Publishers Weekly
12/19/2022
At the start of bestseller Dorsey’s antic 26th novel featuring vigilante serial killer Serge A. Storms (after 2022’s Mermaid Confidential), the Covid lockdown causes panic among the residents of Pelican Bay, a condominium complex in the Florida Keys where Serge and his stoner pal, Coleman, have been taking a break from their wilder shenanigans. This being Florida, life soon gets back to what passes for normal in the Sunshine State. In Honduras, a mishandled CIA operation leads to the death of the wrong man, and an honest police officer, Yandy Falcón, who witnesses the debacle, realizes he must flee the country to save his life. Yandy winds up in South Florida, where he eventually comes under the protective wing of Serge, who has been having fun leading Serge’s Florida Keys Underbelly Spy Tours. At the spectacular climax, Serge drives a tour bus onto an abandoned bridge where an action movie is being filmed, followed by a host of bad guys on Yandy’s trail. As usual, the comic set pieces overshadow the plot, which can be hard to follow at times, but no matter. Dorsey reliably delivers the gonzo goods. Agent: Nat Sobel, Sobel Weber Assoc.
From the Publisher
Can it still be hurricane season? Must be, because here come Serge A. Storms and his perpetually stoned bro, Coleman, in Tim Dorsey’s gonzo crime caper Naked Came the Florida Man.” — New York Times Book Review
“Dorsey’s latest in the humorous crime fiction category highlights that outrageous brand of Florida humor. With chaos always at his side, Serge A. Storms is back, and this time, he’s on a cemetery tour across the state, investigating an urban myth that just might be real and causing mayhem along the way.” — Parade on Naked Came the Florida Man
“Upping the ante has always been the strategy for Tim Dorsey’s books, which are built on a peculiarly Floridian brand of outrageousness. So it’s no surprise that in his latest, Naked Came the Florida Man, Dorsey reaches a new high in that respect.” — Newsday
“Dorsey has used his novels to showcase Florida, to embrace its eccentricities, its residents’ bizarre behavior and its unusual history. Dorsey shows he loves Florida in each novel…Dorsey ladles each novel with wide swaths of humor that is more guttural yet still funny. Like [Carl] Hiaasen, Dorsey’s humor is grounded in reality…Mermaid Confidential is more Keys-centric as he adds trivia and history that is ‘so nectar-of-Florida.’” — South Florida Sun-Sentinel
“Delightfully madcap…The suspenseful, seemingly unconnected subplots imaginatively intertwine as Dorsey brings everything to a suitably vicious and explosive finale. This fiendishly funny adventure is irresistible.” — Publishers Weekly on Mermaid Confidential
“Fans of the lovable Serge will enjoy his latest zany Florida adventures in Dorsey’s 25th series installment.” — Library Journal on Mermaid Confidential
“A wacky celebration of violence, depravity and the weirdness of Florida. Think the Three Stooges meets Ted Bundy . . . sure to appeal to readers who think that Carl Hiaasen’s slapstick noir novels are too darned subtle.” — Associated Press on Tropic of Stupid
“A rollicking road trip we’d love to sign up for. ” — New York Times Book Review on No Sunscreen for the Dead
“With what is his best title yet, best-selling Tampa author Tim Dorsey returns with his 24th adventure…a ‘fan’-tastic, worthy addition to the pantheon.” — Florida Times-Union on Tropic of Stupid
"Bestseller Dorsey breezes through his 24th comic novel . . . mixing the slapstick humor of the Three Stooges with Sunshine State details that would make a Florida history professor envious." — Publishers Weekly on Tropic of Stupid
"This hugely entertaining series . . . [has] been one delightful adventure after another. Storms is a wonderful character, a man with a can-do attitude and, well, a unique sense of retribution. You can’t help liking the guy: he is, by all objective standards, a dangerously insane psychopath, but to Serge, it’s the rest of the world that’s crazy, while he’s merely a misunderstood crusader for law and order. A new Dorsey novel is always a cause for celebration among readers who like their heroes more than a little bent." — Booklist on Tropic of Stupid
“A riotous retirement for Serge Storms [with] a wickedly clever yet weirdly inspiring plot.” — Tampa Bay Times on No Sunscreen for the Dead
“Dorsey’s superior 22nd crime novel [is] another successful blend of the funny and the fiendish.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) on No Sunscreen for the Dead
“All Dorsey mayhem is vintage Dorsey mayhem, but Florida’s retirement scene provides the perfect backdrop for this latest round of lunacy.” — Kirkus Reviews on No Sunscreen for the Dead
“Dorsey’s novels are unfailingly entertaining... Serge is, hands down, the most smoothly charming, irrepressibly goofy, joyfully out-of-his-mind series lead in contemporary mystery fiction.... Don’t miss this one.” — Booklist on No Sunscreen for the Dead
Library Journal
12/09/2022
Even wily Florida adventurer Serge A. Storms, and his strung-out pal Coleman had to live through COVID, but after they get vaccinated, they once again turn their condo in the Keys into party central. Serge eventually takes the revelry on the road in a former prison bus. They have company on their final trip. Several honest people were caught up in a botched CIA op in Honduras; a cop named Yandy, Reevis, a reporter, and Debbie, a cowgirl-dressed undercover agent. When they all escape to Miami, they are pursued by cheap military contractors, operatives with cameras, and even fans of a full-sized nightclub bunny hero. Reevis knows the best way for salvation is to turn to Serge for help. Only Serge can turn a bus full of seniors and three fugitives into an explosive spy film on Seven Mile Bridge. VERDICT There's an audience for Dorsey's 26 Serge A. Storms novels, but this one is only for series fans. Coleman and the seniors are high throughout the book, and the combination of Honduras, bunnies, fake militia, and the CIA turn the story into a disorganized caper.—Lesa Holstine
Kirkus Reviews
2023-02-08
Quintessential Florida man Serge Storms rocks the post-Covid world.
Where better to ride out the tedium of the pandemic lockdown than a condominium in Islamorada, halfway down the Florida Keys? With assistance from both Alexa and Siri, who compete vigorously for the boys’ attention, Serge and his perennial wingman, Coleman, collect enough consumer goods to keep them amused for at least 24 hours of isolation. Once that’s over, they go back to what they do best: careening wildly through the streets in Serge’s Ford ’73 Galaxie, going after scalpers who charge insane amounts for toilet paper. Coleman uses his newly purchased bong, a handsome job embossed with a glass iguana, to teach his condo neighbors how to consume their newly acquired medical marijuana more efficiently, while Serge returns to hosting bus tours of little-known Florida roadside attractions. Meanwhile, a covert operation in Honduras goes disastrously wrong, leaving police officer Yandy Falcón and reporter Reevis Tome in the lurch. While the two make their separate ways north to Miami, Dorsey bides his time as readers wait eagerly for their inevitable meet-up with Serge. Their collision will be shocking but in no way surprising to seasoned fans of this zany franchise.
A global health crisis is just one more day in the life of Dorsey’s resilient hero.
