The Stingray Shuffle

In his latest bizarre concoction, Dorsey picks up – sort of – various plot strands from his earlier books, including Florida Roadkill, Hammerhead Ranch Motel, and Orange Crush. There’s still the matter, you see, of the briefcase full of cash, and still unresolved are the stories of Serge Storms, the serial killer and history buff; Johnny Vegas, the startlingly handsome virgin; Jethro Maddox, the Hemingway look-alike; and Paul, the Passive-Aggressive Private Eye. Fans of Dorsey’s magnificently off-kilter adventures will be thrilled to rejoin these characters and to meet a host of new ones, including Mr. Granda, the leader of a down-and-out drug cartel who is looking to buy a submarine, and Ralph Krunkleton, one of America’s very worst novelists, whose novel The Stingray Shuffle features prominently in the goings-on. A brilliantly constructed romp that is part thriller, part farce, and entirely, gloriously, deliriously wacky.