When the first paragraph of a book starts with a prosthetic leg with a Willie Nelson bumper sticker washing up on a Florida beach, it gets your attention. And when it starts to get a little weirder after that, you know you got to keep reading.
This is the case with Tim Dorsey's latest madcap, adventure thriller, PINEAPPLE GRENADE. If the bright orange cover with the parrot on the front doesn't drag you in, then the guarantee that Dorsey's usual brand of bizarre storytelling is on tap certainly will. Continuing the larger-than-life tales of Serge Storms and his drug-addled sidekick Coleman, PINEAPPLE GRENADE has all the twist, turns, ups, downs, and manic mania that are the trademarks of this popular series.
This time around, Serge decides he wants to try his hand at being a spy for a foreign country, any country will do, and, of course, he drags poor ol' Coleman along on the adventure. Most of this story is set in and around Miami, which happens to have a large contingency of CIA operatives and foreign embassies, which is handy for Serge's purpose. Right off the bat, Serge starts performing his usual antics that most would think were just the weird fantasies in his mind, but, oddly enough, it turns out that the espionage community really does work in this off-beat, strangely logical illogical way.
In the process of being "super-spy" for the fictional country of Costa Gorda, Serge and Coleman try to fly from Tampa to Miami and get caught in the typical TSA and delayed airline insanity that most of frequent fliers can relate to. The boys also stumbled into a powerful struggle where two rival CIA operations have been given the task of spying on each other, rather than other targets. One bunch goes so far as to have two of their operatives pose as tourists so they can see what their rivals are up to when they get "arrested" and interrogated. (That's enough to leave you shaking your head -- but wait, there's more!) Through total coincidence, the CIA, the Costa Gorda president, and his minions believe that Serge is an undercover assassin/body guard assigned to protect the president. He hooks up with Felicia, who is a really a spy for Costa Gorda, and this is where things just go all "James Bond."
Serge appears to not know what he is doing, but in fact he does and plays it beautifully in his own strange, funky way. The climactic scene involves a real assassin, the Costa Gorda president, Serge, Felicia, Coleman, a fall guy, an alternate assassin, a large crowd at an American summit, an arms merchant, a few swat teams, 2 CIA groups and more mayhem than that guy on the Allstate commercials could handle.
As usual, all those who should get their comeuppance do through Serge's odd sense of justice. Serge knows more than it appears, he just does things in his own weird, but effective way.
Tim Dorsey's fantastically irreverent PINEAPPLE GRENADE, as well as all of his Serge Storms novels, can easily be classified as a "guys" book, a real "man's man" kind of novel. But oddly enough, these can be kind of fun for the ladies to enjoy as well -- they kind of give women an insight to the weird, wonderful way a man's mind works when the boys are let loose with their toys.
Miami has always set the weirdness bar, but Serge Storms is back in action and ready to pole vault over it. First, there’s the media frenzy over the “Hollow Man,” a gutless corpse found on the beach. And yet people think it’s perfectly normal to find dead sharks in the middle of downtown boulevards—or to spot black mushroom clouds behind the airport. Then there are the roving bands of carjackers who suddenly find themselves inconvenienced. Not to mention people lurking outside sex-addiction meetings. Could this be the work of Serge, that eccentric trivialista and one-man vigilante? And why is he extensively photographing foreign consulates right before the critically important Summit of the Americas comes to town? Does it have something to do with Serge’s declaration to tell his ever-stoned sidekick, Coleman, that he’s decided to become a spy? Of course he’s not working for anyone yet, so Serge is content to just spy for himself until he shows up on radar and his talents are appreciated. His ace in the hole? Serge’s newly revamped Secret Master Plan! His spider senses tell him something big is about to go down in Miami, and it just might involve the recently reactivated CIA cell operating in the same historic building that plotted the overthrow of Fidel Castro. The intelligence community isn’t amused, and they want answers: How did Serge and Coleman get so cozy with the president of a banana republic? Who is the femme fatale with a heart of gold—and national pride? Why is the congressman in favor of the latest oil spill?
When did everyone in the city forget how to drive?
And what about the Most Laid Man in Miami?
Meanwhile, a mysterious international man of intrigue is shipping military arms around the clock, in competition with clandestine flights of souvenirs, causing the office of Homeland Security to take measures against people who aren’t scared enough. The crossfire of chaos continues to escalate as Serge plays Extreme Dominos in Little Havana, hurtling everyone toward a fateful climax that seems destined for the hemispheric summit jamboree on the shores of Biscayne Bay.
So put on your favorite pink flamingo shirt, hit the dunes of South Beach, and find all the answers in . . . Pineapple Grenade!
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