Reviewed By Liz

ISBN 978-0-06-082967-4

If I have read a book stranger than this one, I can’t think of it at the moment. Hurricane Punch is a road trip mystery with serial killer Serge A. Storms and his overmedicated buddy Coleman. When not killing annoying people in fiendishly clever ways, Serge is fascinated by hurricanes and he, Coleman, the woman of the moment, and an assortment of hostages are all chasing hurricanes across Florida. They are pursued by law enforcement, McSwirley (an unfortunately named reporter), and a cop named Mahoney, who keeps getting real life confused with old noir detective novels, and a second serial killer.

Into this bizarre setup, Dorsey has injected some great writing. His character writing is interesting, the dialog sharp, and his riffs on modern culture are hysterical. Which leads me to the first thing I find disturbing about the book.

This book is a glorification of crime and bad things. Serge the serial killer is the coolest guy in the book. He is smart, funny, sexy, and upholds his personal code of honor by killing only obnoxious people. Excessive drug use is cool and mental illness is downright fun. Theft isn’t a problem because you need the stuff, right? Kidnapping, torture, and murder are all good if they are done in cool and creative ways. Technique is everything, and even inspires this reverential comment by a police officer at the scene of a homicide “I definitely want to rock with these cats!” There is, in fact, never a down moment in this manic book – it is just fun, fun, fun! And that is disturbing.

The other thing that bothered me about this book was its non-linear construction. At times it was creative and funny, but at other times it was a little confusing. They kill someone in the first chapter, pick up the means of his death in the middle of the book, and then show how it was done near the end. Since there are multiple victims and they all seem to have been hostages for some time before they were killed, I wasn’t always clear on exactly who was tied up in the back of the truck.

Favorite character? Mahoney, the confused cop. Did I guess it? No. Will I read another? I don’t know. I suppose I will if I ever find myself in the mood for book about a happy-go-lucky serial killer.

Mystery Book Reviews by Liz at http://reviewedbyliz.com ©2007

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