Product Description

The drinks are on Sunshine State historian/spree killer Serge A. Storms, who's decided it's high time he got married. So he's motoring down to the Florida Keys -- the ultimate end of the line -- in search of Ms. Right . . .

and finding his doped-up basket case bud Coleman along the way. But for Serge, "getting hitched" doesn't necessarily mean "settling down" -- not when South Florida is crawling with slimeballs, swindlers, unrepentant jerks, and annoying bystanders whose ranks need some serious thinning.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #50176 in Books
• Published on: 2006-04-01
• Released on: 2006-03-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 400 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In his seventh screwball mystery, Dorsey (Cadillac Beach; Orange Crush) serves up his usual cocktail of tropical mayhem and humor, though the mix is a little slushy this time around. Serge Storms, the nutty serial killer from Dorsey's previous novels, has gotten it into his head to search for Mrs. Right. His quest takes him to the underbelly of the Florida Keys, where he finds unlikely true love the minute he spots mousy librarian Molly. But even marriage can't tame Dorsey's hyperactive antihero, whose extracurricular activities of murder and cult organizing eventually lead to a clash with an Enron-like CEO eager to rebuild the community, and with a mysterious drug lord who is intent on destroying it. Muddying the waters are Coleman, an annoying junkie with the mentality of a fourth grader; Gus DeLand, a deputy whose ex-girlfriend's revelations about his sex life have the whole town laughing; and Anna Sebring, a woman out to avenge her brother's death. A few ingenious plot points entertain, but never credibly intersect; the hectic action fails to add up to a smooth-flowing story. The colorful Keys get Dorsey's trademark treatment, but even irrepressible zaniness isn't enough to keep this leaky vessel afloat.
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Review
"A raucous good time of a ride" -- Tampa Tribune

"Dorsey has another winner on his hands with Torpedo Juice." -- Florida Today

"Explosively funny" -- Miami Herald

"Grade: A. Bust a gut laughing. . . It doesn’t get any better." -- Denver Rocky Mountain News

"Wildly entertaining" -- Charleston Post & Courier

Review
"Brutally funny" (Pittsburgh Tribune )

"Wildly entertaining" (Charleston Post & Courier )

"Dorsey has another winner on his hands with Torpedo Juice." (Florida Today )

"Grade: A. Bust a gut laughing. . . It doesn't get any better." (Denver Rocky Mountain News )

"A raucous good time of a ride" (Tampa Tribune )

"Explosively funny" (Miami Herald )

Customer Reviews

Typical Dorsey - as addictive as Coleman's weed
If you're looking for highbrow, Pulitzer Prize-type material in a book, don't look here. But if you're looking for a book that will entertain you with some good laughs, which is my kind of book, then Tim Dorsey's your man. It's not every writer that could make a serial killer into a character than you can identify with and root for, but Dorsey does it. He is easily one of my favorite writers.

As for Torpedo Juice, this book marks the return of that lovable loser Coleman. The circumstances by which Dorsey brings him back are somewhat iffy, but who cares, we're reading this book for fun not for realism. Serge also gets married in this book, and learns some of the hard lessons that all men who have gone before him have to face sooner or later (i.e. that logic has no meaning where wives are concerned). The rest of the plot for Torpedo Juice was a little weak though, I thought. Usually Dorsey has about 4-5 plotlines all running simultaneously that come crashing together at the end, but TJ didn't really have that whiz-bang feeling to it.

In my opinion Dorsey has fallen into a pattern where his even-numbered books (Hammerhead, Triggerfish, Cadillac) are terrific, and the odd-numbered books (Roadkill, Orange, Stingray, Torpedo) less so, though still quite good. Triggerfish Twist is quite possibly THE funniest book I've ever read; I can't recommend it highly enough. Torpedo Juice isn't Dorsey's best effort, but I still enjoyed every minute of it and can't wait for the next adventure of Serge A. Storms. Plus maybe we'll get Coleman and Lenny together in the same book; that should be interesting.

Another welcome and wonderful excursion into South Florida
You'd have to be crazy to live someplace that could have four back-to-back hurricanes. But then it's probably not the hurricanes that draw people to South Florida. There's something about what a perpetually sunny if occasionally murderously windy climate does to people that provides the fodder for writers like Carl Hiaasen, Dave Barry (wearing his fiction hat), and Tim Dorsey.

TORPEDO JUICE, Dorsey's sixth novel, provides yet another welcome and wonderful excursion into the land famous for oranges, gators, an animated rodent, hanging chads, and the aforementioned meteorological phenomenon that causes shopping malls to swap roofs.

Before you're forty pages into Dorsey's latest effort you've encountered a menagerie of loopy characters. Chief among them is Serge A. Storms, a rather charming, intelligent, and likable homicidal maniac who rescues a couple of vacationing retirees from a lowlife who has barged into their hotel room to clean out their cash. Shortly thereafter Serge turns an MRI machine into an instrument of street justice. The result is the definition of "fiendishly clever," and leaves homicide detectives trying to figure out why the body they've found has exit wounds only. From there things take a turn for the strange, as Serge hooks up with a perpetually stoned pothead named Coleman and embarks on a quest to find a marriageable girl.

Dorsey is an undeniably funny writer, with a remarkable knack for wringing laughter out of situations that might otherwise make readers squirm. He revels in the bizarre, and his characters always seem to be at the center of swirls and eddies of weirdness, like that cloud of dust that accompanied Pigpen in Charles Schultz's "Peanuts" comics. But Dorsey pulls this off without descending into silliness. This is funny stuff, made even funnier by virtue of its underlying darkness.

TORPEDO JUICE is my first exposure to Tim Dorsey, which is too bad because now I have no choice but to go out and buy his six previous books. But no sacrifice is too great when it comes to overloading my already straining bookshelves with stuff that is well worth reading. Besides, the added weight will keep the shelves in place here on the North Coast if Lake Erie ever produces a hurricane.

--- Reviewed by Bob Rhubart

God I love these books!
For anyone who is not sure about Tim Dorsey and his series of books, I can only say one thing: You do not know what you are missing! These are quite possibly some of the funniest, intelligent books I have ever read. It started with Triggerfish Twist (THE FUNNIEST BOOK OF ALL TIME) and has culminated with Torpedo Juice. His latest book is not quite up to the hilarious rollercoasters of his past books, but is still a Laugh out Loud, wonderful story about marriage, florida, murder, drugs, and everything else I have come to love in Tim Dorsey's novels. I never thought I would cheer for a serial murderer, or his drug-crazed friends, but I cannot help myself! I finished this latest book onboard a Southwest airplane during a trip to Orlando. I just could not put it down! And I walked off that plane wearing my Serge Storms Ball cap (with the little gun-toting fish and signed by Tim Dorsey) and my Serge World Tour T-shirt, grinning from ear-to-ear, and still chuckling about AA meetings. Go out and buy this book. Read them all! You will not be sorry.