Triggerfish Twist: A Novel [Hardcover]

Tim Dorsey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 7, 2002

When Tim Dorsey sat down to write his first novel, the hilarious and hugely successful Florida Roadkill, he killed off way too many people. Now he needs them back. So in Triggerfish Twist, Dorsey invites us to take a warped trip back in time as he reunites the living with the soon to be very dead.

And for the uninitiated, what a perfect place to start! Set during the summer before Roadkill's pyrotechnic climax, Dorsey's fourth novel is a fond and perverse antirhapsody to the typical Florida neighborhood as seen through the eyes of Jim Davenport, a mild-mannered Midwestern family man whose company transfers him to the Sunshine State. When he purchases a lovely tropical villa on the equally idyllic Triggerfish Lane, his family appears to have found paradise.

But it is a long, hot summer, and soon the layers are peeled back one by one to reveal that all is not right in utopia. Yuppies with pit bulls, hot-rodding pizza deliverymen, Machiavellian used-car salesmen, Rastafarians who refuse to smoke dope, floating pawn shops on Crack Street, neighborhood crimewatch teams running for their lives, after-midnight clientele at twenty-four-hour supermarkets that put zombie movies to shame, unnatural sex, casual violence, gore, blasphemy, and people who write checks at convenience stores.

It all becomes too much for Jim, and before this peaceful Indiana farm boy knows what's happened to him, he's gone and killed someone. Of course, the odds are, it was someone who richly deserved it, and police officially rule the homicide extremely justified.

Unfortunately for Jim, he has killed the youngest of the infamous McGraw Brothers, who got released from prison near a NASCAR track in Alabama and are heading south, bent on revenge.

Not enough, you say? Okay, Serge Storms and his cohorts Coleman and Sharon are forced to move when the latter two burn down several blocks of Tampa's historic Latin Quarter during a wacky binge of freebasing high jinks. They naturally rent a house across the street from the Davenports, and Serge decides to take Jim under his wing, determined to teach him the local history and the secrets of satisfying a woman.

The McGraw Brothers continue south.

Sharon hallucinates on coke.

Coleman refills his beer helmet.

Serge becomes a Little League coach.

And when the confluence of people and events is just about to boil over, everyone converges on Triggerfish Lane for the big Fourth of July block party, setting the stage for another knee-slapping bloodbath.

It's just another day in Dorsey's paradise....

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Conjuring up Carl Hiaasen and Elmore Leonard on crack, the fourth off-the-wall novel from Dorsey (Orange Crush) finds antihero Serge Storms a quixotic, socially conscious crook-cum-executioner undertaking to salvage his upscale Tampa neighborhood from encroaching undesirables. Milquetoast Jim Davenport, an unlikely corporate hatchet man at the Indiana office of Apollo Consulting, a company specializing in downsizing the executive suites of top-heavy corporations, is promoted and moves with his wife, Martha, and their three kids to 888 Triggerfish Lane in Tampa. Always a step ahead of the law, Serge moves in across the street with his drug-fiend lackeys, Coleman and Sharon. Then, like popcorn in a microwave, all manner of zany subplots go spinning off as Jim accidentally kills the youngest of the notorious McGraw Brothers, newly released from prison. Florida special agent Mahoney, who has a vendetta against Serge, is dispatched to Tampa to stop a murderous crime spree that reeks of the McGraw clan. Meanwhile, the E-Team a quartet of elderly women whose first names begin with "E" stalks elderly Ambrose Tarrington III, who pretends to be wealthy by test-driving fancy cars and photographing himself in front of a luxurious mansion. John Milton, an ill-starred substitute teacher desperately trying to find a job, meets his nemesis, Rocco Silvertone, during a stint as a used-car salesman. As the surviving McGraws close in on Jim, a July 4 barbecue brings the cast together for a madcap denouement that will please the growing numbers of the Dorsey faithful.

Review

“TRIGGERFISH TWIST makes for twisted fun....a must-read book on this summer’s list.” (Tampa Tribune )

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; 1 edition (May 7, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060185716
• ISBN-13: 978-0060185718
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (82 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #511,244 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Tim Dorsey was a reporter and editor for the Tampa Tribune from 1987 to 1999 and is the author of ten previous novels: Florida Roadkill, Hammerhead Ranch Motel, Orange Crush, Triggerfish Twist, The Stingray Shuffle, Cadillac Beach, Torpedo Juice, The Big Bamboo, Hurricane Punch, and Atomic Lobster. He lives in Tampa, Florida.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious & inventive, August 21, 2006

By 

Tom Knapp "Rambles.NET editor" (Lancaster, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Triggerfish Twist (Mass Market Paperback)

Mistakenly believing Tampa to be the third best city in the United States for raising a family, Jim Davenport moves his family to a lovely old home on Triggerfish Lane. But beyond the lofty facade of the Davenport's new residence lies the seedy underbelly of crime and murder, car salesmen and consultants, rental properties and urban renewal. It all comes together in Tim Dorsey's delightful "Triggerfish Twist."

The story comes complete with a laundry list of main characters, a large and unwieldy cast that, in many writers' hands, would collapse under its own weight. But Dorsey juggles them neatly, like an expert clown, and the tangled plotlines come together like, well, a game of Twister on the 4th of July without pants. (Read the book, you'll understand.)

Davenport is your average guy, a conscientious business consultant and family man. His wife, Martha, is a bit high-strung, it's true, but they and their children settle down on Triggerfish with high hopes for the future. Little do they know that Lance Boyle, who owns many of the properties on their street, is vying to buy up the rest so he can raze the houses and make a tidy sum on townhouses. To further that goal, he fills his rentals with the worst lowlifes he can find -- hoping to force a sharp decline in neighborhood values and encourage the few remaining homeowners, like the Davenports, to sell and move away.

There's more, but it'd be easier if you just read the book. Dorsey, an author of some note, is my latest discovery and a wonderful addition to my must-read list. The spiritual cousin of fellow Florida writer Carl Hiaasen, Dorsey is hilarious and inventive. This is the perfect time to visit his little corner of Florida.

by Tom Knapp, Rambles.NET editor

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another winner from Dorsey, May 10, 2003

By 

magellan (Santa Clara, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Triggerfish Twist (Mass Market Paperback)

This is my third Dorsey novel and he delivers with this one too. Dorsey is a lot like Hiaasen, only with a significantly more violent and demented twist. People are always getting bumped off in his novels, often in very creative ways. Readers of his Florida Roadkill and Hammerhead Ranch Motel books will be delighted to find that Serge and Coleman are back in this novel, which is actually a prequel to these books. Serge fans won't be disappointed as Serge is up to his usual frenetic and frenzied antics and also bumps off at least one deserving scumbag in his usual creative way. Coleman's character gets some hilarious fleshing out and development here, more so than in the previous books. And Sharon the gorgeous cocaine-snorting floozy/nympho makes up the threesome in this novel. The novel is very fast-paced and there is hardly a dull moment during the entire book, and Dorsey builds all the interelated threads and characters up to a spectacular and satisfying climax. Definitely another must-read for the Dorsey fans out there.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dorsey delivers a fast-paced, whirlwind tour through Florida crime, July 27, 2005

By 

Jessica Lux (Rosamond, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Triggerfish Twist (Mass Market Paperback)

Dorsey's novel is most easily compared to those of Carl Haissen and Elmore Leonard (and Dave Barry's two full-length novels), but, if possible, it is even zanier and more incredible. It's set in Florida, with all of its quirks and swampland and the rampant crime from half-witted criminals. Dorsey weaves a topsy turvy plot of dozens of threads which all come together in the end, with the bad guys getting their due and the good ones having it all work out.

I'm impressed Dorsey was able to present as many characters as are in this novel, keeping them all straight for the reader, and then bringing them all together for a slam dunk ending.

I haven't read other Dorsey novels, but I can see the style getting repetitive after a while, so I'll take him in small doses. If you enjoy this book, be sure to check out Dave Barry's Tricky Business, which is a hilarious Florida crime caper from a talented comedic writer.