Hurricane Punch

December 13, 2008 at 9:25 a.m.
Hurricane Punch
Hurricane Punch
By Jill Williams

Serge A. Storms has more than a few screws loose, yet he manages to lead an extraordinary life full of adventure and chaos. Serge, you see, is a very opinionated, yet community conscious serial killer. That's not to say that he kills people randomly, for he feels that would be wrong. Instead, he evicts his brand of vigilante justice on those he deems prey on society. For example, he kills child molesters. He also ends the lives of a few others, and often does it in clever ways. It's not as though he wanders through life looking for victims; they have a way of finding him. It's not terribly difficult to do in this book, as Serge and his chronically high cohort Coleman traverse the state of Florida tracking a record-breaking hurricane season. That's right, with the help of a Hummer and a GPS device, Serge and Coleman follow each hurricane's path from first landfall, driving in the EYE of each storm, until reaching a safe place to hunker down, typically a historically significant place.

Along their travels, Serge buys various random items that seem unusual. That is, until he uses them to construct his methods of death for those he's convicted of various crimes against society. Serge is not all bad, though, and he tries very hard to work for the benefit of people. When the National Guard distributes provisions to people displaced by the hurricanes, Serge offers to help pass out the supplies. When people have refused to leave their property just before a hurricane hits, Serge travels through the streets with a bullhorn, quoting statistics that would make anyone cringe and evacuate immediately. When a man is overcharging for ice after a hurricane hits, Serge takes it upon himself to get rid of this price-gouger, and provide the ice to the residents for free.

The back story (or it seems like one compared to following the adventures of Serge), is that there is a copycat killer on the loose, and Serge's pride is damaged, forcing him to step up his ingenious crime scene staging, and re-secure his name on top as king of serial killers. Hunting Serge is an often-delusional Agent Mahoney, who has been tracking Serge for years. In addition, the copycat killer is targeting a sad newspaper reporter whose only wish is to get off the cop beat, where he has made a name for himself. Serge actually kidnaps the reporter to protect him from the copycat killer. What an adventure the reporter is in for when he accompanies (against his will) Serge and Coleman through the eye of yet another hurricane.

As the hurricane season reaches its climax, an unprecedented event is looming: two hurricanes hitting Florida from opposite directions are predicted to cross paths, and you know Serge intends to be right in the eye of that combined storm to see what will happen. Everything is wrapped up neatly and leaves us begging for more of Serge A. Storms.