Rating: 
Summary: Hiaasen Bad
Review: As a northerner for real but a south Floridian at heart, I read everything Hiaasen I can get my hands on, including his twice weekly column in the Miami Herald. This was certainly not the Hiaasen we all know and love. The book had a few funny moments but all in all I was very disapointed. It was an OK read but not the vintage hilarity that Carl usually creates. A "Tourist Season", "Stormy Weather", "Sick Puppy" or "Lucky You" it surely isn't. Bring back "Skink" and the old South Florida cast of characters.
Rating:
Summary: God this is so bad
Review: Either Carl H is totally out of ideas or, my theory, he hired an intern to write this dim imitation of the genre he supposedly invented. Its boring and uninteresting. If you must read it, get it from the library.
Rating: 
Summary: One Book I Would Love To See As A Movie
Review: This is only the second time I have read and enjoyed a Carl Hiaasen novel. The last book I read brought to mind a Quentin Tarrentino Floridian Pulp Fiction. This book is an even better candidate as the entire storyline is populated by a uniform group of players that all rate at various levels of strange. Mr. Hiaasen has been writing for a newspaper for 25 years, so with a writer for a newspaper as a protagonist, credibility is not an issue.Our outspoken hero has been demoted to writing only obituaries as the result of a candid stream of comments about the new owners of the daily he works for, when he spoke at a shareholders meeting. The new owner's first name is Race, and our reporter wonders out loud while speaking with him if he was called Master Race as a child. The death of a lead singer in a band, so named as to not be printable here, dies while scuba diving, a readily accepted accident that leads to a torrent of events that starts reading more like an espionage thriller. Hovering in the background is a side story of revenge that is almost as sweet as the type once written by Alexander Dumas. Clio Rio is the wife of the deceased. Conjure how a Clio Rio with zero talent would appear in your mind, and then imagine her crafted by a writer of Carl Hiaasen's talent, and you are at the beginning of outrageous characterizations. Her producer is, I promise I am not kidding, a male who has waist length hair and has named himself after a shampoo. The result is Clio Rio with her producer Loreal. Sounds absurd, well it normally would be, but Carl Hiaasen is an extremely talented writer with a wit that often borders on angry. Our intrepid hero also makes a personal security guard of Clio's into a patched-eyed pirate. His weapon is a frozen lizard that until called to do battle as a not so blunt instrument had been residing in the freezer. If you have not read this man's work he is certainly worthy of you reading time.
Rating: 
Summary: There's no such thing as a bad Hiaasen book
Review: The plot of "Basket Case" may not be as wacky as other books by Carl Hiaasen, but it's (increased) plausibily only makes for characterizations that are more sympathetic and engaging. True to form, "Basket Case" moves quickly, establishing the conflict and characters with nuances that are sharp and funny. The book is laugh out loud funny and a zippy read. If you're looking for the Hiassen of old, don't miss "Team Rodent," the story of the Disney-fication of Florida. Hiassen turns his angry, scathing attention to the nasty underbelly of the Disney culture. It's not fiction. It's better.
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious Read
Review: This is the first book by Carl Hiaasen I've read, but it will not be the last. I love his quirky characters and the humorous style he presents. Very fun read!
Rating:
Summary: horse of a different color
Review: If success strikes early and often, you can write your own ticket. Such is the case in Carl Hiaasen's latest book - BASKET CASE. Perhaps this is some pet project he's held close to his heart for sometime, waiting for the right time to strike. Whatever, it's a departure from the normal mayhem and rollicking zaniness we come to expect. Stepping off more into centerfield, we are treated to a more straight up murder mystery, flavored with Hiaasen's famaliar, trademark goofballs yucking it up. There's still his offbeat humor and idiosyncratic characters, but it's all been toned down a bit to acheive a different end. We'll call it Hiaasen Lite. Not quite the page turner we've become accustom too, but a pleasant and enjoyable read just the same. The plot concerns a dead musician, a deviant widow, possible lost, now found musical recordings, a down, near out journalist, turned detective, and some colorful support cast. Scrupulous, scrumptious, and scintillating.
Rating:
Summary: Not quite vintage Hiaasen
Review: I certainly was ready for a new Hiaasen book. However, I miss the Hiaasen of old. The Hiaasen of Skin Tight and Double Whammy. The good old dark comedy that has kept me warm through many winters. Outside of the frozen lizard, it seems our Carl has done gone mainstream. A good aside is that even mainstream Carl is better than most of what's out there.
Rating: 
Summary: Not his best
Review: I agree with the earlier reviewer, this is not Hiaasen's best book. The Characters just do not jump off the page like in his other books. I did give it 3 stars as I did finish it but never felt there was a pay off.
Rating:
Summary: Not As Wacky As Previous Efforts, But Fun Nonetheless
Review: I have read Carl Hiaasen novels for over 10 years and do because I love the off-the-wall humor he brings to his novels. Previous efforts have reflected interesting uses of weed-wackers (in Skin Tight) and "The Club" (in Stormy Weather), not to mention the periodic exploits of a former Florida governor turned road kill conniseur (Skink). He is a terrific storyteller who is passionate about the Florida environment as all of his previous novels had some type of "Save the Everglades" bent to them. However, Hiaasen has taken a different turn with "Basket Case". First of all, this is his first novel written in the first person as he assumes the voice of Jack Tagger, former hotshot investigative newspaper reporter who has committed career suicide by publicly humiliating his boss and has been relegated to writing obituaries. Tagger is obsessed with the ages of people when they die and judges his life based on the famous people who died at his current age, which drives the people who care for him crazy. Tagger gets the chance to investigate the death of Jimmy Stoma, a washed-up rock star who was attempting to make a comeback at the time of his demise. You get to meet his wacky widow as well as several folks who help him in his quest. Hiaasen handles the limitations of the first person narrative pretty well, primarily through crisp use of dialog. It's a nice first effort for this style, although he can open himself more by staying in the third person as he has done previously. I also credit Hiaasen for staying away from the environmental issues in this novel. I have stated in previous reviews of the recent Hiaasen novels that this subplot, present in all his novels in some form, was getting old, a sentiment agreed with by many other faithful readers. I think it's great that he has the forum of a novel to get his anger with the over-development of South Florida out, but it was time for a break. It's not his best work (Native Tongue and Stormy Weather are his best in my opinion), but Basket Case is just plain fun without a lot of messages being sent. I look forward to the next novel, which if form holds, will bring back Skink. But I enjoyed this one nonetheless. You will too.
Rating:
Summary: Quite Disappointing
Review: I wasted some time reading this book so I'm not going to make the same mistake with this review. Hiaasen's latest book was a big disappointment. The characters were weak, the plot was entirely too predictable, and the humor was more than a little forced.
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