.
Ever read Terry Pratchetts Disc World? Familiar with or fondly recall Douglas Adams Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy [42!]? Enjoy the crime dramas of James Patterson or John Sandford? Read the Serge Storm series and, if you are a reader who actually desires to understand what is underneath the words, I dare you to not stop every few pages, replace your dropped jaw, think for a minute or so, then just try not to dive back in.
