When Elves Attack

This small holiday package, the 14th Serge Storms thriller (after Electric Barracuda), packs a satisfyingly large punch of classic Dorsey craziness. At Thanksgiving, civic-minded serial killer Serge executes an unpatriotic thief the time-honored Florida way, in the explosion caused by deep-frying a frozen turkey. In December, Serge decides he%E2%80%99s %E2%80%9Ctaking Christmas large.%E2%80%9D He and his stoned crony, Coleman, rent a suburban house, serve up a gingerbread house-turned-bong, and haunt the local mall dressed as elves to protect the public from seasonal felons and mean mall cops. Along the way they re-encounter familiar characters, including the G-Unit, a quartet of elderly spitfires on the lam from their retirement home. The snarky humor is a nice change from the usual Christmas-season sweetness, and Serge%E2%80%99s paradoxical personality is at its most charming, whether he%E2%80%99s reprimanding a teenage girl for smoking just before torturing her boyfriend with a specially rigged set of Christmas lights or reveling in his first taste of snow. Agent: Nat Sobel, Sobel Weber. (Oct.)