A (Serge A.) Storm is brewing for a cabal of bad guys gaming the Florida state lottery in this insanely funny novel from the maestro of mayhem, Tim Dorsey.If you’re loud and proud Floridian Serge A. Storms, how do you follow up your very own remake of Easy Rider? You shoot your own “episodes” of your favorite classic television show, Route 66! With Coleman riding shotgun, Serge is rolling down … riding shotgun, Serge is rolling down the highway of his dreams in a vintage silver convertible Corvette just like the snazzy car Martin Milner drove. It doesn’t matter that the actual Route 66 didn’t pass through Florida, for Serge discovers that a dozen episodes near the series’ end were filmed (really!) in his beloved home state. So for Serge and the always toked and stoked Coleman, the Sunshine State is all the road you need to get your kicks.
But their adventure traveling the byways of the Sunshine State’s underbelly is about to take a detour. Someone is trying to tilt the odds in the state lottery amidst a conga line of huge jackpots spinning off more chaos than any hurricane season. With this much at stake, of course every shady character wants in. Crooked bodega owners, drug cartels laundering money through the lottery, and venture capitalists are all trying to game the system—and lining up to get their cut. They’re also gambling with their lives, because when Serge and Coleman get hip to this timely (and very lucrative) trip, there’s no telling whose number is up next.
Throw in Brooke Campanella, Serge’s old flame, as well as the perpetually star-crossed Reevis, and it’s a sure bet that the ever lucky Serge will hit it big. Winning has never been this deadly—or this much fun!
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This wasn’t a great book but it found it very entertaining, took my mind off of some stressful times.
Another of Tim Dorsey’s delightful Florida travelogues, chock full of unusual people, places and things, with a couple helpings of “just desserts” handed out by Serge Storms, cruise director extraordinaire! Accompanied by faithful companion Coleman, the travelers attempt to recreate the episodes of the classic tv show “Route 66” that were, in fact, filmed in Florida, not the American Southwest, with varying degrees of success. There are cameos by a couple interesting characters from recent installments, as well as new and inventive acts of mayhem inflicted upon deserving miscreants encountered along the highways and byways of the Sunshine State. This is good storytelling, rather than great literature. If you want to experience an altered reality, without the aid of chemicals or intoxicants, these books just might be what you’re looking for!
Not up to his usual writing, in this book our sociopathic serial killer with a heart goes about his business killing people we would all like to see killed, in the usual bizarre ways. The opening 3-4 pages were hilarious, but the rest of the book brought in characters from prior books for reasons really unclear that really didn’t add much to the plot, which was one of the author’s weaker ones and in the end, was one of the least satisfying in the series.
Awesome characters.
I didn’t care for it, and in fact, didn’t get past the second chapter. I kept waiting for the plot to begin. Lots of great scenery wordage but not much else, in my opinion.
Tim Dorsey is always a treat! I’ve been reading the Serge Storm books for several years now. Never been disappointed.
another great tim Dorsey read. only problem with them is, I finish them too fast
Florida history, inventive sociopathy, creative homicide, along with some sex& drugs … all told with convoluted precision and humor. It’s enough to make you want to live here … or flee to Nebraska. Serge is the modern anti-Quixote, Coleman is his addled Sancho. It’s guilty pleasure at its best.
For me, it lacked any credibility – too weird !! Thought it would be more like the Jake Lassiter books.
Tim Dorsey is always fun reading
I think Serge is actually mellowing, although that still puts him way ahead of anyone else. He’s a one man judge, jury, and executioner, but he always has his reasons. Nobody knows more about Florida than he does. When I lived in Florida, I often heard Floridians out in restaurants checking out the TV over the bar saying, “Why does every dumb fuck story in the country come from Florida?” Not all of them do, but Serge is their leader.
wild sense of humor that makes unexpected and striking jumps from the common to the absurd. I’d love to go drinking with the author to see if he’s this outrageous in person.
I love all of the Serge Storm books. Like all the rest this one makes me laugh out loud and shake my head. I love seeing the bad guys get their just desserts even if it is in Serge’s twisted sense of justice.
Love me some Serge.