Hammerhead Ranch Motel (Serge Storms)

From all the reviews I read, I thought this would be a laugh out loud book, but it wasn't. I think I got a giggle twice. It was full of weird characters, with weird situations but not much of a plot... I was very dissappointed. I only read it to the end to see if the ending would be better and would tie everything together... some loose ends were tied up in the end... but with no great shakes for an ending. very weird!

You have to love Serge Storm, Dorsey's schizoid serial killer, a man who possesses an ocean of knowledge about Florida history and disgorges it at the oddest times, who murders the deserving artfully, and who tenaciously pursues what he wants, in this case five million dollars of missing drug money.

Dorsey loads the book with a motel's worth of weirdly wonderful and always ridiculous characters, from grouchy old men, to Hemingway impersonators, to killer old ladies, to bobble-headed news people, to a performing dog, to hot babes, to frustrated virgins, to boiler room scammers, to reluctant private eyes, to murderous drug dealers, and to lazy civil dis-servants.

Frequent digressions from the plot, so many you sometimes forget what the plot is, are the name of the game, along with gut-wrenching, spasm-inducing, breath-paralyzing laughter. Really, at various points the book will fall from your hands. So, do not read on public transit, or anywhere you might embarrass yourself.

Great fun.

For more serious serial killer fare, please do check my listmania, when you regain control of your senses.

Book number two, on the list of Tim Dorsey novels, is another amazing, crazy ride.

Hammerhead Ranch Motel picks up where the first novel, Florida Roadkill, left off. Kind of. True, Serge Storm, the "spree killer" and Florida amateur historian, from the first novel, moves through the Tampa area looking for a briefcase filled with $5M US. Yes, a few other characters from that first novel make an appearance. But the other characters that get swept into Serge's life are much more entertaining. The basis for the plot is the missing $5M. But Dorsey throws in some Medicare fraud, wire fraud, cocaine dealers, a couple of hot female pot heads on the run, a writer for the "Weekly Mail of the News World," bodies falling from the sky, some Hemingway look-a-likes, and a hurricane (just to mix it all up). And most of the action centers around a two bit hotel, the Hammerhead Ranch Motel.

Much like a Tarantino film, this book jumps around in time. One scene, early in the novel, occurs at the Tampa Aquarium, where in a college student falls through the glass roof. It isn't until about midway through the novel that you find out why and how this happens. And just like Tarantino, I let this happen, and don't question it. Later, after finishing the novel, I come to appreciate what it is that I have just witnessed. Also appreciated, is Serge Storm. While not exactly "right in the head," the man will take you on a whirlwind tour of Florida. Forget your guidebooks to Florida, read Dorsey. You will learn much more about the State of Florida than any tour book, and have a good laugh while reading. This time, you take in the sights and historical landmarks of Tampa. And let Serge show you his pictures of sunsets. Truly amazing.

I am really enjoying Dorsey's writing and main characters. In fact, I have the third book on reserve at the library. In this novel, you can tell that he is maturing. There is much more cohesiveness to the story and the characters. He seems to have fleshed both out better before putting pen to paper. The "minor" characters seem better thought out and better drawn. The backstory on Serge is more complete. The setups and payoffs seem to be more plausible. And what an ending (of course, it is "to be continued").

What is it about Florida? Is there really this much material to mine? Are the residents really this . . . strange? Is it truly a state full of criminals and crazy ultra-conservatives? I don't know, but it sure makes for a highly entertaining read. This is one of those novels that may find yourself laughing out loud. Highly recommended.

"Hammerhead Ranch Motel" picks up where Dorsey's first novel, "Florida Roadkill," left off, with Serge A. Storms still pursuing his ill-gotten five million dollars of drug money. Dorsey loads the novel with so many characters that it is sometimes difficult to keep track of who is who, but each is written with a distinct personality. Even minor characters have backstories, so it is sometimes difficult to know when a character is introduced whether he/she will play a major role in the plot development.
The novel begins not at the beginning, but somewhere in the middle. It is fun guessing how the chronological action will twist its way into the prologue's action. Combining violence (the death toll is hard to keep track of) with real off-beat humor, Dorsey somehow makes hardened criminals likeable. One of the interesting things about this book is that there are few good guys or gals. For example, Serge A. Storms, the novel's protagonist, is a serial killer who is sympathetic. Serge hooks up with Lenny, a drug addicted Don Johnson impersonator (the "Miami Vice Experience"), and two not-so innocent nubile young ladies, in his money pursuit. We root for Serge and his team, even though you probably would not want them as your friends.
The climatic hurricane, foreshadowed early in the novel, helps to bring everything to a partial climax, with the good guys, bad guys, crazy guys, and real nut cases thrown together. Dorsey may have borrowed the hurricane idea from an earlier Carl Hiassen novel, and certainly walks on the same road as Hiassen, but has raised the level of insanity up a few notches. Hilarity may prevail, but remember that it often comes at the expense of a newly deceased character who did not make it to the climax.

After my review of "Florida Roadkill" I hoped that Tim Dorsey would become a more rounded writer. While I liked "Florida Roadkill" the mass amounts of characters made the book a little confusing. In "Hammerhead Ranch Motel", Dorsey starts out the same way. Many characters and the events jumping around with a strange timeline. However around page fifty Dorsey tightens it down and cleverly ties up the loose ends and gives a great story full of action and hilarious characters.
Once again we find Serge Storms in the quest of a briefcase with 5 million dollars in drug money. He ends up at the Hammerhead Ranch Motel were a wild cast of characters are assembled. Zargoza the hotel manager who happens to work for the Diaz Boys, a pitiful excuse for drug dealers. Lenny the Don Johnson look alike who has an illegal NASA moon rock. Two Alabama grocery clerks on the run for a crime the didn't commit. A wrongly diagnosed businessman who thinks he is dying and decided to become a vigilante. A bunch of Ernest Hemingway look alikes and a shrinking mayor. Mix all these characters up along with the briefcase and incoming hurricane, and you get one great book.
For the first time Dorsey reader I suggest that you read "Florida Roadkill" first. Then settle in for a great romp in "Hammerhead Ranch Motel". Also, is you think you have lost track of an event or a character keep reading. Dorsey has a way of catching up the reader further into the book and everything will snap together. Can't wait for the third installment.

Tim Dorsey's second novel picks up roughly an hour after his first, "Florida Roadkill," ends. The briefcase with $5 million in cocaine money is still lodged in the tire well of an unsuspecting innocent driver, and a spree killer named Serge Storms is still chasing it.
Unlike the original novel, the sprawling cast of characters all quickly gravitate to a single location -- the unlikely crime novel setting of Tampa, Florida. Here Dorsey, a former journalist for the Tampa Tribune, mixes together criminals with aspirations, permanently pissed-off retirees, another radio shock jock (after having killed off his first one in "Florida Roadkill"), a Don Johnson imitator, a pair of Alabama Piggly Wiggly clerks on the run, a passive-aggressive private detective, an Earnest Hemmingway look a like and more.
The action is much more manic this time around, almost slapstick at times, with villains who are more comic than threatening. Although there are a number of deaths, most of them border on slapstick, and not always successfully. (Murder by taxidermy probably sounded more interesting than it actually turns out to be.) In a similar vein, Dorsey begins rolling out joke name after joke name, some of them fairly mild and obscure, others that are
true groaners.
On the other hand, the sense of place he evokes with Tampa is extremely well-done, and handled with a light touch, by focusing on a few key details rather than long essays on the character of the city, as previous generations of crime writers were wont to do. And Dorsey is extremely conscious of those who have come before, once again referencing other Florida crime writers both obliquely (a tourist reading Carl Hiaasen's novel "Skin Tight") and overtly, with the climax of the story being punctuated
with clips from the Bogart/Bacall angsters-trapped-in-a-hurricane movie, "Key Largo."
The title location, a seedy motel in a community turning into a standard Tampa retirement community, works especially well, with Dorsey describing the dingy rooms in clear (if somewhat off-putting) key details, and using the location to good effect, with natural reasons for the motley cast to all end up at the location by the end.
While somewhat hit and miss compared to his original novel or the works of Hiaasen, whose coattails his marketing has been designed to help him ride, "Hammerhead Ranch Motel" is still a recommended read for fans of his first novel or the works of Hiaasen.

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!

Out of breath, head still spinning from the wildly crazy "Florida Roadkill," along comes this sequel that might actually surpass it's predecessor in laughs and good ol' Florida fun! I was a reluctant Dorsey fan at first, nearly giving up on the previous novel more than once. Suddenly without warning, I am a Serge A. Storms fan and find myself rooting for the bad guys, who aren't so bad after all. Picking up immediately from the fiery conclusion of "Florida Roadkill," Serge is still after the five million dollar briefcase. Along the way he picks up a new sidekick to replace the now decesed Coleman. Lenny Lippowicz; who drives around in a Pink Cadillac with a banner touting himself as the Don Johnson Experience, is the perfect replacement to the drug addled, simple minded Coleman.
"You're right about Zeppelin's fourth album, it rocks."
Serge launched into air guitar...Lenny growled with a Kmart Robert Plant, but it was serviceable.
"Hey, hey, mama said the way you move - gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove."
Serge made guitar sounds with his mouth and Zargoza pounded on the wheel.
"...been so long since I found out, what people mean by dinin' out."
Serge resumed the scorching guitar part again, but Zargoza had a funny look on his face.
"Whoa! Whoa! Stop it! Hold the fu**in' train!..."Did you say 'what people mean by dinin' out?"
"Yeah."
"...It's down and out you boob! Jimmy Page is choppin' the most savage guitar licks ever laid down and you think Robet Plant is singing about not getting out to White Castle enough?"
"I didn't give it much thought," said Lenny. "I figured they were very busy in the recording studio and ate a lot of takeout...now i'm hungry."
They turned on to U.S. 19, fast-food row and pulled in the drive-through lane at the new fried-chicken skin joint.
"This is the best place," Lenny said. "They get rid of all the damn meat so you just get the skin. That's all we've ever wanted. That's all we've ever asked for."
We also meet a whole new bunch of zany's including the brave crew of aviation Hurricane hunter's ("We're all gonna die," screams Banana's Foster in the cockpit,) Art Tweed, an Alabama resident, desperate and on the verge of death, Jethro Maddox, the philosophical Hemingway look-alike, Paul, the passive-agressive private eye, and City & Country, two girls on the run from a secret past. All of them wind up as temporary residents in the not so famous Hammerhead Ranch Motel. The climactic hurricane scene is not to be missed, and is almost reminiscent (I mean that loosely) of the great Bogart epic "Key Largo." If Dorsey's Florida leaves you unseasonably cold, I would pass, but if "Florida Roadkill" left you panting for more, this is a must-read.

This second installment in Tim Dorsey's series of books about Florida follows Florida Roadkill, and precedes something called Orange Crush, which I haven't read yet. A friend of mine recommended the series: he apparently likes books set in Florida, having been a lifelong fan of John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee series. Dorsey's books, however, are nothing like MacDonalds', beyond the setting. Dorsey has a very very strange sense of humor, and his books are peopled with weird characters, bizarre events, and odd coincidences. Nothing normal ever happens in Dorsey's Florida.

As much as there's a plot, it involves Dorsey's main character, the eccentrically-named Serge A. Storms. Dorsey likes names that are alliterations of one form or another, so in addition Lenny Lippowicz, a dog named Toto, a girl named Gigi, etc. You get the picture. It seems everyone who doesn't have a name that has double initials has to have a nickname of some sort. Anyway, Storms is chasing around Tampa, looking for a briefcase full of money that came his way in the previous Dorsey book, "Florida Roadkill". He keeps finding the money, and then losing it again. Since Storms is a violent psychopath (in this book he beheads a teenage girl) it's hard to sympathize with him much. He also has an annoying habit of launching into lectures extolling the history and virtues of the State of Florida at the drop of a hat. You have to wonder why someone doesn't shoot him every thirty minutes in the book, but he's the main character and just seems to drift along, aimlessly searching for the money, then displaying some pretty canny intelligence in looking for it just when you thought he was completely crazy.

I enjoyed this book, after a fashion. There's not much point in reading it by itself: it's basically Don Quixote on crack, with a deadhead soundtrack, but it's only some chapters from the middle. You really need to read Florida Roadkill first, and I'm hoping that somewhere in here Dorsey will get to a point other than pointing out what stupid monsters he believes the human race to be. Given that, the action is fun, if a bit violent and bloody, the characters are amusing, if improbably overdrawn, and the coincidences that Dorsey spins into his story lines are weird, to say the least.

Tim Dorsey does to criminals what Carl Hiaasen does to polluters and corrupt politicians, however Dorsey is even more over the top. Hammerhead follows multiple story lines which are outrageous and random but somehow come together to add to the craziness that’s already happening in each story line. Sometime that makes it a bit convoluted but it also makes it very enjoyable. If you’re looking for a seedy Florida getaway look no further.

Hammerhead ranch motel by Tim Dorsey is yet another romp through Florida with Serge and Lenny. Serge, the hero of these sagas is his usual witty, zany, loveable self, the serial killer with both creativity and sensitivity who is OCD about almost everything. Lenny is his side kick, who is drunk, stoned, trying to make a connection or down on his hands and knees in the backseat, raking the carpeting for any stray bits of lost dope. The story is packed with action and old movies, dead bodies, parties, a hurricane and Serge showing off his skill in marine taxidermy. Country and City show up for the partying as usual and the infamous Diaz boys are lurking around trying to survive their own stupidity. Johnny Vegas is still engaged in his great quest and Serge is still looking for the car carrying the case with the five million dollars that he lost a couple of books ago.

A rip roaring raunchy Gator-noir tale that includes a dancing weather dog, murder by taxidermy, Hemingway impersonators, gun toting old ladies, Santa Claus jumping off a bridge, a gigolo who can't get laid and more laughs than you can shake a stick at.

Such is life at the seedy Hammerhead Ranch Motel where Dorsey's reoccurring anti-hero, hero Serge the serial killer has checked in while obsessively hunting a briefcase holding five million dollars in drug money that various other unsavory characters are in pursuit of, before a hurricane hits and destroys them all.

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!

At the end of FLORIDA ROADKILL, homicidal maniac Serge has still not obtained the five million dollars in laundered drug money he sought. The stash is hidden in a secret panel inside the trunk of a Chrysler New Yorker driven by an innocent person unaware of his cargo. The driver wearing a Santa suit leaps from a bridge bringing the media focus on the event. Serge is back on the trail of the money.

Eventually the loot, Serge, other con artists, gangsters, and assorted ilk end up at the Hammerhead Roach Motel, an eyesore, located in an exclusive town in Southern Florida. Former drug supplier turned flim flam man Zargaza runs the motel with the aid of two bumbling thugs. With Hurricane Rolando-berto keeping the collection of riff raff in the motel, violence is inevitable.

There are so many weird, eccentric, but funny characters populating the HOMESTEAD RANCH MOTEL in unusual situations, readers will think the story line is irrelevant. Instead, the cleverly designed mystery uses a cartoon-like cast to propel the superb story line, with its biting social commentary, forward to a wild finish. Tim Dorsey makes the irrelevant relevant with his satirical romps.

Harriet Klausner

In his sequel to Florida Roadkill, Tim Dorsey kept me up all night turning the pages so fast that I got paper cuts. Serge is back, and with a new and improved Coleman-type character, Hammerhead Ranch Motel quickly recaptures the dark but irresistable humor of the first book. The only complaint I have is that it's harder to follow the characters in this book, but Dorsey manages to get everyone together in the wonderful and unpredictable finale. I'd have to say that as a Florida resident, I love the way this book makes fun of everything corrupt about Florida- very Carl Hiiasen! However, you don't need to be from Florida to appreciate the humor and satire that Dorsey churns out, and everyone will love the eclectic group of characters that spill out of the pages. All the great characters that made it alive throught the last novel are back - Sean and David, Johnny Vegas, and my favorite criminally insane Floridaphile, Serge. Dorsey brings in new characters that are a delight, from bad guys you can't help but love, to the good guys that are, to say the least, a little eccentric. So, buy this book, but don't start reading it unless you have a lot of free time, because you won't be able to put it down.

Zany is the word that best describes this very witty author's commentary on current Florida culture. Farcical Floridian has become a literary genre of late and Tim Dorsey has been compared to two of its masters: Carl Hiaasen and Laurence Shames. A valid comparison as to the geography of their work. Dorsey shares with Hiaasen a background in journalism (both having written for metropolitan papers in the Sunshine State) and each appears to have a huge collection of Floridian absurdities accumulated over the years. Shames, an artistic writer who ritually uses Key West as his backdrop, writes romantic mystery novellas with a proven formula: boy or girl seeking love gets in trouble along the way and we (the reading audience) are entertained as he or she tries to find her way out. Hiaasen is a social iconoclast of the likes of H. L. Menken and amuses us by poking fun at the greed, excesses and moral weakness of our society as played out near the tropic of cancer. Dorsey reminds one of Lenny Bruce with a pen.
This is a very funny book. In a loosely connected story line, with sub-plots popping up all over the Florida peninsula, from the panhandle to Key West, Dorsey treats to punch-line-prose that brings about a chuckle on almost every page. Characters are brought together the way comedians were in the classic film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World. This is certainly not literature, but for a fun, light read it is as funny and quick as can be. Take it to the beach or read it on a plane.

This is Tim Dorsey's sequel to Florida Roadkill. Serge Storms is back in this book still chasing the suitcase containing $5 Million in laundered drug-money. Early in the novel Serge gets his hands on the case, just to lose it to car thieves. The case continues to transfer hands until it makes it to the hands of drug-lord Zargozsa. The owner of the Hammerhead Ranch Motel. We follow Serge as he kills his way along the route taken by the case and meets up with zany companions along the way. The plot reaches its climax as the protaganists gather in the bar of the Hammerhead Ranch to wait out a hurricane and see who will end up with the cash.

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!

Hammerhead Ranch Motel is a raucous story filled with colorful characters and locales. Unfortunately, it often has too much color and Dorsey really seems to be trying too hard to impress us with his knowledge of Florida lore and history, and his ability to deliver eccentric situations and characters. The ending ties things together messily, but at least has more coherence than the beginning. The exerpt of his forthcoming books suggests that his capacity for good writing may yet overcome his talent for showing off.

I think I liked this even better than Florida Roadkill, and that's going some. The overall level of lunacy remains the same, but as another reader mentioned, it seems Dorsey reined things in a bit during the second half of this one. Pieces fell together tighter than a jigsaw puzzle. If you haven't read Florida Roadkill, I'd recommend it before taking on Hammerhead-although this could definitely stand on its own. And if you haven't seen Key Largo-or don't remember it that well-watching it before reading Hammerhead Ranch will enhance the high.

I truly enjoyed this comedic and at times horrific novel. This was a true pleasure to read. Characters such as Johnny Vegas and his attempts at losing his virginity, too Boris 'the hateful piece of s###', lend an originality I find refreshing. Though most characters are a bit shady, you can't help but feel a little compassion for them. The book had a tendency to jump around a little too much for me, but since I read it in a short period of time, I could hang with it.
Highly recommended

This guy can really write some wierd stuff - he creates scenes and characters that are strange and wild enough to impress any screenwriter looking for an a la "Sexy Beast" opening scene - yet it is the story itself that lacks. It is a typical what-is-going-on story that falls together seamlessly at the end. In that sense it is incredibly boring, and very predictable. However, you'll read it quite fast, as there are very few challenging segments to hold you up or, well, make you think. A wild ride, but one without depth or true craft to hold you in.

I enjoyed this book almost as much as Florida Roadkill. About the only difference was that with Florida Roadkill, I was pleasantly surprised that I liked it som much. Serge is back, chasing the money that was the focus of the first book, but again gets sidetracked in many other funny situations. The characters are well done, the plot is a little hard to follow at times, but always tied together very nicely. I would recommend this for anyone who enjoyed Florida Roadkill. If you haven't read Florida Roadkill, I would recommend it as well.

I enjoyed this book almost as much as Florida Roadkill. About the only difference was that with Florida Roadkill, I was pleasantly surprised that I liked it som much. Serge is back, chasing the money that was the focus of the first book, but again gets sidetracked in many other funny situations. The characters are well done, the plot is a little hard to follow at times, but always tied together very nicely. I would recommend this for anyone who enjoyed Florida Roadkill. If you haven't read Florida Roadkill, I would recommend it as well.

The sequel to Florida Roadkill, this book is set during hurricane season on Florida's Gulf Coast. A psychotic spree killer, his yellow journalist sidekick, and an assortment of ex-cons and seedy locals are determined to ride out the storm while taking care of unfinished business inside the Hammerhead Ranch Motel. These eccentric characters make for a funny and entertaining read from Tim Dorsey.

Well, Dorsey did it again! He wrote a novel that made the kids wait for their dinner. Once I picked it up, I couldn't put it down. I'd fall asleep holding it, only to awaken, pick it up, and start reading again!
Tim weaves a tale that hosts characters that I swear I know. Their madcap adventures which trail up and down the Florida interstates and sideroads have kept me laughing time and time again. With each new read, I discover something about each of them I didn't know. Dorsey definitely paints characters who ARE characters. I also recommend reading Florida Roadkill before sinking into Hammerhead Ranch Motel. Although you'll get to know each character at the Ranch, you'll feel like you've met up with old friends if you've read Roadkill first.
I can't wait for Orange Crush. I'm definitely a Dorsey fan. He takes me away from my safe, mundane Floridian existence and immerses me in a darker side of Sunshine that entertains.
Thanks, Tim!

The first few chapters seem a little bizaar and once you get a little further into this classic you will probably decide to start the book again just so you can get all the laughs you might have missed the first time around.
Tim Dorsey has not only put together a brilliant mystery/thriller plot that has you toally confused until the end, but he has also got one of the greatest senses of humour I think I have ever seen on paper.
I have never laughed out loud as much as I did when I read this book and when I gave this book to my brother to read I could tell where he was in the book just by the volume of his laugh.
This is one of the funniest and well thought out books I have ever read and would recommend it to anyone that likes a laugh.....

Guns, drugs, and drag racing, are only three out of a hundred things that happen in this paperback. Tim Dorsey's book, Hammerhead Ranch Motel, deserves a rating of 4.5 because he is humorous, scandalous, and ridiculous, though the beginning is slow; the rest is fast-paced and keeps one reading. A drug addict, killer, Serge, is looking for a briefcase of money that got stole by another drug addict. Tim Dorsey's intentions are to make the reader have a good time and take them away from reality. This novel encourages one's sense of humor, make criminals look smart, and teaches young adults not to mess with emotionally unstable men.

Comedy is the main theme through out this book. I found myself laughing-out-loud because Tim Dorsey is a very witty writer; he knows how to turn something plain into something funny. This strength in a book is very important because it keeps the reader hooked and while being hooked they are enjoying themselves. Also he definitely gets the reader involved and makes them want to keep reading. An extra strength of the book is that he ties the characters together so well. Serge can leave his briefcase of money in the car; have his car stole from him not knowing there was money in there. Then have that person find the money, and Serge befriends this man not knowing he has a briefcase, but soon after he finds out. Serge will keep it under cover so he can mess with this man a little bit. That is one example of how people are tied together.

A weakness in the book it that it makes the criminals appear to be smarter than they are. It many not seem like a bad thing but criminals are supposed to be slow and dumb. In the book, there is a part where Serge keeps jumping out of the car and taking pictures of places I have never heard of. Also another weakness is that the beginning of the book is very slow; he is mainly just introducing the characters, which is really important. So, if you don not like boring beginnings you should still keep reading, this book will not disappoint you.

Teaching young adults that unstable men are not good to get involved with, because, they do anything anytime to anyone. One minute are normal then the next they are sitting in a bathtub playing with a moon rock. Also unhinged men like to do drugs, have sex, and kill anyone that gets in their way. Serge is the unstable man I am talking about because if someone does one thing wrong than they will be kissing the dirt. He does pick up a lot of friends on the way but one of his friends is his "friend" because he has Serge's briefcase of money. Serge befriends him and then Serge ends up letting his "friend" fly away in a hurricane that was happening that day. Serge is a very emotionally unstable man.

In conclusion, this book is a great humorous book. Anyone who likes a good laugh will enjoy this book. Though I would not recommend this book to someone who is very against drug use and death. There is a lot of gruesome torture, paraphernalia, and murders. One can gain a lot of useless information, and a better sense of humor. The book also teaches the reader not to mess with anyone unstable or to take his briefcase of money. Check this book out for its awesome strengths and forget about the weaknesses, they are very small and not meaningful.

Hiassen wanna be or perhaps wanna be his sidekick, or perhaps IS an author making his way in his own right! Floridian farces mixed with Marx Brother scenarios which will keep you smiling if not laughing out loud. We all really aren't such Floridiots though :-)

I enjoyed this book even though I felt some parts were too long winded and that there were too many characters to keep track of. At some points I lost track of the plot and couldn't find the point. Overall though an enjoyable read. I will read others by Dorsey.

This book is flat out hilarious, not quite as much action as the first book in the series but every bit as funny. I found myself laughing out loud countless times while I was reading it. This book was so good I will make sure I read every book in this series.