Detective Bishop Flamme

Detective Bishop Flamme: Case of the Serial Assaulter has an interesting premise—a social media influencer named Ragnar Aland is randomly assaulting people across Miami just to get attention online. It's the kind of setup that feels way too relevant these days, and honestly, it's pretty unsettling. Hoffman dives into what happens when someone becomes completely obsessed with going viral, no matter the cost.

The action moves fast—mall escalator chases, helicopter pursuits over the Everglades, even a Coast Guard thing off Florida's coast. Bishop Flamme is your typical determined detective who won't quit, even when local cops seem ready to give up. Ragnar just keeps getting more desperate, eventually hiding with a weird swamp hermit who lives among alligators.

I actually liked the supporting characters. Kieu To, a swamp guide with a Vietnamese family history, brings real local flavor. The hermit Zook is interesting, too, though I'm not sure how necessary he was. But then things get weird when Snickerfang shows up—a supernatural creature that kidnaps Ragnar and takes him to another dimension. It's a jarring shift from crime thriller to supernatural horror that might lose readers who were into the realistic procedural stuff.

The formatting is, in my opinion, the worst part. Sentences often start with entire phrases in all caps before transitioning to normal case, which is really distracting. Plus, there are way too many short sentences that are each their own paragraph, which makes everything feel choppy. It's a shame because underneath all that, there's actually a decent chase story trying to get out.

The book ends on a cliffhanger with Snickerfang's realm and some missing college students, so clearly there's more coming. If you're into action-heavy detective stories, there's some entertainment value here, and the social media angle does feel relevant.