Rating: 
Summary: Serge and Johnny Vegas Return!
Review: 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!
Rating: 
Summary: You'll howl with laughter!
Review: Let's be honest: As fascinating as author Tim Dorsey's characters are, as twisted, as brilliant, they all come out of his obviously fascinating, obviously twisted, obviously brilliant mind. HAMMERHEAD RANCH MOTEL is the sequel to FLORIDA ROADKILL. It may not be quite as hilarious as "Roadkill," but it remains howlingly funny. Part of the treat is seeing where Dorsey takes the reader next. The hero (or, perhaps, anti-hero) must be the most lovable psychopathic serial killer in history, a man with a vast store of knowledge (rivaling only the author's) and a highly developed sense of justice. There is a scene with this hero and a psychiatrist that is one of the most wonderfully manic things I ever have read. I can't wait to zip through all of Dorsey's other Florida-based thrillers!
Rating:
Summary: Total Chaos
Review: Like all Tim Dorsey, this novel is gripping and a little insane. The characters all all 1 dimensional but very funny and predictable. I am reading this book after completing Florida Roadkill and both are pretty decent. He definitely has a great sense of irony that we typically see in every day life down her in paradise (Miami).
Rating:
Summary: Back to back Tim Dorsey lunacy!
Review: 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!
Rating: 
Summary: "South Florida Crazy" meets "South Florida Mediocre". . .
Review: OK, I admit it. . . I fell for the hype that Tim Dorsey was the next Carl Hiaasen when I bought and read his first book, "Florida Roadkill". I was disappointed, but not disappointed enough to swear him off completely. After "Hammerhead Ranch Motel", I am. Tim Dorsey is Carl Hiaasen without soul or at least without heart. Let me list my complaints, one by one: Giving characters humorous names and nicknames and putting them in absurdly zany situations does not make a book funny. There is no real plot continuity, only a series of "let's see how crazy I can make this one" events. Not to keep harping on how superior Carl Hiaasen is to Tim Dorsey, but Hiaasen's books are truly satire. He is not afraid to systematically take on Florida's leading icons - developers, theme parks and the tourist industry in general, the Lotto and people who play it, cosmetic surgeons, and the drug industry. Each of his books focuses primarily on one of these topics. Tim Dorsey includes each of these in every one of his books, but strictly stereotypically and gratuitously. It almost seems like he feels these are the components one needs for "Florida humor", so the more you throw in, the funnier it is. The Johnny Vegas subplot is pointless. He has appeared in both of the first two books to absolutely no purpose but to add bulk and sophomoric sexual titillation to the books. If these sections were totally excised, there would be absolutely no loss to the stories. There's a severe geographic dissociation. Hiaasen sets his stories in Miami and South Florida, where life truly is faster paced and the air really does crackle with an electric sub-current. Dorsey places his in Tampa-St. Pete, a haven for Mid-western transplants, and tries to make it seem like Miami. (Tampa Bay residents, please don't flood my e-mail with nasty rejoinders - I live in the Tampa Bay area my own self and have for 18 years. . .) As a resident of the Tampa Bay area, where most of the story takes place, I was amused by the references to local streets and landmarks, and I must admit they did catch my interest - the first 50 times or so. Readers from Pittsburgh could care less about how many times characters crossed the Gandy Bridge or drove the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway or went to Davis Island, just as readers in Tampa-St. Pete could care less how many times a character in a book set in Pittsburgh crossed the West End Bridge, drove down the McArdle Roadway, or went to Point Park. Setting is important, but should not be the dominant feature of a book. The book did have is enjoyable moments, and at no point did I feel compelled to throw it across the room. But this should not be the only positive one derives from a book. Perhaps one day I'll find "Orange Crush" at a garage sale and I may buy it. Until then, I will look to Carl Hiaasen, Laurence Shames, Dave Barry, and the occasional Elmore Leonard placed in Miami for my fix of "South Florida crazy" literature.
Rating:
Summary: Another winner from the bent mind of Tim Dorsey
Review: Ok, what kept us up late nights glued to the pages of "Florida Roadkill"? That's right! Gaudy, sick and fantastically creative homicidal hillarity. Well Serge is back and no one is safe. Nothing standard here. It's the out of control rollercoaster ride from "Roadkill" continued. You thought you could catch your breathe but hang on, you crested the second hill and its headed for the gutter at 200mph! A must have.
Rating:
Summary: Dorsey is the master of homicidal hillarity!
Review: Okay, what kept us up late nights glued to the pages of "Florida Roadkill"? That's right! Sick, gaudy, homicidal hillarity. Serge is back and know body is safe in the latest masterpiece by Tim Dorsey, "Hammerhead Motel". More brilliant character linking transitions along with the hillarious killing sprees that we're all ashamed to laugh at but do anyway. Get this now! You thought you could catch your breathe after the "Roadkill" rollercoaster but hold on, you've crested the second hill and headed toward the gutter at 200mph! A must have.
Rating:
Summary: Lotta Verbs, Lotta Serge, Lotta Laughs
Review: Serge is a wonderful character. One can't help wonder what would happen if Serge met Skink.
Rating:
Summary: Correction
Review: The book's great. Read it at once. This is just a correction to a previous reviewer's comment, namely, that Dorsey & Hiaasen write for "neighboring" newspapers. Not true. Dorsey wrote for the Tampa Tribune, in west central Florida, near the Gulf of Mexico. Hiaasen writes (wrote?) for the Miami Herald, on the lower east coast of Florida, by the Atlantic Ocean. It's about a 4-5 hour drive from one city to the other, and they are noticeably different places. Still, it's true that Florida is one big freakshow.
Rating:
Summary: Correction
Review: The book's great. Read it at once. This is just a correction to a previous reviewer's comment, namely, that Dorsey & Hiaasen write for "neighboring" newspapers. Not true. Dorsey wrote for the Tampa Tribune, in west central Florida, near the Gulf of Mexico. Hiaasen writes (wrote?) for the Miami Herald, on the lower east coast of Florida, by the Atlantic Ocean. It's about a 4-5 hour drive from one city to the other, and they are noticeably different places. Still, it's true that Florida is one big freakshow.
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