Blog Tour: Electric Barricuda by Tim Dorsey

Serge Storms, that loveable thermonuclear vigilante and one-stop-Florida-trivia-shop, has been leaving corpses strewn across the Sunshine State for more than a decade. The authorities—especially one tenacious state agent—have begun to notice the exponential body count, and send a police task force to track down Serge. Could his luck finally have run out?

Meanwhile, armed with his perpetually baked sidekick, Coleman, Serge decides to blitz the state and resurrect his Internet travel-advice website—which, of course, must be the finest and the final word on trekking the Sunshine State. To up the ante, Serge concocts a theme vacation for his cyberspace audience. And that theme? You, too, can experience Florida through the eyes of a fugitive.

Off they go blogging along a getaway route through the state’s most remote bayous, back roads, and bars, where the number of cadavers begin stacking up like Serge’s website hits. And in the middle of all his make-believe close brushes, Serge finally wises up to his pursuers and realizes that the manic gumball rally is genuinely on “in the tradition of the great American chase movie.”

Clues and questions mount:

Who are all the women being photographed naked in the swamp? 

What made Coleman draw on his face with magic markers?

Where is the cruise-to-nowhere taking its drunk prisoners?

When was the last time a Civil War reenactment involved a sports car?

But Serge also has some personal business to tidy up. His grandfather’s old Miami Beach gang suddenly had their life savings wiped out, and there’s a good bet it was no accident. Too much action for Serge to juggle? Not when it all dovetails nicely into his Secret Master Plan. And especially if it involves Serge’s favorite new obsession: tracking Al Capone’s little-known escapades in the Everglades.

So gas up the car, say good-bye to the relatives, and join Serge on the lam as he drives straight for the deepest bowels of Florida to unravel the final mysteries of Electric Barracuda.

The first thing I have to ask before I begin this review is: “Have you ever read a Tim Dorsey book?”

If you answer no, then you probably think that question was a bit odd. If you answer yes, then you know exactly why I asked.

Electric Barricuda is my first Tim Dorsey novel. It will not be my last. I don’t generally read “crime” novels, the closest I have come is to the occasional thriller here or there and my  fondness of the true crime genre. So when I first saw this book…I was a little hesitant. However I kept reading reviews of how funny the author supposedly was and could not help but give it a try. If there is anything I need right now as the stay at home Mother of a very active toddler- it’s a laugh. And laugh I did.

With a wacky mix of unforgettable goof ball characters, crazy shenanigans and never-ending humor Electric Barricuda will draw you in and keep you reading late into the night and on into early the next morning. The book is a non-stop whirl-wind tour into the dysfunctional world of a deranged serial killer who on one hand is a psychotic mass murderer and on the other is the kind of guy you can’t help but root for. From one page to the next you cannot help but continue reading even if it’s just to find out what he’ll do or say next. And forget about knowing what will happen in advance…no chance of that happening here. A fact which is refreshing and part of the allure I must admit. When you read as much as I do you can get bogged down where nothing really stands out to you anymore. Electric Barricuda will shock you right out of that state and keep you on your toes. I am excited to have twelve former novels in the “Serge Storm” series to keep on stand by for a rainy day or an emergency reading slump.

Tim Dorsey is definitely an author who is going to have a certain die hard audience- his humor and subject matter are going to attract and detract certain readers. However his imaginative tales and unique sense of humor will satisfy many different types of readers including those like myself who don’t usually  venture into the “crime” novel genre. In the end….there are no words to describe a Tim Dorsey novel…you’ll just have to read one for yourself.