Orange Crush (Serge Storms, #3)

No holds are barred in the battle to be the next Governor of Florida in this scintillating new black comedy thriller from the author of Florida Roadkill and Hammerhead Ranch Motel. Death by taxidermy, sky-diving Hemingway lookalikes, Toto the Dancing Weather Dog and killer grannies - it's just another day in Tim Dorsey's Florida. Inspired by years spent reporting on stranger-than-fiction crimes for the Tampa Tribune, Dorsey burst onto the scene with his much-acclaimed novels Florida Roadkill and Hammerhead Ranch Motel, featuring Serge Storms, the homicidal misift with the encyclopedic knowledge of the Sunshine State. Now, in Orange Crush, Tim Dorsey turns his attention to senseless violence on the campaign trail...For Republican Marlon Conrad, the Florida governorship is a done deal - until the day he and his team inexplicably embark on a whirlwind election tour in a bright orange camper van. But his ratings soar, and soon the press and his shell-shocked opponents set off in hot pursuit - closely followed by the police. For behind this unscheduled roadtrip lies a mysterious trail of mayhem and murder. And it bears all the hallmarks of Florida's most wanted - and most lovable - homicidal maniac. (source: Bol.com)

The Republicans' golden boy — and a loyal, unquestioning tool of the powerful special interests — handsome, unthreatening, Florida governor-by-default Marlon Conrad seems a virtual shoo-in for re-election. That is, until he undergoes a radical personality shift during a bloody military action in the Balkans. Now it's just three weeks before the election and Marlon is suddenly talking about issues and reform as he crosses the length and breadth of his home state with an amnesiac speechwriter and a chief of staff who turns catatonic in the presence of minorities. The governor's new-found conscience might well cost him the election, though. And it appears that pretty much everybody from Tallahassee to Miami Beach is trying to kill him...

July 8, 2001 - Tampa Tribune

Dorsey has emerged a leader ... in the parody/satire/humorist business.

Originally published in New York by HarperTorch, 2002.