When college student Andy McKenna comes to Florida for Spring Break, he is blissfully unaware that his witness-relocated father has just accidentally become, in quick succession, a minor celebrity and a once-again open target for murderous drug dealers seeking decade-old revenge. Fortunately for Andy, the best protection against murderous drug dealers is a murderous historian with a whimsical attitude toward other people's mortality and a decided bias against drug dealers...
Years before Dexter Morgan began his violent ways in Miami, author Tim Dorsey had already given Florida a serial killer to root for: the strangely charismatic Serge A. Storms, scourge of criminals and rude tourists alike, defender of largely imagined slights, historian of all Florida knowledge large and small, and unrequested champion to those who would probably prefer he not kill quite so many people.
And now he's coming to Spring Break in Daytona Beach.
In Dorsey's 12th book, Gator A-Go-Go, Serge is manically touring through (and lecturing on) the three major epochs of Spring Break, from its origins in Fort Lauderdale to its current home of Panama City, with a hilarious stop in Daytona on the way. He drinks deep of the local ambiance, his highly-intoxicated traveling partner Coleman finds college kids eager to learn from the master, and all would be well if it weren't for those pesky drug dealers.
Add in the sexy ladies City and Country, the elderly-but-feisty women of G-Unit, Johnny Vegas, the Accidental Virgin, and the obnoxious CEO of the Girls Gone Haywire empire and you've got... basically, another Tim Dorsey book. Violence, humor, sex, outrageous situations, and a true appreciation of all Florida has to offer. Which mostly means violence, humor, sex, and outrageous situations.
And that's what Dorsey's fans come back for, time and again. Some of those fans are the young violence-loving males his publisher probably expected, and yes, some are in prison ("Both the guards and the inmates read my books" Dorsey said, "just for totally different reasons"), but most of the people enjoying his character's enthusiastic and highly original murders -- which in the past have included asphyxiation with Fix-A-Flat, a nitrous-oxide-filled scuba tank, numerous Rube Goldberg death traps utilizing common household items and chemicals, and even (once) a space shuttle -- aren't necessarily what you'd expect.
"Most of my readers are... well, like you people," Dorsey told the laughing crowd that showed up at his author signing last Thursday night at the Daytona Beach Barnes and Noble. "Middle-aged, middle class, people who respect the law." But Serge's outraged sense of justice regarding poor manners -- which, admittedly, changes from moment to moment, depending on his current focus -- strikes a chord.
Dorsey is not a violent man himself, he'll be the first to tell you. But he does manage to unload his thoughts about the inconsiderate and the boorish through his creation. "Serge is my alter ego... OK, he's me," he admitted. He told the crowd about spending a few hours walking through Home Depot with a notebook and coming up with a book's worth of fiendishly clever murder plans. And both he and Serge share an obvious love of Florida. And of road trips in muscle cars.
The result is an entertaining read that starts quickly and keeps you laughing to the last page. If nothing else, read it for the lessons in Spring Break history and the local mentions. And walk carefully around the Boardwalk area.
More information: TimDorsey.com
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