Great book if you’re looking for a progressive plot with crazy twists ( )

Amazingly hilarious and thrilling. It was a fabulous mystery and comedy. ( )

This was a great chase novel. The action never let up and the characters were quirky and well drawn. The whole chase is set in Florida and comprises an internet blog of a fugitive travelogue. Traveling through backwaters and small towns the fugitives race all over Florida evading local law enforcement, a red head in a turquoise T-Bird, a mystery man in a yellow Cadillac, a corrupt attorney in a black Beemer and a Crown Vic driving gumshoe with a vocabulary straight out of a Humphrey Bogart movie.

This is not a great literary masterpiece. It is quintessentially American embracing the idea of the road trip. There is violence but it is darkly humorous and clever as opposed to savage and bloody. The two main characters Serge and Coleman are a classically comedic pair.

Pick this one up if you need a lift in mood and want to be entertained. It's a 1 to 2 day read for the quick reader. ( )

This is Tim Dorsey's 13th book starring the ever practical yet psycho Florida fugitive, Serge Storms. This time Serge takes on us on a fun and frolicking "fugitive tour" of Florida. He keeps a blog and of course he has his faithful, yet stoned sidekick Coleman by his side every step of the way.

Serge is, as usual, being hunted by Federal agents, a bounty hunter, a whole caravan of characters, and his ex-wife in a Turquoise colored T-bird. We take a trip throughout the sunshine state to see the back streets and "under belly" of Florida including The Everglades, Orlando, Venice, Myakka River, Tampa, and so on.

Besides the "fugitive tour", Serge has a mission this time to help his Grandfather's old gang on the Loop Road to recover funds stolen by a shady lawyer. Will Serge complete his mission? Will the trackers catch up to him this time? Will Agent Mahoney, his nemesis, track him down? Go get this fun, laugh out loud, comedy and found out for yourself.

I can't help but wonder who would play Serge and Coleman in a movie? Or Agent Mahoney? I think it would a great movie!

Tim Dorsey is an ex-writer for the Tampa Tribune. Electric Barracuda was published in 2011 by William Morrow. ( )

I admit this was my first introduction to Tim Dorsey’s series of Serge Storms novels, so I likely took less from Electric Barracuda than a reader familiar the twelve prior novels in the series. Dorsey’s love for his home state s evident throughout, and I enjoyed the pride he clearly took in all the idiosyncrasies and weirdness of Florida. The story fails, however, due to the stringed non-sequiturs forming the plot, the forced jokes, and the hammy police characters. I wanted to enjoy this romp through Florida as much as Dorsey, but couldn’t connect to the characters or find much worthwhile in the plot. ( )