Coconut Cowboy

Starred review from November 16, 2015
Bestseller Dorsey’s entertainingly picaresque 19th Serge Storms novel (after 2015’s Shark Skin Suite) opens with a scene that sets the comic tone for what’s to follow. A dispute between mascots for competing eateries, a man in a panda suit and one in a gorilla suit, turns violent; at a nearby bank, a would-be thief, who leads a “long, imprecise life footnoted entirely by sighs,” learns to his chagrin that he’s waited in the wrong line to hand in a robbery note. Dorsey deftly brings all his players to life, none more so than his serial killer lead, Serge, a vigilante who has a soft spot for the victims of bad guys other than him, a wide-ranging knowledge of popular culture, and original insights (e.g., that the Amazon delivery model was inspired by the Acme company in the Road Runner cartoons). The major plot thread focuses on geologist Peter Pugliese, who has just moved from New York to the small burg of Wobbly, Fla., and finds himself in shady company. The author’s Kinky Friedman–like voice perfectly suits the engaging story arc. Author tour. Agent: Nat Sobel, Sobel Weber.

August 1, 2015

Dorsey follows up his New York Times best-selling Tiger Shrimp Tango with another Serge A. Storms extravaganza, this one sending our lovable serial killer into the Florida panhandle. With a 50,000-copy first printing and an eight-city tour.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2015
Demonstrating that his encyclopedic knowledge of Florida history and his ability to transform obsession into a thing of beauty reach north past Daytona, Serge Storms takes his stoner pal Coleman on a pilgrimage through the Sunshine State's panhandle. Completing Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper's quest for the American dream isn't for wimps. It takes guts, vision, and a couple of slammin' high-handlebarred choppers. Serge has plenty of the first, maybe too much of the second...and as for the third, that's just what Bear Claw, owner of ED'Z DEAD SLEDZ, can provide. Of course Coleman, who can't quite seem to get the hang of using a kickstand, ends up in the sidecar of Serge's hog as the two barrel through Chipley and Marianna to Greenville, home of Ray Charles, and ultimately to the banks of the mighty Suwannee. Meantime, Peter and Mary Pugliese have found their version of the American dream courtesy of Maxine, a realtor who sells them a neo-Victorian, complete with second-story porch, in the North Florida town of Wobbly, known for its awesome speed trap and interlocking directorate of brothers, cousins, in-laws, and outlaws serving in every public office imaginable. Mayor Vernon Log invites Peter to join Bo, Jabow, Otis, Clem, Harlan, and Haywood down at Lead Belly's for ribs, and pretty soon, the two have a working relationship. (After all, a corrupt Florida politician can always use a geologist on his payroll.) Serge and Coleman, joined by Princeton grad student Matt, who finds Serge the ideal research subject, plow eastward, toward a confrontation that's utterly predictable and totally unforeseeable. Dorsey's 19th keeps the body count low but the energy high as he proves again that enough is enough, but too much is plenty.

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December 15, 2015
Oddball serial-killer Serge Storms and his sidekick, Coleman, continue tracking down Florida's greatest cinematic locations (Shark Skin Suite, 2015), this time by retracing the road trip in Easy Rider through Sunshine State small towns. Serge is in his element doling out bits of weird history, from Tom Petty's hotly debated tree plantings in Gainesville to Homosassa Springs' resident hippopotamus, while still finding time to dole out imaginative justice to both the predatory and the colossally entitled. Meanwhile, in Wobbly, Florida, newcomer Peter Pugliese stumbles into a redneck dynasty's web of corruption. Wobbly's mayor, Vernon Log, and his seemingly endless string of relatives are lining their pockets with drinking-water scams, money laundering, and a shady subdivision deal. When a drug trafficker's cousin and his dirty money are found buried under Peter's house, the Wobbly machine initiates a jaw-dropping damage-control campaign. Wobbly's slapdash corruption is the kind of American Dreamwrecker that Serge can't abide, and he and Coleman set out to restore Wobbly's freedom. Heartily recommended for readers who like their mayhem served up with belly laughs.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)