By Tim Dorsey

Rating: 3/5

Three-Word Summary: Meet Surge Storms

Any one who is familiar with Tim Dorsey’s work knows Surge Storms. He’s the main character involved in nearly all of Dorsey’s novels.

Florida Roadkill happens to be the first of these novels and introduces Surge Storms to the world. I wish I had known that before I read a few of Dorsey’s other novels and missed out on some of the key development points.

Consequently, most of Dorsey’s novels are all pretty similar. They involve drugs, crime, the beach, money, tourists and mayhem— in a word: Florida. Dorsey blends these elements all together in one big literary blender and serves it up with a side of humor.

This is in the same great literary tradition as his predecessors Carl Hiaasen and Dave Barry. In fact, Dorsey makes passing reference to both Miami legends in this book. To be clear, Dorsey isn’t as clever as Hiassen nor as funny as Barry, but he does carry on their legacy, which has formed it’s own genre.

To use an analogy, Serge Storms is to Tim Dorsey as Skink is to Carl Hiaasen. Both characters are the twisted moral compass that drive each author’s fictional (yet believable) version of south Florida.

Despite being a serial killer and massive drug user, Storms has principals and a vast knowledge of Floridian history. He retains an absurdly childlike wonder at some of the state’s wackiest landmarks and uses this reverence to regularly justify killing.

Florida Roadkill doesn’t have a plot, so much as a series of events that happen to Storms and his wasted buddy Coleman as they do drugs, track money and kill people in a series of increasingly elaborate ways. That establishes the pattern that carries through much of Dorsey’s body of work.

The book was entertaining and easy to read, but wandered a bit at points and lacked real focus. At times, it’s as messy as the wake left behind Serge Storms. But then, perhaps that’s the point. Dorsey cleans up most of these issues as he continues publishing and refines his despicable protagonist.

Overall, it’s a decent start to a now lengthy series of novels. Despite some rambling, Dorsey sets himself up for long-term success by investing in a uniquely crazy character.