Florida Roadkill

read the first chapter and part of the second. That was all I could handle.

My intellectual self told me I shouldn't like this book, but I found it to be quite humorous. Oddball criminals being murdered in unique ways was oddly satisfying.

Mr. Dorsey covers much the same terrain as Carl Hiaasen's stories but with an even more sadistic nature. He creates numerous oddball scenarios in which morally-challenged slimeballs meet their doom. I found myself repeatedly laughing despite the profusion of repugnant situations and mounting body count. A fast-paced adventure that left me continually wondering how it was going to end and who would be left standing. Mr. Dorsey's macabre lunacy is somewhat similar to Mr. Hiaasen and Elmore Leonard's works and just as enjoyable. This was the first book I have read of his, but it certainly won't be the last.

I loved it. The characters were colorful, disturbed, and slightly disturbing, though not so disturbing as Kyle's review above. Buddy, this is FICTION! I've been to Florida too and no, I didn't see any one there even remotely like the characters in the book. I should hope that if I were to die tomorrow and go to the Devil that I wouldn't find them down there either, because quite frankly they would scare me to death. And that my friends is the beauty of this book. If you appreciate post modern violence, sex, drugs, and rock and roll, or if you don't mind laughing until things best left unsaid come rushing out of your nose, then this is the book for you. All you other guys might enjoy a good Jane Austin novel, or even something a litlle more cerebral.

Tim Dorsey's "Florida Roadkill" is hands down, without a doubt, one of the funniest novels I've read in years! I was laughing by page two!The narrative is fast-paced and top notch. The plot is devilishly multi-layered and engaging. Mr. Dorsey populates his delightfully demented Floridian world with the most whacked out collection of loonies ever assembled. Serge A. Storms is a character that readers will remember for some time. Mentally unbalanced and a font of trivial pursuit-esque knowledge. Coleman, Serge's sidekick, is a whack-a-loon of the highest caliber. There's a seen involving Coleman, an almost successful bank robbery and a poorly hidden dye-pack that had me laughing till my sides hurt. Clearly a scene that could easily be adapted for the big screen by the Farrelly brothers!The supporting cast of nut-jobs really flesh this novel out! To name but only a few....Sharon Rhodes. Johnny Vegas. The Riders of Eternal Doom, Sunshine Chapter. Fred McJagger and his beleaguered residents of Vista Isles. Mo Grenadine. And let's not forget the world's worst drug cartel!Throw into this mix a suitcase with $5 million in cash and you get a novel that's some bizarre emulsion of a Monty Python sketch, Clerks, Pulp Fiction and "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World"!The inference that this novel is remiscent of Hiaasen is a very nice sentiment and well deserved. However, Tim Dorsey is a writer of his own unqiue style of prose and humor. I EAGERLY await "Hammerhead Ranch Motel"!

Picture this scene: I'm riding in a Greyhound bus filled with various low-lifes (including myself) from Gainesville to Ft. Myers (both in Florida) with this book in hand, laughing out loud every 5 minutes or so. Ordinarily, this is not proper behavior on such a trip, where you should keep your mouth shut and your valuables firmly in grasp. Kudos to you, Mr. Dorsey, for your ability to express the insanity of Florida crime with such wit and candor. You are truly in league with Hiaasen and Leonard for great Florida crime fiction. I can't wait until the next book for the exploits of Serge, who is certainly in line for admission into the Crime Character Hall of Fame (next to Hiaasen's Skink).