2010; 337 pages. Book 12 (out of 25) in the Serge Storms
series. New Author? : No. Genres : Florida Crime Noir; Dark Comedy;
Stoner Humor. Overall Rating : 8*/10.
“It’s the holidays! Go out and buy lots of beer and ice, pack it
all in the cooler, throw it and a couple changes of clothes in the back seat
and hop in. We’re driving to Florida!!”
“Sounds
great. Where are we going to stay, and
what are we going to do down there?”
“We’ll find some cheap motel
somewhere and cram in as many people as we can find. It’ll cut down on expenses. After that, it’s booze, bikinis, and bongs!”
“Hmm. I thought it would involve firecrackers,
exchanging gifts, or snarfing down turkey.
Tell me again which holiday we’ll be celebrating.”
The biggest one they have in
Florida! SPRING BREAK!!
What’s To Like...
There are three main storylines
to follow in Gator A-Go-Go: a.) Serge’s quest to chronicle the history of Florida's famed spring break, b.) a gang of
professional killers plying their trade, and c.)
a father and son in a federal witness protection program whose cover has been
compromised. It isn’t difficult to see
how those last two plotlines converge, the challenge lies in guessing how Serge is going to get dragged into the
mix.
There are a lot of running
gags in this series, including Coleman’s imparting of stoner knowledge to the huddled
masses and his obsession with doing cannonballs in pools; the travails of Johnny
Vegas, otherwise known as “the reluctant virgin”; and, most noteworthy of all,
Serge’s sense of vigilante justice and innovative executions. For those who eagerly follow that last one, I
counted seven of them here. Several recurring secondary characters show
up to entertain us again, including Agent Mahoney; Serge’s sexy
girlfriends: City and Country; and my favorites, the biker
grannies, Edith, Eunice, Edna and, Ethel.
We get to go on a nice tour of
the Florida party beaches while learning the history of spring break there;
presumably most of it was factual. The
story behind how Daytona Beach got its name was equally enlightening. The excerpt from the children’s book that
Serge is writing, called “Shrimp Boat Surprise”
was surprisingly well-penned, as were his Christmas letter and his
commencement speech at a local kindergarten class.
I enjoyed Coleman’s
contributions about proper partying, even if I already knew about the “designated decoy”, and the “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son”, the latter of
which is verifiably true. It’s been a
while since I’ve seen Bella Abzug get
mentioned, ditto for New Hampshire’s now-defunct “Old
Man of the Mountain”, which I saw as a kid before it crumbled. The chemistry nod (DMSO)
was neat; so were the music references to Randy
Newman, The Eagles, and one of my favorite groups, The Doors.
Everything builds to a
nicely-crafted ending. You kind of know
who’s going to be in the big showdown and how it will play out, but the fun’s
in the details of Serge’s carefully-laid plans, parts of which go unexpectedly
awry, which I always appreciate.
The last chapter is
essentially an epilogue focusing on a number of the secondary characters. Gator a-Go-Go is both a standalone
novel and part of a 25-book series. I am
not reading this series in order, but other than forgetting and having to get
reacquainted with some of the recurring characters, I don’t feel like I’m
missing much.
Ratings…
Amazon:
4.6/5
based on 266 ratings.
Goodreads: 4.13/5 based on 2,687
ratings and 215 reviews.
Excerpts...
“Are you ready? Bet you can’t wait! Knock-knock!
Hi. I’m opportunity!” Serge placed a pile of large, thick-stock
white cards on the counter. He flipped
up the top one, covered with Magic Marker handwriting.
NO SOLICITING.
The clerk scratched his head. “You’re soliciting to sell ‘No Soliciting’
signs?”
“I know!
Can’t believe it hasn’t been thought of before: The perfect mix of
product and presentation. We came in
here creating a problem and providing the solution.” (loc. 304)
“Unfortunately, my plan leaves us trapped
without escape from Guillermo’s murderous retaliation.”
“I usually prefer a way out of that.”
“Most people do, which is why I added
liquor to the Master Plan’s cocktail. It
simultaneously accomplishes both objectives: taking out the target and creating
an escape clause.”
“How does it do that?”
“Through a potent mix of French cuisine and
The Simpsons.” (loc.
3139)
Kindle Details…
Gator
A-Go-Go sells for $6.99 at Amazon right now. The other 24 books in the series range from $1.99 to $12.99, with the more recent ones generally
having the higher prices. I don’t think
Tim Dorsey has written any other books, other than a short (96 pages) “Selected Articles and Essays”
release titled Squall Lines, which will cost you $3.99.
“As the saying
goes, the difference between genius and stupidity is genius has its limits.”
(loc. 244)
The quibbles are miniscule. There’s a lot of cussing (22 instances in the first 10%), some adult
situations (though nothing lewd), and
tons and tons of drugs and booze. If
these things offend you, you probably will also be aghast at Serge’s vigilante
acts.
It’s also true that the
stories in this series are formulaic.
Tim Dorsey may shuffle the Florida history lessons, the backgrounds of
the perpetrators and their victims, and the places visited in the Sunshine
State, but the template is the same: Serge gets obsessed with Florida, bad guys
interfere with his obsession by threatening good folks, bad guys are disposed of in innovative ways, good folks rejoice. Some of us happen to really like that
formula.
If there was any sort of
tie-in between the story and the book’s title, I never noticed it. And last and probably worst, someone really
needs to update Tim Dorsey’s Wikipedia page.
8 Stars. Gator a-Go-Go is a fun, fast-paced, ideal beach read with lots of laughs, drugs, and violence, with little or nothing to be taken seriously. I know what to expect from a Serge Storms novel, and yet again, was not in any way disappointed.
No comments:
Post a Comment