I just love it when a competent, enjoyable author labors in relative obscurity for a while and then, without warning, breaks out of the pack and writes the book that his peers wish they could write. I could give you several examples of such authors, and you no doubt could give me several as well. I'm not going to mention anyone else, however. This moment belongs to Tim Dorsey and TRIGGERFISH TWIST.

TRIGGERFISH TWIST is a work of fiction, which means that the events depicted in it are not true. However, collectively they are dead on accurate. Dorsey takes aim at the state of Florida in general and the city of Tampa in particular and nails the bulls eye with such regularity that he would win every kewpie doll at the fair. The result is a work that is good for at least a chuckle per paragraph, a good laugh every page or so, and a comment or aside that you'll remember in the middle of the night every chapter or so. The nominal focal point of TRIGGERFISH TWIST is Jim Davenport, who takes a voluntary transfer to Tampa, Florida, and with family in tow moves to 888 Triggerfish Lane. Thus they enter the world of psychotic neighbors, reverse-blockbusting landlords, shady used car salesmen, and modern-day highwaymen who would kill you as soon as look at you. None of these people exist, but you know them all. And the Davenports become, by intent or accident, involved with all of them.

Davenport is an individual who will do anything possible to avoid confrontation; confrontations, however, have a way of finding him. His fate becomes inexorably intertwined with that of the McGraw family, described by a law enforcement official as "...a bunch of dangerous freaks. They've got cousins all over North Florida. Most are ex-cons or junkies or deranged from inbreeding. Five have died violently, three are back in prison, two have gone insane from untreated venereal disease, and one writes book reviews." And it is this passage --- not even the funniest in the book --- that exemplifies Dorsey's talent, if not genius. Dorsey constantly slips literary asides into his narrative so that even if you're reading carefully you have to move slowly to pick up all of his nuances. Along the way Dorsey, with brain firmly in gear and tongue cemented in cheek, offers a severely funny social commentary on the state of Florida, what it has become, and how it got that way. Dorsey takes no prisoners and there is no target --- from land developers to Busch Gardens to crackheads to consultants --- that escapes his laserlike vision.

With TRIGGERFISH TWIST, Dorsey has transformed himself from an author to be enjoyed to an artist whose next book will be anticipated with as much fervor as this one will be enjoyed. Don't borrow this one; you'll want a copy to keep and to reread, either in whole or for favorite passages, again and again.

   --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

Click here now to buy this book from Amazon.

© Copyright 1996-2009, Bookreporter.com. All rights reserved.

Back to top.