Excellent Serge--captures Tampa perfectly!

As a former resident of Tampa, and aware of all the crime, reputation, boundary "wars", and perverse reputation for strip clubs and citizen-funded stadiums, this book had me hooting! At best, Tampa is weird with a history of corrupt politics and bizarre planning. At worst, it was a haven for car-jackings, real estate scams, and home invasions. All this was coupled with the pseudo society perched on Bayshore Blvd., which did, indeed flood at the slightest rain. The car dealers are accurately portrayed, as would be the impossible plight of a transplanted mid-westerner. Perfect!

But fortunately there is the well-versed Serge, with his own strict and twisted code of honor. It is impossible not to learn a lot of Florida's checkered history when reading one of these books--a truly fascinating aspect to the read.

Dorsey is a Tampa resident who has an incredibly deft and humorous way of depicting the city's foibles, and those of its often misguided residents. This is one of the more hilarious of the Serge books, as it seems a bit closer to reality--bizarre as it seems. (The editor does need to make sure the narrator (not my favorite) knows the pronunciations of landmarks. The Don Caesar Hotel is a historical tradition, and not pronounced like "Caesar" in "Julius Caesar", but always pronounced "say-zar", with the emphasis on the "zar".)

Hilarious book for anyone!

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5 people found this helpful

So entertaining!!

I am a Tampa native and an avid reader….this was great! Very funny and a great twist on Tampa in the 90s!!! Bravo!

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Perhaps the best and most twisted of the series!

A hysterically funny little tale fortified with twisted craziness that exemplifies the trailer park spectacle that is Florida!

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Love crazy Florida!

If you've ever lived in the Sunshine State, you'll believe this is possible ! If you like Carl Hiassen, you'll like Dorsey. Fun, relaxing, and laugh out loud great stories. On to my next....

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Where it starts to be a series, imho

I say this, even though the events in this book obviously take place during the time frame of Florida Roadkill--sometime between when Serge and Coleman meet Sharon, and when they go to the World Series. Actually, the chronology is a bit dodgy in all the books and, at least once, Serge mentions that sort of thing as one of his pet peeves, so you know it's intentional. (My researches tell me that the author intends the books to be read in the order published.)

Serge is in all of the books, including the first three, although some people apparently had trouble recognizing him in Orange Crush. (They must not have been paying attention. Admittedly, that one is different, though.) One of the later audiobooks includes an interview with Tim Dorsey and he says that when he wrote Florida Roadkill, he didn't have it in mind to make a Serge series, but then things just sort of headed in that direction. Now that I've read all 16 books and am starting through them again, I feel like this is the one where the "Serge Storms Series" really hits its stride. (But I recommend reading them all.)

Just FYI: My mental image of Serge is a sort of morphing of Mike Myers/Jimmy Fallon/Johnny Depp, but I definitely think Depp should play him in the movies.

We find out more about his past, and his "professional" rivalry with a police officer named Mahoney. His obsessive passion for Florida history is well established. After this, you can just go ahead and start laughing whenever someone says something along the lines of, "Nothing can possibly go wrong now." Most importantly, from here on, we begin to know which events will likely cause Serge to get out the duct tape and head for Home Depot. (That thumping you hear from the trunk of his car will be one of his new "friends.")

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6 people found this helpful

Fast paced

A fast-paced story with some great observations about everyday life and people. I personally couldn't find anything to like about Serge and this fact diminished the book for me.

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Absolutely accurately funny

I love the bank's nearly incomprehensible mission statement that ends with the punchline "because we have babies, too." This book captures nearly everything that's wrong and right about people everywhere. It just seems... idk.. more concentrated in certain areas of Florida (I'd add Arizona, California). This is a great Serge Storms book. Highest recommendation!

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Serge Lite

Or, Serge Goes Straight. He talks about it anyway. But his idea of going straight includes a kidnap for ransom to finance going straight. Still, it's not quite as over the top as other Serge Storms books -- he only arranges two of his patented Rube Goldberg killings, and much of the remainder of the book is peopled by very eccentric but mostly ordinary characters, with a relatively low body count. So all in all, a bit on the light side, but still laugh out loud funny.

Well, when I say eccentric but mostly ordinary, that doesn't describe Serge's sidekick Coleman, who is anything but ordinary. Although this is Dorsey's third Serge Storms novel, it either predates or is concurrent with the first, Florida Roadkill. Dorsey explained that this was the only way to write about characters who were killed off in earlier books -- he must mostly mean Coleman. You can see why Dorsey would want to resurrect him for Triggerfish -- his character really comes to life, hilariously. So successfully that Coleman somehow comes back from the dead in later books despite (apparently) dying in Roadkill.

The most memorable moments of any Serge Storms book is when Serge goes on one of his semi-coherent, super-coherent rants. In Triggerfish, he gives the commencement address at a local Tampa college, even though he is not on the faculty -- which doesn't stop him from holding a popular lecture class on Florida history and culture. His advice to the graduates is priceless.

The way George Wilson reads Serge, especially when he riffs on this and that, simply cannot be replicated in reading the print version. It requires this kind of performance. And after yay many Serge Storms books, he has it down pat. At this point, I've read two of Tim Dorsey's first five Serge Storms books in print and listened to two others on audio, and audio is hands down the winning format -- the fifth of those first five is cued up in Audible for a listen in the near future.

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3 people found this helpful

Like TV shows "My Name is Earl" & "Seinfeld"

Any additional comments?

This is my first Serge Storms book. Although this is the fourth book in a series, I felt that the book could stand alone.

The book takes the best parts of the TV shows like "My Name is Earl" and "Seinfeld." In Serge Storms, you have an anti-hero (in this case a sociopath/petty theft) with a cast of zany characters inhabiting a neighborhood in Tampa. Poor decisions are made and unfortunate events occur. These missteps unwittingly become magnified by Serge, his violent, coked-out girlfriend, Sharon, and stoner buddy, Coleman until all chaos breaks out.

This is book is hysterical and had me replaying chapters to re-listen to the funniest parts. The author has a wickedly funny perspective on American culture and the city of Tampa, in particular.

The narrator effectively uses different inflections and tones to distinguish the characters. I could tell who was speaking from the narration voice. He uses a nasal voice for most characters, especially the law-abiding characters naive to the plots of various rouges. This may detract for some readers, but I found it a communicated the innocence of the characters.

The book involves sexual matter and murder. If you are easily offended, you probably should pass on this book.

For myself, I will be returning to Tim Dorsey's Tampa again to read the first book.

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2 people found this helpful

2nd time reading the series

Love a book love the author loved storyline my 2nd time reading the Ceres this time I get to do in Florida definitely see me doing it again

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