I LOVE Carl Hiaasen's work so, when Tim Dorsey was recommended to me as a Hiaasen-clone and I had already finished reading everything Hiaasen had ever written, I literally dropped everything I was doing and rushed to my local bookstore.  There were about 6 or 7 Dorsey choices, I ended up with Florida RoadKill.

Admittedly, Dorsey is trying to channel Hiaasen.  He even mentions him outright, along with others (James Hall, et al) in Road Kill ... as either homage or possibly even a bibliographical footnote.

The problem I have is, while Hiaasen's villain's bizarre deaths seem truly justified throughout his novels, Dorsey's murders/deaths to villains and numerous bystanders, would be defined as absolutely, violently gratuitous.  I am by no means a prude, but even I blanched at the shotgun blasts to the neck, the Barbie doll down the throat, the lethal alcohol suppository, or the "Fix-a-Flat" murder, etc.  It gets old --- reeeaaaallly fast.

Also, even with Hiaasen's over the top satire, he always stays within the realm of reality.  Even if just barely.  Dorsey instead will often boil over into outright silliness.  Like when he's describing the drug cartel's last place in the drug cartel world.  This particular drug cartel was voted: Most likely to be extradited.  Now I'm not saying this type of writing isn't humorous, it's often downright funny.  The problem is, with this type of blatant wink-wink to the reader, it completely shatters any sense of verisimilitude and belongs in a satirical newspaper article, not a novel.

Dorsey's attempt to paint a broad sense of Florida also gets rather tiring.  In order to accomplish his descriptions, rather than weaving them seamlessly throughout his story, he portrays one of his "heroes?" as a Florida history buff and another pair of his characters as a driver/navigator team, reading a book on Florida as they travel.  This enables Dorsey to painfully describe Florida landmarks right out of the pages of a travel book, along with build dates and historical characters and events.  After a while, it feels more like you're being manipulated rather than told a story.

As other reviewers have commented, there are a ridiculous number of characters, and Dorsey expects the reader to remember a minor player that he mentioned in chapter 3, when he meets his demise in chapter 25.  I often found myself flipping back 200 pages just to re-read who did what or what had happened.

Finally, and this is the main problem I have with the book, is lack of empathy.  Any good novelist will create a lead character that his reader's will empathize with, and care about what happens to.  I appreciate the use of an anti-hero, meaning a protagonist who we all love, but has major character flaws.  Perfect examples of good anti-heroes are the two in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.  After all, they're both criminals, felons even, but we loved them, because they were just two likeable characters that had obviously chosen the wrong career path in life.

But Dorsey, for some bizarre reason, doesn't really settle on a lead character for quite some time.  Without trying to bore you, there's Dave and Sean and Veale and Serge and Coleman and Saffron and Sharon and Susan and Dar-Dar and, literally another thirty or forty characters.  I kept reading, playing along, waiting for Dorsey to show me which one I needed to empathize with.

When I finally got to the end of the book, and realized that (and I'm still not sure about this) SERGE was the main character ... I almost became physically ill.  While, Dorsey may have envisioned Serge as his lovable, oft-misunderstood anti-hero, there could be nothing farther from the truth.  Serge is actually a sadistic, narcissistic yet self-loathing, HIV-infected, hateful, despicable, mass-murderer.  NOTE TO DORSEY - An anti-hero is allowed to have major character FLAWS but that is not the same as being a MASS MURDERER!

I realize that not every book should have a happy "Hollywood" ending, but this piece of scum gets to murder whomever and whenever he wants, and yet not have to face justice in the end. Dorsey theoretically might argue that he's keeping Serge alive so that he could serve as the bad guy in his next book, a la Hannibal Lector, but remember, Hannibal was always seen as the arch-villain in Thomas Harris' books, never as an anti-hero.

Because of the aforementioned problems, reading Florida RoadKill might have you laughing at the sometimes-humorous prose, but you'll probably ultimately wish that you hadn't traveled down that road.
I LOVE Carl Hiaasen's work so, when Tim Dorsey was recommended to me as a Hiaasen-clone and I had already finished reading everything Hiaasen had ever written, I literally dropped everything I was doing and rushed to my local bookstore. There were about 6 or 7 Dorsey choices, I ended up with Florida RoadKill. Admittedly, Dorsey is trying to channel Hiaasen. He even mentions him outright, along with others (James Hall, et al) in Road Kill... as either homage or possibly even a bibliographical footnote. The problem I have is, while Hiaasen's villain's bizarre deaths seem truly justified throughout his novels, Dorsey's murders/deaths to villains and numerous bystanders, would be defined as absolutely, violently gratuitous. I am by no means a prude, but even I blanched at the shotgun blasts to the neck, the Barbie doll down the throat, the lethal alcohol suppository, or the "Fix-a-Flat" murder, etc. It gets old --- reeeaaaallly fast. Also, even with Hiaasen's over the top satire, he always stays within the realm of reality. Even if just barely. Dorsey instead will often boil over into outright silliness. Like when he's describing the drug cartel's last place in the drug cartel world. This particular drug cartel was voted: Most likely to be extradited. Now I'm not saying this type of writing isn't humorous, it's often downright funny. The problem is, with this type of blatant wink-wink to the reader, it completely shatters any sense of verisimilitude and belongs in a satirical newspaper article, not a novel. Dorsey's attempt to paint a broad sense of Florida also gets rather tiring. In order to accomplish his descriptions, rather than weaving them seamlessly throughout his story, he portrays one of his "heroes? " as a Florida history buff and another pair of his characters as a driver/navigator team, reading a book on Florida as they travel. This enables Dorsey to painfully describe Florida landmarks right out of the pages of a travel book, along with build dates and historical characters and events. After a while, it feels more like you're being manipulated rather than told a story. As other reviewers have commented, there are a ridiculous number of characters, and Dorsey expects the reader to remember a minor player that he mentioned in chapter 3, when he meets his demise in chapter 25. I often found myself flipping back 200 pages just to re-read who did what or what had happened. Finally, and this is the main problem I have with the book, is lack of empathy. Any good novelist will create a lead character that his reader's will empathize with, and care about what happens to. I appreciate the use of an anti-hero, meaning a protagonist who we all love, but has major character flaws. Perfect examples of good anti-heroes are the two in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. After all, they're both criminals, felons even, but we loved them, because they were just two likeable characters that had obviously chosen the wrong career path in life. But Dorsey, for some bizarre reason, doesn't really settle on a lead character for quite some time. Without trying to bore you, there's Dave and Sean and Veale and Serge and Coleman and Saffron and Sharon and Susan and Dar-Dar and, literally another thirty or forty characters. I kept reading, playing along, waiting for Dorsey to show me which one I needed to empathize with. When I finally got to the end of the book, and realized that (and I'm still not sure about this) SERGE was the main character... I almost became physically ill. While, Dorsey may have envisioned Serge as his lovable, oft-misunderstood anti-hero, there could be nothing farther from the truth. Serge is actually a sadistic, narcissistic yet self-loathing, HIV-infected, hateful, despicable, mass-murderer. NOTE TO DORSEY - An anti-hero is allowed to have major character FLAWS but that is not the same as being a MASS MURDERER! I realize that not every book should have a happy "Hollywood" ending, but this piece of scum gets to murder whomever and whenever he wants, and yet not have to face justice in the end. Dorsey theoretically might argue that he's keeping Serge alive so that he could serve as the bad guy in his next book, a la Hannibal Lector, but remember, Hannibal was always seen as the arch-villain in Thomas Harris' books, never as an anti-hero. Because of the aforementioned problems, reading Florida RoadKill might have you laughing at the sometimes-humorous prose, but you'll probably ultimately wish that you hadn't traveled down that road.