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Tim Dorsey always delivers a laugh-out-loud hilarious ride and TORPEDO JUICE is no exception. Serial killer Serge Storms is hiding out in the Florida Keys with his lovable but terminally screwy friend Coleman, who has somehow managed to return from the dead to keep Serge company. Although Serge loves hanging out with Coleman and sharing the better part of the day with the gang at the No Name Pub, he feels something is missing in his life and sets out to find himself a wife. For most people, the first step toward marital bliss involves meeting people. For Serge, it involves stalking. Serge has more than a few mishaps in which he manages to creep out his potential partners even before he actually meets them. Finally, though, he does pair up with an unlikely librarian. Except that later on we learn that she may not be such an odd choice after all. At the same time, a woman in a metallic green Trans Am is on the run after finding her husband's beheaded body in their bathroom. When she calls her sister-in-law from a pay phone, she learns that her brother and several others have also been slain. She heads south down the highway that connects the Florida Keys seeking revenge on the drug kingpin she feels sure is responsible for their deaths. Meanwhile, someone's trying to kill Serge. There really isn't much of a story here. It's more a series of slapstick scenes interspersed between screeds on Florida history and the need to preserve its ecosystem than a novel. But there are some very funny bits. I still can't tell the story about the 12-step group for obsessive compulsives without laughing. If nothing else, Dorsey's send-up of the culture of victimization deserves to be read. If you've read Dorsey's books before and enjoyed them, chances are good you'll like Torpedo Juice. But don't make it your introduction to this series. STINGRAY SHUFFLE and CADILLAC BEACH are both much stronger books.
Reviewed by Carroll Johnson, March 2005
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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