Orange Crush
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.
‘I almost exploded with laughter… It’s manic, hysterical and puts Dorsey well up there with the cream of the comic writers who seem to have made Florida the centre for satirising America in the 21st century. Excellent.’Mark Timlin, Independent on Sunday -
‘Impeccable bad taste… another warped, manic romp through Florida and local politics, evoking the rageful satire of Carl Hiaasen and the malicious vindictiveness of Hunter S Thompson. Set against the background of an election and involving a ventriloquist beauty queen and a serial killer with a taste for magic, this is comic crime at its best.’Maxim Jakubowski, Guardian -
‘An heroic attempt at literary revenge on, among other targets, American politics, gridiron football, billionaires, tennis and the media. It marks a return to the form of Dorsey’s astonishingly imaginative debut, Florida Roadkill.’The Times -