I may have blogged about this one before, as I have read and enjoyed all of Dorsey's novels about Serge Storms. But I have recently listened to a couple of them as audiobooks in the car, and I'm finding that format to be perhaps even more enjoyable than reading them. Hurricane Punch is the one I just finished a couple of days ago, so I am going to talk about it.
This is a series of manic crime novels set in Florida. The protagonist of all of them is Serge Storms, hyperactive Florida-loving serial killer. His engine runs faster than most of us who are sane, and so he is usually balanced out by a slower sidekick. Sometimes it's Lenny, but in this novel it's Coleman, who is a good-natured substance abuser. He isn't fussy what sort of substance, he is happy to try anything, but most often it seems to be alcohol or pot.
Some of these novels are set around particular Florida themes, like cruise ships or spring break. Hurricane Punch is, of course, about hurricanes. Serge, not surprisingly, loves hurricanes. He and Coleman steal a Hummer in the first scene of the book, and they spend the rest of hurricane season driving around Florida, running in the eye of the storm whenever possible. Occasionally they encounter an asshole who needs to die, and Serge handles each one in inventive fashion.
There is a parallel storyline about a miserable young crime reporter for Tampa Bay Today, owned by a media conglomerate that resembles Rupert Murdoch's properties but with a CEO who seems to be based on Richard Branson. In this storyline, as well as Serge's commentary on hurricane coverage, Dorsey is able to insert a lot of material on the media. Jeff McSwirley hates being a crime reporter, but they refuse to allow him to switch beats because he's very good at it. He is miserable and falling apart, a man getting close to the edge.
There is a series of murders, which Mahoney, formerly a state agent before his nervous breakdown, believes are being committed by Serge. He decides to use Jeff to flush out Serge by planting things in his stories designed to make Serge angry. The problem is that Serge doesn't seem to be the killer, and the real killer has now set his eyes on McSwirley.
Hurricane Punch is a terrifically fun romp. I have enjoyed all of this series to one degree or another, but I love the crazy rush of deliberately running along inside the hurricane. I suppose that's why this one has stuck with me more than some of the others. It was interesting listening to is as an audiobook, too. The reader's voice for Serge was different than I hear him in my head, but probably that's the voice I will imagine in the future. One interesting thing is that listening to the book made me aware that there were some repetitive parts. I'm not sure why Dorsey did it, but for instance the bit about Jeff being miserable and why he's a good crime reporter was explained at least three times. The book isn't so long or complicated that I had forgotten after the first explanation and needed it to be repeated. On the other hand, Dorsey does some interesting things playing around with the timeline of the story (which he also did in the other one I listened to recently, Nuclear Jellyfish), so who knows what order the scenes were originally written in? Anyway, when I read the book I was able to just skim right over the repetitive bits without them sinking in, but when you're listening to a book, you can't just skim a paragraph or three every so often, you have to take it at the reader's pace. This is one reason why I am very careful in choosing audiobooks to listen to.
I love this series, and listening to them is perhaps even more fun than reading them. I look forward to Torpedo Juice next.
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