Electric Barracuda

December 20, 2010
In Dorsey's madcap 13th novel featuring vigilante serial killer Serge A. Storms (after Gator A-Go-Go), Serge gets engaged in a scheme cooked up by his faithful sidekick, Coleman, who hopes to attract tourists to Florida by offering theme vacations: "My first theme vacation: the ‘tourist fugitive.' You come down here and pretend to be on the lam." Those on the gleefully maniacal Serge's trail include a conniving lawyer gulled into thinking Serge has the key to Al Capone's lost treasure, a Florida Department of Law Enforcement task force, and Serge's personal Javert, the obsessive, dubiously lucid but insightful Agent Mahoney. Dorsey cheerfully rejoices in Florida's colorful history and in the triumph of absurdity and anarchy over law and propriety. His police are no better than Keystone Kops, while tempering his deranged protagonist's taste for complex murder is Serge's unerring ability to select worthy targets. An unnecessary final revelation aside, series fans will be pleased.

Listeners will be happy to find themselves in the wild and wacky world of Florida vigilante killer Serge A. Storms. He and his companion, a drugged-out slacker named Coleman, dash from one interesting locale to another while Serge blogs about his latest idea, Fugitive Tours--which showcases Florida as if one were on the lam. At the same time, he's unknowingly being chased by the law. Narrator Oliver Wyman clearly defines characters with verbal mannerisms such as staccato speech patterns, high-pitched inflections, and changes in pause lengths. Wyman delivers the novel's black humor and outrageous (but not graphic) scenes as Serge executes worthy targets using torture and maiming. S.C.A. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine