Check out these excerpts from the great review of Dorian Box’s dark thriller, Psycho-Tropics from Andrew Norton, editor of Surfer Dad, Blog of a Wave Starved Father:
Wouldn’t it be nice to win the lottery, surf all day and drink all night? Oh, and occasionally play guitar in a band.
Danny Teakwell does just that and is living the dream, or so it appears. In hope of seeing a long lost sweetheart, he reluctantly attends a high school reunion. At the reunion he’s confronted by a ‘cheerful psychopath’, who exhumes Danny’s secret past.
Danny is your classic antihero. On the public side he’s a laid back surfer, greenback sharer, all-round do gooder. On the inside he’s tortured, mysterious and sinful. But you just can’t help liking the guy.
All of the characters are immediately engaging, many are likeable, but you wouldn’t want to be any of them. They include:
• Danny – aforementioned surf bum
• Grady – jaded lovable bar owner
• Fink – pill popping morally conflicted lawyer
• Sari Hunter – poetically OCD love interest
• Albert Thumpet – psychotic murdering nemesis
Psycho Tropics cuts straight to the chase. Someone dies in the first sentence! There’s a particularly nasty murder on page 39, and you learn all about Danny’s dark secret by the end of Chapter 6. The next 46 chapters are a white knuckle, eyes shut, roller coaster ride.
Psycho Tropics is like riding Pipeline with a hangover. It’s jaw dropping, heart thumping and addictively exhilarating, but with a hint of disorientation, dizziness and an unsettled stomach.
But by the end you’ll be smiling ear to ear and bursting to tell your mates how good it was.
…
Psycho Tropics is more thriller than surf fiction. You can’t stop reading, you need to know what happens next, no matter what the consequence.
But there is a strong surf theme all surfers will recognise. Danny’s saltwater addiction, the surfside social scene, the whole coastal environment all combine to give a constant surf vibe.
Here’s one of my favourite excerpts: “He didn’t usually catch much, but that wasn’t the point, just like catching the perfect wave wasn’t the point of surfing… The shore is church, the activities just diversions”.
Read the rest of the review here, and while you’re visiting, peruse the rest of Andrew’s excellent blog about all things surf-related. It’s a surf blog for the entire family!
