by Tim Dorsey
Part of Serge Storms, book 2
First published 2001
Local historian and serial killer Serge A. Storms has stopped taking his medication and prowls Florida in search of a briefcase containing five million dollars. Around him swirls a carnival of con artists and criminals. Cocaine dealers operate like they're playing duckpins, surviving through sheer luck rather than skill. Desperate gigolos scheme for their next score. Undercover police officers unknowingly target other undercover officers in overlapping sting operations that spiral into chaos. Meanwhile, Hurricane Rolando-berto gathers strength offshore, threatening to destroy everything in its path. At the center of this madness sits the Hammerhead Ranch Motel, where all these dangerous characters converge. Storms proves more destructive than any natural disaster as he cuts a bloody swath through Florida's underbelly, leaving bodies in his wake while pursuing his obsession with the missing money.
Genres: mystery, crime, action, comedy
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, whimsical
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Florida, Hammerhead Ranch Motel
Period: Contemporary
354 pages · Mass Market Paperback · HarperTorch
Content warnings: violence