The Maltese Iguana

A Novel

By: Tim Dorsey

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman

Serge A. Storms is back on the road in the latest zany Florida caper from the “wickedly funny” (Entertainment Weekly) Tim Dorsey.

After a long and arduous COVID-19 quarantine, Serge A. Storms is fully vaccinated and ready to hit the road. Along with his condo neighbors, he cooks up a wild plan to celebrate in true Serge fashion: each week, they rent a shuttle van and head out for funky Florida road trips and some serious revelry.

Meanwhile, a CIA revenge operation down in Honduras goes very, very wrong. The local liaison hired to help with the mission is the only witness to the disaster, and the CIA quickly sets a black ops contractor on his trail to eliminate him.

Forced to flee his home country, the witness lands in Miami with a new identity and passport. But the CIA is still on his tail, pushing him further and further south to the Florida Keys, where he runs into Serge’s convoy. With Florida’s most lovable serial killer involved, the real party is about to get started…

©2023 Tim Dorsey (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers

Not as good as the rest

The voice and woke, was a little much. The story also was a bit all over the place. I will still read the next book to see if it approves.

Was Hoping for a Broader Serge Take on Covid

Serge and Coleman at their condo in the Florida Keys during and immediately after Covid. I knew this was coming after the way the prior entry in the series ended, but I am left mildly disappointed. I was hoping for more extensive Serge rants about Covid. His handling of a toilet paper profiteer is priceless, but it is a rare moment of brilliance. Few rants, fewer of his elaborate killings.

Meanwhile, rather inscrutably, the parallel plot that ultimately merges with Serge's timeline is about Central American politics. I can't say that it's bad, but a) it totally ignores the pandemic that is at the heart of the other part of the book, b) it has nothing to do with Serge until the end, and c) it's just not what I signed up in reading so many of these Serge books.

I kept hoping that the story line would come together in classic Serge style. Serge's bus tours are an improvement late in the game, but the confluence of the two plots results in only a crazy action sequence that is not very interesting from a Serge point of view. We're here for Serge, Tim. Please stick to him. Thanks!

Update 1/14/24: i just learned today that Tim Dorsey sadly passed away few weeks ago. So this will probably the last of his books, the last that we'll see of Serge Storms. Thanks for all the laughs, Tim!

Great as always

This was a fun story. Surge and Colman make my commute a pleasure. Tim Dorsey has done a wonderful job.

A bong is the title. Awsome!

Another Serge caper. Read (heard) them all. This one is convolution at its best. Hilarious at its so-so. And is never boring.

Chaos Turned Into a Lego Masterpiece

Perhaps it is better to say Tim Dorsey takes chaos, because that is how all his Serge novels start and travel, and turns them into exquisite chaos by the climax. You can never go wrong with a Dorsey novel, his detail of Florida history and his ability to weave it into the fabric of the plot of his wonderfully crazed hero Serge is brilliant. The plots of his novels always bring in the absurdity of of life, the government, big business, the search for anything other than self awareness and human kindness. Half the fun is the many obscure ways he invents to punish the wicked, who knew that about ping bong balls? Serge and Coleman's adventures are the stuff of legend. Oliver Wyman's command of voices makes the many characters come alive and helps your mind paint a picture of them. No other narrator could do these novels better. A highly entertaing romp through the Florida Keys!

Very very entertaining.

Loved the humor and outlandish situations. This is my first novel by Tim Dorsey. I found it similar in many ways to Carl Haaisen. At the same time the situations and characters stand in their own right. The narration is outstanding.

Another home run for Surge

The adventures of Surge and Coleman just get better and better. As Tim Dosey goes on in his works, his plots with multiple and unrelated threads that weave together in the end just get more enjoyable. After this book it’s time for a road trip to the Keys.

Entertaining, not his best

I’ve read several Dorsey books and as a Floridian, enjoyed them all. This was my first Dorsey audio book. The narration did not make it for me. He sounded like David Brinkley reading the news in the 70s. His voice for Serge was cartoonish, reminded me of Ricochet Rabbit. Maybe that’s how Dorsey wanted it read, but didn’t match what I thought Serge should sound like. That said, the Coleman voice and others were spot on.

Excellent story! Serge is the man!!

Right up there with the best Serge stories. I can’t wait to see where he and Coleman get into next!

Terrific Florida book

Another great book by Tim Dorsey, we Florida residents. Just love it! Anyone who wants to laugh should read this book.