Gator A-Go-Go

Serge Storms may be the most intelligent and engaging psychopathic serial-killer in fiction. He also gives a mean uninvited kindergarten commencement speech. In Gator a-Go-Go Serge and Coleman retrace the history of spring break - in reverse order (You'd have to read it). They're up to their usual as Serge takes a turn as spring break Jesus - converting the converters, while Coleman spreads his own word by teaching college students 100 ways to open a beer bottle, among other esoteric stoner lessons.
They're chased around Florida by a group of FBI agents as well as hired drug killers. In the meantime, Serge continues to invent and use new and head-scratching ways to kill bad guys.

When college student Andy McKenna comes to Florida for Spring Break, he is blissfully unaware that his witness-relocated father has just accidentally become, in quick succession, a minor celebrity and a once-again open target for murderous drug dealers seeking decade-old revenge.

Fortunately for Andy, the best protection against murderous drug dealers is an equally murderous psychopath/historian with a whimsical attitude toward other people's mortality and a decided bias against drug dealers...

Years before Dexter Morgan began his violent ways in Miami, author Tim Dorsey had already given Florida a serial killer to root for: the strangely charismatic Serge A. Storms, scourge of criminals and rude tourists alike, manic defender of largely show more imagined slights, historian of all Florida knowledge large and small, and unrequested champion to those who would probably prefer he not kill quite so many people.

And now he's coming to Spring Break in Daytona Beach.

In Dorsey's 12th book, "Gator A-Go-Go," Serge is touring through (and lecturing on) the three major epochs of Spring Break, from its origins in Fort Lauderdale to its current home of Panama City, with a hilarious stop in Daytona on the way. He drinks deep of the local ambiance, his highly-intoxicated traveling partner Coleman finds college kids eager to learn from the master, and all would be well if it weren't for those pesky drug dealers.

Add in the sexy ladies City and Country, the elderly-but-feisty women of G-Unit, Johnny Vegas, the Accidental Virgin, and the obnoxious CEO of the "Girls Gone Haywire" empire and you've got... basically, another Tim Dorsey book. Violence, humor, sex, outrageous situations, and a true appreciation of all Florida has to offer. Which mostly means violence, humor, sex, and outrageous situations.

And that's what Dorsey's fans come back for, time and again. Some of those fans are the young violence-loving males his publisher probably expected, and yes, some are in prison ("Both the guards and the inmates read my books" Dorsey said, "just for totally different reasons"), but most of the people enjoying his character's enthusiastic and highly original murders -- which in the past have included asphyxiation with Fix-A-Flat, a nitrous-oxide-filled scuba tank, numerous Rube Goldberg death traps utilizing common household items and chemicals, and even (once) a space shuttle -- aren't necessarily what you'd expect.

"Most of my readers are... well, like you people," Dorsey told the laughing crowd that showed up at his author signing last Thursday night at the Daytona Beach Barnes and Noble. "Middle-aged, middle class... people who respect the law." But Serge's outraged sense of justice regarding poor manners -- which, admittedly, changes from moment to moment, depending on his current focus -- strikes a chord.

Dorsey is not a violent man himself, he'll be the first to tell you. But he does manage to unload his thoughts about the inconsiderate and the boorish through his creation. "Serge is my alter ego... OK, he's me," he admitted. He told the crowd about spending a few hours walking through Home Depot with a notebook and coming up with a book's worth of fiendishly clever murder plans. And both he and Serge share an obvious love of Florida. And of long road trips in muscle cars.

The result is an entertaining read that starts quickly and keeps you laughing to the last page. If nothing else, read "Gator A-Go-Go" for the lessons in Spring Break history and the local mentions. And walk carefully around the Boardwalk area. show less

It's been a while since I visited the insane asylum that is Tim Dorsey's mind, and "Gator A-Go-Go" was a great way to re-enter it. Dorsey's writing is one part Hiaasen, one part Palahniuk, with some liberal dashes of Tarantino-esque action scenes thrown in to the mix. In "Gator", we meet up with some old friends riding from one adventure to the next during spring break in Florida. The first few pages seemed a little slow, but once all the characters are in place, the pace picks up and Dorsey delivers an entertaining romp complete with violence, car chases, and gratuitous sex (with the exception of poor Johnny Vegas, poor guy). A quick read, great for a weekend escape.

Serge A. Storms and Dexter Morgan have a lot in common. Both are Florida-based serial killers who only target those who deserve their fate, and each has a wicked sense of humor. But Dexter – in print, if not onscreen – has been hampered by his increasingly barren creator, Jeff Lindsay, while Serge’s inventor, Tim Dorsey, continues his character’s breakneck momentum into his 12th novel, juggling a complicated and intense story with antics that can only be attributed to the Sunshine State’s greatest maniac.

Gator a-Go-Go reunites all the Dorsey characters that have survived so far: Coleman, City and Country, the G-Unit, the Davenports (in the form of their son Melvin), Johnny Vegas and, of course, Agent Mahoney. (Lenny and the show more lone surviving Diaz brother appear as drive-by references, as does the not-so-dearly-departed Sharon). The story revolves around Patrick McKenna and his son Andy, who have just been unmasked after fifteen years in the Witness Protection Program. The question running through the novel is: who will get to them first, the Miami-based drug dealers or the FBI? And just who, in that equation, are the bad guys?

The action takes place during spring break, progressing from Panama City Beach to Fort Lauderdale, as Serge films a documentary on the annual event and Coleman becomes the guru of a band of faithful collegians that includes Andy McKenna. He’s not only fleeing his frigid New Hampshire campus, but a quartet of killers intent on erasing him, and any companions, as revenge for his father’s testimony a decade and a half earlier. As the assassins unerringly track Serge and his merry band throughout their journey, they realize a good guy has turned informant, and Serge, naturally, becomes Andy’s protector … but he isn’t sure he trusts Florida’s pre-eminent psycho trickster, especially as the mayhem reaches record levels (along with spot-on references to Flat Stanley and inspired use of Bacardi 151).

While the usual band of spring break participants are trotted out – drunk & crazy kids, Girls Gone Haywire, bikers, hookers, preachers, pawn brokers and reality TV -- Dorsey keeps the story fresh by injecting the regular crew, along with a troop of newcomers, in consistently interesting sidelines that eventually, and seamlessly, meld with the main story. He never drops a character or incident, and he maintains a level of suspense Lindsay’s Dexter tales have never managed – all in the service of Serge A. Storms. May his freak flag bravely, and forever, wave. show less

A few years back I read two books in Tim Dorsey's Serge Storms series. The novels read like a lesser Carl Hiassen romp headed up by the sociopathic Serge character. I finished both, but didn't really find myself wanting more, so when I received an advance copy of Gator A-Go-Go, I figured I'd get another 2nd tier wacky Florida novel that I'd have trouble finishing. Boy was I wrong.

Serge and his party animal buddy, Coleman, decide to tour Florida during Spring Break, doing a backward historical tour of spring break in the state. Meanwhile, a businessman in witness protection in Boston has his face unwittingly plastered all over the news, blowing his cover. The man's son decides at the same time to go on spring break with his buddies to show more Florida, resulting in a convergence of Serge, the boy, and the evil organized crime family that wants the boy and his father dead.

Some reviewers have described the book as Quentin Tarantino in novel form. That's a fair assessment of this book, with its horrific but funny violence, the constant shifts in location and time (sometimes within the same passage), its eccentric characters, and the snappy pop culture dialogue of its main characters.

Dorsey creates a winning narrative that is funny, profane, suspensful, gruesome, and satisfying. Highly recommended. show less

Roughly the first half of Gator A-Go-Go was too much gibberish; I know that that is the bread and butter of these books, but it wasn't really working for me here. So it wasn't until after about 140 pages that the story picked up. The Floridiana was good as always. And Serge’s kindergarten commencement speech was Dorsey at his best, but the first half was mostly dull and obnoxious and when it finally got good it was just okay. Agent Mahoney had a truncated role in this book, but he shined and was by far the best of the lot.

From Dorsey's twisted mind comes yet Serge and Coleman's historic trip, this time through the annals of the Florida spring break history. Serge is a genius psychopath (and pseudo-scholar), who comes up with complicated and horrible ways to punish evil doers. Coleman is a drug and alcohol savant, who is an total idiot, unless the subject is pot or booze, then he turns into a world class scientist on the best ways to get high and/or drunk.

The main plot is actually an action/mystery. A man in the witness protection program is accidentally outed on TV, and the bad guys go hunting for his son in Panama City during Spring Break. Also in search of the son are the FBI. Without realizing it, the boy and his friends narrowly miss their own show more executions and hook up with Serge and Coleman quite by accident, which is the best thing that can happen to keep them safe. The adventure that follows is just plain fun, fast paced, and a times very funny. Like all Dorsey novels great for weekend read or quick trip to Florida. show less