2003;
367 pages. New Author? : No. Book 5 (out of 19)
in the Serge A. Storms. Genre : Humor;
Crime Fiction; Florida Noir. Overall
Rating : 8½*/10.
Briefcase, briefcase; who’s got the briefcase? You know, the silver one with the five
million dollars in it. Well, right now
Paul and Jethro have it, but their possession of it is rather tenuous, since
Serge A. Storms, our psychopathically-crazy protagonist, can track them via
GPS. Also, there’s the Russian mafia and
the Mierda cartel. They too are after
the money, and what they lack in competency, they make up for in perseverance.
But Fate has a fickle sense of humor, and who knows who’s going to end up with the
cash? Plus, silver metallic suitcases
are rather common and it’s easy for them to get mixed up in the confusion.
What’s To Like...
The Stingray
Shuffle is the third book in the mini-trilogy “Suitcase saga” within the
Serge A Storms series. Curiously, it’s book 5 in the series, but
story-wise it follows books 1 and 2, which are reviewed here and here.
Tim
Dorsey deftly interweaves three plotlines:
The Suitcase Chase, a book (“The Stingray Shuffle”) that jumps from
obscurity to best-selling for no discernible literary reason; and an
interactive role-playing whodunit game on an Amtrak train (“The Silver
Stingray”) going from New York to Florida.
This may sound cluttered, but it really isn’t.
There’s
lots of action, the pacing is brisk, and Dorsey’s wit is laugh out loud
funny. The characters aren’t deep, but
they are all fascinatingly unique. The
book is for mature audiences – there’s cussing and sex (except for Johnny
Vegas, the “Accidental Virgin”), and a couple of Serge’s trademark grisly
executions.
Everything builds to an exciting climax, and I defy you to predict what ultimately happens to the money.
Tim Dorsey gives a backstory on
pages 26-27 for those who haven’t read the earlier installments of the
trilogy. I happened to have accidentally read them in
order, but The Silver Stingray can also be read as a standalone novel.
Kewlest New Word ...
Weltschmerz (n.)
: a feeling of melancholy; world-weariness
(a Germanism)
Others : Propinquity
(n.)
Excerpts...
“Your Honor, he
gets on these compulsive tangents,” said the public defender. “He has to find out every single thing there
is to know about a subject, talk to as many experts as he can, see and touch everything
. . .”
“I object!” said
Serge, jumping to his feet. “He’s making
it sound weird.”
“Weirdness isn’t
grounds for an objection,” said the judge.
“And that’s your own attorney.”
“Then I
respectfully withdraw.” Serge sat back
down and turned to the public defender.
“Proceed.” (pg. 89)
Eugene Tibbs was
blue. That was his job.
He had always
been blue.
“He was blue back
in his days on the Mississippi Delta, in those cotton fields, and he was blue
in Memphis, on Union Avenue, recording for Sam Phillips at Sun Studio. He was blue after selling his soul to the
devil late one night at the crossroads.
And he was blue because he didn’t sell his soul for talent and fame but
for a sandwich. That’s what cheap
liquior will do to you. That’s what the
blues does to you. (pg.
261)
“I discovered something new
about rental cars. (…) The trunk is a self-draining cooler.” (pg. 136)
I
read three books in this series back in 2010.
I thought the first one was so-so, mostly because I had trouble
accepting Serge and his gruesome-yet-inventive ways of offing people. Once I got over that, I ate up the next two
books.
I
don’t know why it’s taken me 5 years to read another book in the series. Most likely, it’s a case of “so many books, so little time”. In any event, I’m glad I did, and although I
read the mass-market paperback version, it should be noted that my local
digital library offers the whole series as both audiobooks, which I don’t do,
and e-books, which I do.
8½ Stars.
Highly recommended if you’re looking for
a light, quick-moving, low-brow read, and like authors who aren’t afraid to put
the “hot” back into “psychotic”.
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