The Pope of Palm Beach

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.)

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.

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.

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.

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.