Customer Reviews

Hammerhead Ranch Motel (Serge Storms)

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I've read all of Christopher Moore, Carl Hiaasen, Bill Fitzhugh, and John Welter's books, when I encountered Tim Dorsey, and what a delightful surprise it was, as I hadn't really heard or seen much about him before, compared to the above writers.

If you're a fan of any of the above, and especially of Hiaasen, then you'll like Dorsey too, especially this book. I rank this novel with the best of Hiaasen, and in fact it's probably the best thing I've read in the genre in some time.

I would recommend you read Florida Roadkill first, as some of the same characters appear also in Hammerhead Ranch, especially Serge, who I would also say is the most memorable character to come along since Skink in Hiaasen's books. As another reviewer here said, one can't help but wonder what would have happened if Skink had met Serge.

Florida Roadkill is also excellent, but Hammerhead Ranch is even better, but it's still worthwhile reading as it's sort of a prequel to Hammerhead Ranch. Not the least of its merits is that the character, Serge, is introduced in Florida Roadkill, and has a major role in both books.

There are many similarities between the two authors, perhaps not surprising since they write for neighboring newspapers in south Florida. If anything, Dorsey's books are even more darkly satirical than Hiaasen's, and I would also say his books are more violent too. There are lots of bad guys in his books, and very few good guys. The bad guys are always scamming, swindling, and otherwise preying on each other, and as there's no honor among thieves, the dead body count in a Dorsey book is pretty impressive by the time you reach the end.

To sum up, this is a very funny book, and the book's main idea is really great, so I'll describe it briefly here. Almost every room at the Hammerhead Ranch is occupied by some sort of criminal, ranging from low-life scumbags to more high-powered criminal elements, who are using the Ranch as their base of operations. Several of the residents are trying to find each other so they can steal the money in the briefcase (you'll be hearing plenty about the briefcase) but don't yet know that they're both operating out of the Ranch.

Anyway, Dorsey came up with a great idea and makes the most of it to create a very funny book. Definitely worth your time and money.

In his sequel to Florida Roadkill, Tim Dorsey kept me up all night turning the pages so fast that I got paper cuts. Serge is back, and with a new and improved Coleman-type character, Hammerhead Ranch Motel quickly recaptures the dark but irresistable humor of the first book. The only complaint I have is that it's harder to follow the characters in this book, but Dorsey manages to get everyone together in the wonderful and unpredictable finale. I'd have to say that as a Florida resident, I love the way this book makes fun of everything corrupt about Florida- very Carl Hiiasen! However, you don't need to be from Florida to appreciate the humor and satire that Dorsey churns out, and everyone will love the eclectic group of characters that spill out of the pages. All the great characters that made it alive throught the last novel are back - Sean and David, Johnny Vegas, and my favorite criminally insane Floridaphile, Serge. Dorsey brings in new characters that are a delight, from bad guys you can't help but love, to the good guys that are, to say the least, a little eccentric. So, buy this book, but don't start reading it unless you have a lot of free time, because you won't be able to put it down.

Just as with Dorsey's first novel, I found myself laughing at loud at the nonstop, bizarre antics of the freakiest collection of characters I've seen since...well, since the last time I was in Florida. Reading about the trials and tribulations of Johnny Vegas is a hoot, but it's Serge, the psychopath with scruples, that really makes the book. A distinct improvement over "Florida Roadkill" is the fact that this time around, the plot does not take a backseat to the characters. Instead, the story and the players weave together quite effectively.

Being a Tampa native, I was once again drawn in by Dorsey's descriptions the city and the surrounding areas. It's as if the AAA Travel Club rep shotgunned a six-pack of Surge before sitting down to write a travel guide. Completely enthralling and at times hysterical, I thought I was walking the streets of my hometown all over again.

Though it's not as completely off the charts of lunacy as "Florida Roadkill," it's still a frenetic, wildly entertaining read.

Bring on the next one!

Before you read Tim Dorsey you need to know what you are getting into:

1. Despite comparisons to Hiaasen and other south Florida crime writers, Dorsey is in a league of his own when it comes to `wild and wacky' crime fiction. Where authors like Hiaasen keep at least one foot grounded in reality (at least South Florida's reality) Dorsey makes no such pretences (unless there really are fast-food restaurants that sell nothing but deep fried chicken skins)

2. You need a score card to keep track of the characters. New characters are introduced every couple of pages. Some appear briefly and then aren't heard from again for hundreds of pages.

3. He can be pretty darn funny.

I have mixed feelings about most of Dorsey's novels. I like a little twisted humour with my crime fiction and Dorsey never fails to deliver. The downside is that when a plot is as absurd as the one in Hammerhead Ranch Motel it just doesn't build any tension. His novels lack the level of suspense that keeps a reader turning pages.

The huge cast of characters is funny and entertaining but the novel doesn't build much momentum. Eventually the lives of these characters (the ones that Serge doesn't kill) will converge in a ridiculously chaotic climax, but until then the novel bounces around like it's been set loose inside a pinball machine. The characters are cartoon-like and come and go so infrequently that even though they're funny, the reader doesn't have much of an investment in them. I find that I enjoy the first half of a Tim Dorsey novel much more than the last.

As for Dorsey's anti-hero Serge; I have to admit that I'm not a huge fan. I find the supporting cast of characters to be a lot more entertaining. Serge's elaborate killings should provide the novel with some great gallows humour but I find many of them are too sadistic to be funny.

Hammerhead Ranch Motel is not Dorsey's best work (I recommend Triggerfish Twist to the uninitiated) but it has its moments. You may find your interest wanes as you near the end of the novel but I challenge you to read it and not laugh out loud at least a dozen times.

Read this novel for the humour, just don't expect much suspense.

If you like Carl Hiaasen's books, you will be delighted to discover author Tim Dorsey and his zany cast of characters. Those of us old enough to remember traveling to Florida with the family for summer vacations in the 1950s and 1960s, before the interstate highways were built, remember the brightly-painted, mom-and-pop motels, complete with shuffleboard courts. Out of this grew Dorsey's second novel, "Hammerhead Ranch Motel." Filled with wacky characters, the Hammerhead Ranch Motel is a sleazy, run-down motel on Florida's west coast. Staying at the motel are the Diaz Boys, a group of cocaine duckpins who survive by sheer luck and their ten thousand stolen zebra-striped beepers; Zargoaz, aka Harvey Fiddlebottom, runs his sweepstakes scam from a motel room; undercover cops running sting operations on other undercover cops. If that's not enough to interest you, Dorsey throws in Serge A. Storms, a guy off his medication and in hiding out from the cops, while watching the silver briefcase containing five million dollars. And if that's still not enough, Dorsey throws in a hurricane! "Hammerhead Ranch Motel" and Dorsey's first novel, "Florida Roadkill" will give you hours of delightful reading and make you think twice when you pass one of the state's few remaining little mom-and-pop motels.

No sooner had I finished the paperback version of "Florida Roadkill" when I noticed that the second installment "Hammerhead Ranch Motel" had come out in hardback. I was not disappointed in the slightest. These two novels have really made my summer!

Serge A. Storms returns amidst a plethora of new freakazoids for everyone to enjoy! His newest sidekick is a Don Johnson impersonator named Lenny Lippowicz. When not schmoozing the 2012 Olympic Committee, these two are scouring the Hammerhead Ranch Motel's parking lot for moon rocks to peddle on the open market.

Along the way we meet a sultry pair of ladies nicknamed "City" and "Country". Johnny Vegas also returns as the world's most unfortunate virgin. We also meet Harvey Fiddlebottom, a.k.a. Zargoza and witness his ongoing dealings with the reasonably violent Diaz Boys. And let's not forget Paul, the Passive-Aggressive Private Eye, the dangerous Mrs. Edna Ploomfield, the incredible shrinking Mayor Malcolm Kefauver and Toto the dancing weather dog!

With the exception of the first two paragraphs in the prologue, the story spends very little time dealing with the past novel. It starts off with a bang and never lets up! It's fast and furious, very much like Serge on one of his hyperkinetic Florida benders.

I think one of the funnier lines has to be ..."The Florida Marlins had just won the World Series, whose rich celebratory tradition often peaks with fans mistaking police cruisers for pinatas."

I also thoroughly enjoyed the sequence involving the National Guard vs. Clown College Students during an Antiwar demonstration. A totally wild and insane visual that had me rolling with laughter.

This novel is a kamikaze mixed by a demonically wicked bartender. I cannot recommend this novel enough! You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll groan...but I guarantee you will not regret reading "Hammerhead Ranch Motel".

In fact, buy two copies in case you wish to read it a second time and beware of Hemingways falling from the skies!

Book number two, on the list of Tim Dorsey novels, is another amazing, crazy ride.

Hammerhead Ranch Motel picks up where the first novel, Florida Roadkill, left off. Kind of. True, Serge Storm, the "spree killer" and Florida amateur historian, from the first novel, moves through the Tampa area looking for a briefcase filled with $5M US. Yes, a few other characters from that first novel make an appearance. But the other characters that get swept into Serge's life are much more entertaining. The basis for the plot is the missing $5M. But Dorsey throws in some Medicare fraud, wire fraud, cocaine dealers, a couple of hot female pot heads on the run, a writer for the "Weekly Mail of the News World," bodies falling from the sky, some Hemingway look-a-likes, and a hurricane (just to mix it all up). And most of the action centers around a two bit hotel, the Hammerhead Ranch Motel.

Much like a Tarantino film, this book jumps around in time. One scene, early in the novel, occurs at the Tampa Aquarium, where in a college student falls through the glass roof. It isn't until about midway through the novel that you find out why and how this happens. And just like Tarantino, I let this happen, and don't question it. Later, after finishing the novel, I come to appreciate what it is that I have just witnessed. Also appreciated, is Serge Storm. While not exactly "right in the head," the man will take you on a whirlwind tour of Florida. Forget your guidebooks to Florida, read Dorsey. You will learn much more about the State of Florida than any tour book, and have a good laugh while reading. This time, you take in the sights and historical landmarks of Tampa. And let Serge show you his pictures of sunsets. Truly amazing.

I am really enjoying Dorsey's writing and main characters. In fact, I have the third book on reserve at the library. In this novel, you can tell that he is maturing. There is much more cohesiveness to the story and the characters. He seems to have fleshed both out better before putting pen to paper. The "minor" characters seem better thought out and better drawn. The backstory on Serge is more complete. The setups and payoffs seem to be more plausible. And what an ending (of course, it is "to be continued").

What is it about Florida? Is there really this much material to mine? Are the residents really this . . . strange? Is it truly a state full of criminals and crazy ultra-conservatives? I don't know, but it sure makes for a highly entertaining read. This is one of those novels that may find yourself laughing out loud. Highly recommended.

I have been a fan of Tim Dorsey ever since I accidentally ran across Flordia Roadkill, the hardcover, being sold for 5 bucks at Media Play.
So, now I have been reading these reviews on Mr. Dorsey, always comparing him to Hiaaisan. In my opinion Dorsey has opened up a whole new way of writing. Hiaaisan, writes controled while Dorsey is writing at such a fast pace it's a wonder his computer doesn't explode!
Tim Dorsey also comes up with unbelievable plots, with outrageuos characters, unlike Hiaaisan with his predictable plots and under-developed characters. In my opinion there should be no comparison here. People should be comparing Hiaaisan to Dorsey!

Hammerhead Ranch Motel is a raucous story filled with colorful characters and locales. Unfortunately, it often has too much color and Dorsey really seems to be trying too hard to impress us with his knowledge of Florida lore and history, and his ability to deliver eccentric situations and characters. The ending ties things together messily, but at least has more coherence than the beginning. The exerpt of his forthcoming books suggests that his capacity for good writing may yet overcome his talent for showing off.

You have to hand it to Tim Dorsey, he's funny and creative. That, and the nervous, almost amphetamine quickness of the plot, are the only things I enjoyed about this novel.

In it, we meet two stoned nymphomaniacs; a DJ with the personality of Jabba the Hutt; inept law enforcement officers from a bridge patrolman to undercover FBI; a dog passing for a meteorologist; and a thoroughly insane traveler who has recently stopped keeping track of his meds.

It reads that way, too, like a neon-colored collage of misfits crossing paths nearly at random like mosquitoes splatting on windshields. I could see how someone would enjoy this type of read, perhaps if stoned, but it wasn't for me.