Atomic Lobster: A Novel (Serge a. Storms)

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Why is everyone rushing to flee Tampa on a cruise ship to hell?

Serge is back with a bullet, torn between homicide and souvenirs. So is Coleman, torn between getting hammered and getting more hammered. Then there's good ol' Jim Davenport, the E-Team, the Diaz Brothers, and Johnny Vegas, the Accidental Virgin, cranking up the fevered action as the pot boils over on a street called Lobster Lane.

It's reunion time in the Sunshine State, and we're not just talking the family jamboree of that blood-soaked criminal clan, the McGraws, whose nastiest, meanest member is finally released from prison and heads south bent on revenge. On top of it all, the government is covering up a growing list of mysterious victims across Florida who may or may not be connected to a nefarious plot being hatched against national security.

But wait! There's more on the horizon! Who is the oddly familiar femme fatale named Rachael? Is Serge wrong that guns, drugs, and strippers don't mix? What sets the Non-Confrontationalists off on a rampage? What finally brings Coleman and Lenny together? Will they succeed in building the biggest bong ever? And can Serge surf a rogue wave to victory?

So batten the hatches, don the life jackets, and take cover as all these questions and more are answered in the latest adventure from the acclaimed author of Hurricane Punch.

Customer Reviews: Read 32 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Slapstick Action/Adventure With A Twist! February 4, 2008
21 out of 23 found this review helpful

I've got a new hero! And a brand-new series to read! But I don't think most people are going to appreciate him as much as I do, or even be twisted enough to get the gonzo humor involved. Nor will most appreciate that hero's penchant for taking people toilet snorkeling when they disagree with him.

His name is Serge A. Storms, and he's a spree killer. However, before you go thinking too terribly of him, I point out that Serge's victims are only evil people. He only kills the bad guys, and generally then only after being provoked or they don't take his first warning. He's manic depressive but tends to stay on the "up" side of life, which makes him an uncharacteristically happy kind of guy.

Of course, being a spree killer and having a tendency to kill someone with plenty of malice but no real aforethought kind of limits the friends and romances he can have. Serge hangs with the lowlifes, like drug-bingeing Coleman in this novel (who is an absolute riot as well) and Rachel (a down-on-her-luck prostitute with a really serious drug jones). But Serge's heart is always in the right place, always willing to look after society and the environment and his friends.

One of those friends puts in an appearance in this novel. Jim Davenport, the much heckled and timid mouse of a man, has been in previous novels - where he and Serge first struck up their "friendship." In this book, Jim gets menaced by Tex McGraw, a man Jim testified against ten years ago who has now gotten out of prison and plans to enact his revenge. He even has a list. The police know this because Tex said, "I've got a list."

In addition to Serge, Coleman, and Jim, there are four older women who refer to themselves as the G-Unit. They're not big on sobriety or rules, and use their age as a catch-all defense against people who want to hold them accountable for what they've done.

Tim Dorsey has written ten Serge books so far, and ATOMIC LOBSTER is the latest. You don't have to read the earlier books first. Feel free to dive right in with this one. I did. Then I bought earlier books and put them in my TBR pile because I gotta read more.

Before turning to bestselling author, Dorsey was a newspaper writer down in Florida. It seems like a lot of our bestselling authors come from there (Dave Barry, Carl Hiaasen) or move there (Elmore Leonard), and they all end up with twisted senses of humor. I do know that Dorsey carves out a tract of macabre real estate that's completely his own.

I had a bit of a struggle when I first started to read the book because it doesn't start out linearly. Dorsey seems to like to show you some results of actions you haven't read about yet, then double back and let you - in disbelief, I might add - watch how it all happened. And it isn't always what you think it's going to be.

Describing the plot would be a pathetic waste of time. What there is, and it is incredibly thin, is so convoluted that I'd have to give away so much of the fun you have waiting on you that I'm not even going to try. You'll have to read for yourself how Coleman and Lenny (one of Serge's buddies from earlier novels) get together to build the biggest bong, and how they burned a house down doing it. How Serge ends up going frogman gigging in the middle of the night. How Serge exacts vengeance on Tex McGraw for trying to kill Jim.

But most of all, you have to see what happens when Serge gets sent by his psychiatrist to an anger management meeting. Then sent to the NonConfrontationists meeting. How he ends up producing videos of Clowns versus Mimes. I was laughing out loud to the point my wife was asking me what was going on, and when I tried to give her the shorthand version - without her truly getting to appreciate Serge - she was convinced she'd married a madman.

Get a copy of ATOMIC LOBSTER and prepare to get carried away on a wave of incredible zaniness. If you've read Dorsey and Serge before, you know what you're in for. And if you're like me and you haven't, take joy in the fact that you've got nine other books ahead of you!

3 out of 5 stars

Dorsey gets repetitive after a while February 2, 2008
6 out of 13 found this review helpful

I've read several of the Tim Dorsey Serge A. Storms novels, and I must say that at some point you come to the conclusion that one is very much like another. Serge wanders through the plot, a frenetic Tasmanian Devil spouting endless trivia about local history, killing anyone who gets in his way, and doing his best to help his friends. Often, his best is an absolute disaster, and he does more harm than good, but he (you think) means well. You're never quite sure why he does things the way he does, but he's entertaining, after a fashion.

As I said, the difficulty is that he's repetitive. He does the same thing, over and over, causing mayhem on his various quests. The cast of supporting characters changes as the books continue--this one adds a foursome of little old ladies who hop cruise ships because they're cheap if you don't gamble--but the main characteristics of the books make them hard to tell from one another in retrospect.

3 out of 5 stars

not dorsey's best February 5, 2008
6 out of 13 found this review helpful

Tim Dorsey's Serge Storms novels range from 2 stars to 4 stars. His best novels in the series are better than some of Hiaasen's work (which ranges from 3 to 5 stars), but these are still below the level, say, of Hiaasen's Tourist Season and Skin Tight. The question I ask myself after reading a novel by Dorsey or Hiaasen is "How long will it be before I want to reread this book, and will its features stand out in my mind in a year or two from now?" I look forward to rereading the best works of both men, but the novels below that top tier blur in my mind--it's hard to remember where you read a particular episode.

Dorsey's best work is coherent and tight: Atomic Lobster and some of his other novels are almost manic--they make me think of a rock band that tries to compensate for a lack of talent by playing as loudly as possible. The Serge Storms books all have bizarre murders, usually lots of booze and drugs, and Serge pontificating at length on historical trivia. There's a little less historical trivia than usual here (which is a blessing), but the story often seems choppy. You get the feeling that on 5 successive pages there are 5 episodes with different people, and the time frames have been shuffled: the third episode takes place 6 hours before the first, for example. This can be very distracting and hard to follow. It might help if you were slightly stoned on something as you read here.

So if you're a big Serge fan you'll enjoy the book. If you haven't read any of the books in the series, start with Florida Road Kill (the first in the series and certainly one of the best), and work your way up from there.

5 out of 5 stars

Pay Attention! This is a Fast one. January 28, 2008
5 out of 8 found this review helpful

Wow, if you are a Tim Dorsey fan, this Will make you happy.
Many references to past books and people.
I feel like Coleman because I am done with the book and I am Jonesing for more.
*This is Classic Serge* Some wonderful Kills!
Great job Mr. Dorsey.

I already started to read it again.

1 out of 5 stars

AWFUL, says this once-loyal reader June 10, 2008
5 out of 8 found this review helpful

I guess that writers of series of books obligate themselves to write a set number of them for a set price, and then try to meet the obligation by making an effort at writing the first few, then churning out the last one while half-asleep. I got the sense that this book was Dorsey's final effort in this particular publishing sequence. Unreadably absurd. Understanding that the Storms novels are intended to be over the top, there is a certain skill at work in keeping the ridiculous still plausible. All pretense of "absurd plausibility" is gone in this meager effort - culled, it seems, from a series of whacky ideas conceived while jogging (or driving or walking), noted, and then incorporated all at once into a single volume with no attempt at continuity, plot, or narrative. And when, by the way, did Coleman get so articulate? This book is a bust, folks. Avoid it! [P.S. - I have never personally communicated with an author. . . until I read this book. Inconsequential that it was, I still picked the "contact" tab on Dorsey's website, and asked where, please, can I get my money back? I haven't heard back.]

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