The Pope of Palm Beach

This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
*This page contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app

1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date 31 May 2018 | Archive Date 25 Sep 2018

Talking about this book? Use #SergeStorms #NetGalley. More hashtag tips!


Description

If you like your humour dark and twisty, then you’ll love Tim Dorsey’s outrageous Serge Storms series of crime novels.

For over 25 years Tim Dorsey has made a speciality of depicting the bad, the ugly and the redneck in American society – with the help of his anti-hero creation Serge Storms. Part spree killer, part local historian, Serge and his human narcotic partner Coleman regularly carve a trail of destruction and marijuana roaches through the state of Florida.

Serge is a morally uprighteous killer: he only terminates folks (like drug dealers, thugs, corporate polluters, racists, jetski riders, rednecks) who really deserve it, and then in quite imaginative ways. Think of him as ‘Dexter’ without a conscience.

Full of violence, stoner humour and lacerating satires of American lowlifes, The Pope of Palm Beach is the latest memorable addition to the series – just don’t take it seriously.

If you like your humour dark and twisty, then you’ll love Tim Dorsey’s outrageous Serge Storms series of crime novels.

For over 25 years Tim Dorsey has made a speciality of depicting...


Advance Praise

What people are saying about Serge Storms:

“Over-the-top, off-the-wall, too-much-is-never-enough, Florida insanity was never described so authentically and with such enthusiasm.”

“Humor really doesn't get better than this. Dorsey has a style all to his own that is simply not replicated anywhere.”

“Serge and Coleman are a match made in heaven and I am still laughing … truly a great read and I can't wait to delve into more of Dorsey's work.”

“This is Pulp Fiction on steroids with an acid tab chaser. There is insanity on every page and every page is a good time. Twists and turns, and some of the most creative homicidal mayhem I have ever read.”

“… for pure pleasure and entertainment you just can't beat the maniacal style of the Serge Storm series.”

Editorial reviews:

“Hilarious. ... Serge Storms is, hands down, one of the most original and just-plain-captivating characters in modern crime fiction.” Booklist

“Entertaining … funny … irreverent and loving at the same time … [Dorsey] leaves the reader gasping for breath.” Washington Post Book World

“The characters in Tim Dorsey’s raucous novel would be shot on sight in any other state.” The New York Times Book Review

“Excellent … I almost exploded with laughter as I read Dorsey’s novel. It’s manic, hysterical, and puts Dorsey well up there with the cream of comic writers who seem to have made Florida the centre for satirizing America in the 21st century.” Independent

“Twisted hilarity … a compelling page-turner … Tim Dorsey is one sick bunny.” Belfast News Letter


What people are saying about Serge Storms:

“Over-the-top, off-the-wall, too-much-is-never-enough, Florida insanity was never described so authentically and with such enthusiasm.”

“Humor...


Available Editions

EDITION Ebook
ISBN 9781788421133
PRICE £4.99 (GBP)

Average rating from 9 members


Featured Reviews

I loved The Pope Of Palm Beach.

Although there are 20 previous books in this series, this is my first Tim Dorsey and it worked fine as a stand-alone novel. Set in Florida, it's a very amusing farce featuring the manically curious and furious Serge Storms and his drug-addled sidekick, Coleman. They are a brilliant pairing, with Serge venting his righteous rage on various scumbags who do things like dump polluting materials in nature reserves or price vital medicines out of the reach of those who need them out of personal greed. They all meet dreadful but appropriate ends, a bit like a modern-day, secular version of Dante's Inferno. There is also an historical story intercut with this, whose relevance we don't discover until the last quarter or so of the book, but which works very well and leads to a thrilling (and amusing) climax which kept me reading well after I should have stopped for the night.

It's excellently done. You really do have to get the tone right if you're going to make gruesome killing funny, and Dorsey gets it perfectly. He writes brilliantly, creating an excellent sense of place, and the balance of excitement and humour in the narrative seemed perfect to me. He also skewers many of the idiocies of modern life and especially in the character of Darby Pope, makes some quite profound human statements below the witty surface.

I'm delighted to have been introduced to Tim Dorsey and I'll definitely be looking into more Serge and Coleman books.

(My thanks to Farrago Books for an ARC via NetGalley.)

Was this review helpful?

This was the first book I have read of Tim Dorsey’s series about his 2 characters Serge and Coleman as they travel throughout Florida on a literary tour crossing paths with a number of different characters. The book combines this with flashbacks to Serge’s childhood and the story of Darby Pope, a local well-read surfing legend.
The Pope of Palm Beach is well recommended however I felt being new to the series I was always missing something. Based on this one I will be definitely picking up the first of Tim Dorsey’s books.

Was this review helpful?

Brilliantly described in the blurb as ‘part spree killer, part local historian’, Serge A Storms is a man with a strong moral code. He loves his native Florida and is committed to its ecology and culture and does not take kindly to those who undermine either. His version of ‘not taking kindly’ is both brutal and inventive.

In the present day, Serge is on a literary road trip round the state with his stoner friend Coleman, in search of the truth about a writer whose disappearance is a mystery. Meanwhile, there is a drugs gang led by a man with a criminal toupée which is diversifying into new markets. A third story strand takes us back to the Palm Beach of Serge’s childhood, and to the life of the iconic surfer known as the Pope of Palm Beach.

The setting, dark humour and focus on environmental issues mean that inevitably Dorsey has been compared to Carl Hiaasen (there is even a joke that plays on this in the book). Dorsey’s writing, though, has its own unique appeal. His prose is beautifully evocative and I loved the contrast between the languid, loving descriptions of Serge’s childhood home and the energy driving the narrative.

Serge is a man of many passions and encyclopaedic knowledge. He raises everyday griping to an art form. There is poetry in his declamatory style and humour that runs from bone-dry to madcap, but there are also moments of great poignancy.

This is a long-established series but new to me. The book worked well as a standalone but I’m now eager to read more about Serge and Coleman.

Was this review helpful?

Serge Storms has quite a sideways view on morality, and what to do with anyone he feels is a wrongdoer - it generally involves making the punishment fit the crime. A good read, with a few laughs along the way.

Was this review helpful?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is fast-paced, thrilling and full of twists and turns and links to past and present life in Florida. Murder mystery, drug dealers, corrupt police and a colourful pair of unlikely heroes. Beautifully written.

Was this review helpful?

Readers who liked this book also liked: