Orange Crush (Serge Storms, 3)

In his latest book, Tim Dorsey takes his cast of assorted Florida lowlifes and psychotics on a political road trip. The gubernatorial campaign is the backdrop for murder, mayhem and assorted amusing mishaps. A mean spirited and shallow candidate experiences a major paradigm shift after his reserve unit is activated causing him to end up in the middle of a bloody mess in the Balkans. Upon his return he takes to the back roads in an orange RV with a mysterious amnesiac/savant speechwriter and a minority-phobic press secretary in an attempt to find out what the regular people really want. While the press obsesses on the most average person in Florida, a serial killer is writing tourism slogans on his victims and a sociopathic developer is bringing NFL football to new lows. Fast and funny with well crafted characters this dark yet lighthearted comedy is a rapid and rewarding read. Although this is somewhat new territory, fans of Dorsey's earlier work will not be disappointed to find that a familiar character lurks in the foreground. This book is a thoroughly enjoyable view of the underbelly of Florida and the cesspool of politics.Highly recommended.

I rarely find a new author that rockets to the top my must read list, at the speed Tim Dorsey has. Dorsey another master of the Florida Crazy fiction was knocked at first for trying to hard to be like Carl Hiaasen. However now that he is in his third book he coming into his own and has a style all to his own. Dorsey crams alot a characters and little quick storylines and sometimes it can get a little confusing to the reader, but by the end Dorsey brings everything together usually with some very funny results."Orange Crush" revovles around the govenor's race for the great state of Florida. The incumbent Marlon Conrad is a a shoe in. Then Marlon has a political awakening and starts to be politician for the people instead of the politcian for big money. He buys a orange mobile home and starts visiting the lesser known parts of Florida looking for what the real people of Florida want. Along for the ride are his press secratary who is afraid of minorities and a speechwriter with amnesia. Gomer Tatum his opponent is being led by want-to-be first lady Jackie Monroeville. It the middle of this there is a killer loose. The story ends on election day and the result are pure classic Dorsey.Tim Dorsey has now put himself on my top five author list. He is a must read for any fan of this genre. Readers who have read Dorsey may wonder at first where Serge is?? Don't worry he is there and is up to his usual tricks. For the first time reader you can start with "Orange Crush" but I suggest reading "Florida Roadkill" and "Hammerhead Ranch Motel" in order first. One word of warning Chapter 39 is so funny you might split a gut.

Being a Florida native I had always searched for books that capture the true essence of Florida: the residents, the visitors, the violence, the history. When I read Tim Dorsey's Florida Roadkill I thought: Finally, someone is writing about the Florida that I grew up in and know. The Florida where we invented the Home Invasion Robbery and were proud of it. The Florida where even my paperboy carries a pager, a cell phone and a Glock. I went on to read Hammerhead Ranch Motel and loved it. Once again Tim Dorsey was able to capture Florida with all of its colorful characters and the you-have-to-read-it-to-believe-it crime combined with his amazing sense of humor. Add to the mix Serge Storms; sociopath and Florida history buff. To quote Serge "We're a twenty-four hour, dead-bolted, hair on the back of your neck, free continental breakfast deathwish vacation of a lifetime, not from concentrate..." I dont want to give away too much about his first two books except to say that if you are reading them for the first time you are in for an amazing experience. Serge rocks! Orange Crush delivers the same humor, mayhem, and true to life image of Florida. Tim Dorsey gives his book a notable and wonderful backdrop: a Florida gubernatorial race. Being a politcal junkie I had always thought enough was not written about Florida politics. With Orange Crush Tim Dorsey takes us behind the scenes of a Florida guberntorial race with all of its intricacies, corruption, humor, and of course Serge Storms who pops up in the least likely place. As I read Orange Crush I laughed out loud so many times that my roommate kept coming into my room to find out what was so funny. I would read the passage to him out loud and think to myself Orange Crush is truly Tim Dorsey's funniest and coolest book to date.

Once on late night TV I came across a church service where the attendees went into laughing fits that ranged from a continuous giggle to spontaneous bursts of howling and screeching. The people at a certain laundromat in Jacksonville probably think I am either a memeber of that church or someone who escaped a group home because this book had more zingers, one liners, twisted undercurrents and inside jokes between the characters, the writer and the reader than anything I have ever read! It left me talking to myself and laughing hysterically in public places. Being someone who lives in Florida and often roadtrips while follwing my favorite musicians across the state (whether they want me to or not) I can say that I have run into some permutation of all the characters in Dorsey's 3 novels, but I am still amazed that he can create more and more of these people and weave them in and out of plots and subplots that are both disjoint and cohesive at the same time! I also have to say that if there was ever a fictional character I could have a crush on it's Serge A Storms.Ok, so he kills people who get on his nerves. I've hung out with people who have irritating personal habits before. If your real life leaves you in need of a laugh, your sense of humor needs a twisted restoration, or the only way you can experience ADHD is vicariously, Tim Dorsey's novels are the perfect fix. Forget linear plotting, chronological disfunction is part of the game. Come along for the roadtrip. It's one of the best you'll ever have.

Tim Dorsey does it again!!! If you like FLORDIA ROADKILL and HAMMERHEAD RANCH MOTEL, you'll love Dorsey's new book, ORANGE CRUSH! This novel is filled with more craziness and mayhem, than both his previous books combined. Also MR. Serge A. Storms makes another appearance. This book was a real page turner, I couldn't put it down. I read the entire thing in one day! And after my gut hurt so bad from laughing at the outrageous hi-jinks going on throughout the book. It's a MUST read!