Clownfish blues /

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A (Serge A.) Storm is brewing for a cabal of bad guys gaming the Florida state lottery in this insanely funny novel from the maestro of mayhem, Tim Dorsey.

If you're loud and proud Floridian Serge A. Storms, how do you follow up your very own remake of Easy Rider? You shoot your own "episodes" of your favorite classic television show, Route 66!

With Coleman riding shotgun, Serge is rolling down the highway of his dreams in a vintage silver convertible Corvette just like the snazzy car Martin Milner drove. It doesn't matter that the actual Route 66 didn't pass through Florida, for Serge discovers that a dozen episodes near the series' end were filmed (really!) in his beloved home state. So for Serge and the always toked and stoked Coleman, the Sunshine State is all the road you need to get your kicks.

But their adventure traveling the byways of the Sunshine State's underbelly is about to take a detour. Someone is trying to tilt the odds in the state lottery amidst a conga line of huge jackpots spinning off more chaos than any hurricane season. With this much at stake, of course every shady character wants in. Crooked bodega owners, drug cartels laundering money through the lottery, and venture capitalists are all trying to game the system--and lining up to get their cut. They're also gambling with their lives, because when Serge and Coleman get hip to this timely (and very lucrative) trip, there's no telling whose number is up next.

Throw in Brooke Campanella, Serge's old flame, as well as the perpetually star-crossed Reevis, and it's a sure bet that the ever lucky Serge will hit it big. Winning has never been this deadly--or this much fun!

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Serge A. Storms and his stoner buddy, Coleman, take a mayhem-filled trip through Florida in bestseller Dorsey's wild 20th novel starring the vigilante serial killer (after 2016's Coconut Cowboy). Serge and Coleman are moving from town to town, getting a new job each week and causing havoc wherever they go. They try worm-grunting (a method for driving earthworms to the surface) in Apalachicola and sign-spinning (holding up ads on the highway) on the Gold Coast. Meanwhile, Serge devises inspired punishments for a couple of zany reality-show nuts, a show-off in a red Porsche, and a caregiver taking advantage of his elderly patient. The funniest extended scene involves Serge and Coleman impersonating hostage negotiators while an alphabet soup of agencies try to figure them out. This entry may not rank with Dorsey's best, but readers will find plenty of sharp cultural commentary ("The sidewalks were thick with street crazies talking to themselves, and executives with Bluetooths talking to themselves"). Eight-city author tour. Agent: Nat Sobel, Sobel Weber. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

*Starred Review* If you haven't already and if not, why not? met Serge A. Storms, Florida's most rabid history fan and most cheerful serial killer, now is the time. Serge prefers the term sequential killer, because serial killers always plan to kill again while sequential killers just keep finding themselves in situations where justice must be meted out. With his longtime sidekick, the perpetually drug-addled Coleman, Serge is ricocheting around the state, re-creating episodes of the classic TV series Route 66. Along the way, he rescues, with extreme prejudice, an elderly woman from a shady assisted-living caretaker; learns all about worm grunting (a real thing); becomes a fake hostage negotiator; and helps a psychic rid herself of her ex-husband. Serge Storms is, hands down, one of the most original and just-plain-captivating characters in modern crime fiction: a brilliant, creative, manic-depressive killer who bounces from one episode to another, with the wide-eyed enthusiasm of a new puppy experiencing everything in the world for the very first time. The books are hilarious, too, with razor-sharp dialogue and off-the-wall plots and set pieces (Serge is, shall we say, a very meticulous sequential killer).--Pitt, David Copyright 2017 Booklist

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Tim Dorsey was born in Indiana in 1961. He received a B.S. in transportation from Auburn University in 1983. From 1983 to 1987, he was a police and courts reporter for The Alabama Journal. He joined The Tampa Tribune in 1987 as a general assignment reporter. He also worked as a political reporter in the Tribune's Tallahassee bureau and a copy desk editor. From 1994 to 1999, he was the Tribune's night metro editor. He left the paper in August 1999 to become a full time writer. He is the author of the Serge Storms series.

(Bowker Author Biography)