Tim Dorsey, Hurricane Punch

Hurricane Punch

Tim Dorsey

Morrow, February 2007, $24.95

ISBN 0060829672

Serial killer Serge A. Storms and his friend Coleman storm across Florida as tourists tracking hurricanes in a "borrowed" vehicle. FBI Special Agent Mahoney follows the path of destruction caused by the Storm; that is the Storm Serge, who provides his unique brand of justice while Coleman gets stoned.

Serge seeks history on their safari, but will also do what he does best, kill those he thinks deserve death. Hurricane extortionists are public enemy number one in his mind, so when he runs across a price-gouger, he renders death unto them, just like he assumes President Bush would expect a loyal American to execute. He is gentler with the media, though he thinks they are begging parasites who deserve death for their pathetic coverage, but he realizes they suicide over one another with their feeble reporting. Life in the eye of the Storm is death.

The plot is a bit loose, but fans of the Stormster will not care, as he is providing satirical justice to bad dudes as defined by him. The storyline is fast-paced and filled with local Florida history, as Serge and Coleman traverse the state. However, the trademark biting absurdity of American pretences involving a horde of subjects like fast food, the Bush, the media, hurricane watchers and government responses (more like alibis), loud music lovers, and as always Florida, are ripped past their claimed moral high-ground to the ridiculous insides in this delightful mocking thriller with the punch of a hurricane.