Rating: 
Summary: A Black Humored Detective Story
Review: Basket case takes a story of a Journalist worried about his own mortality and his run in with the world of Rock-n-Roll. A down and out reporter, Jack Tagger, lets us have inside look at the workings of a reporters mind. Jack works at his local paper who is run by a man who moves the company headquarters to San Diego so his sports car will not rust. And his goal is for the paper to make a 25 percent annual profit margin, at the expense of good news reporting.Unlike Mr. Hiaasen's other books that I have read, "Basket Case" is written in the first person. And stays with our hero, Jack. It reminds me of the old style detective novels. The book does have violence, with the Hiaasen touch. I especially thought the sever bludgeoning with a frozen monitor lizard was original. So we follow Jack Tagger, down-on-his luck obituary writer for South Florida's Union-Register, as he investigates the mysterious death of a onetime rock star named Jimmy Stoma. If you are looking for a good read give this one a try.
Rating:
Summary: Muckraking, romance and murder
Review: Carl Hiaasen turns his sharp eye on bottom-line journalism in this first-person novel of a former hot-shot reporter brought low by his own big, truth-telling mouth. When his medium-sized South Florida daily is bought out by a news-slashing, profit raking chain, Jack Tagger's ire, expressed at a stock holder's meeting, earns him a permanent spot on the obituary desk. But I get ahead of myself. Hiaasen introduces his murder subject on the very first page - James Stomarti - aka Jimmy Stoma of Jimmy and the Slut Puppies, dead in a diving accident at age 39, seven years younger than Tagger. "It's an occupational hazard for obituary writers - memorizing the ages at which famous people have expired, and compulsively employing such trivia to track the arc of one's own life." Seeing a winding path to the front page, Tagger stealthily begins to probe, interviewing Stoma's young, ambitious widow, a singer cruising the latest trend and looking for her second hit, Jimmy's sister, an internet stripper, and the surviving Slut Puppies. But when the Slut Puppies begin to die and Jimmy's sister vanishes, even his slime-ball publisher and fretful young editor can't derail Tagger's investigation. Though more of a straight mystery than previous blackly madcap outings ("Sick Puppy," "Strip Tease") and not all that mysterious, "Basket Case," fueled by a highly likeable narrator, includes a few hilariously zany touches like assault by frozen lizard, and features a romance worthy of Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell. Morosely sardonic and self-deprecating and obsessed with death, Jack Tagger infuses the story with humor while working his way towards a particularly satisfying revenge.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Way to Lighten Up
Review: This book is a first for me by this author which I came upon by chance. I had been looking for a suspenseful yet rollicking ride of a read for the past couple of years. This book satisfied the criteria of hilarious mystery escapism. Even though a lot of the premises were pretty far-fetched, I thought it was also balanced by some insightful character portraits. I especially liked the way Jack's stepfather was depicted as shamefully flawed in some ways yet still lovable. This author is highly recommended for those times when you really need to chuckle. A lot.
Rating: 
Summary: "Basket Case" was a most rockin' enjoyable read!
Review: I picked up "Basket Case" after reading about it on Amazon.com and I wasn't disappointed! I finished it over the weekend and look forward to reading more of Carl Hiaasen's works. "Basket Case" combines the gritty world of rock and roll and the recording industry with a pinch of romance, whodunit and death...lots o' death. Our leading man Jack Tagger writes obituaries and is obsessed with death, going as far as memorizing what celebrities died at what age, then seeing if he will outlive them. At times "Basket Case" requires suspension of reality, but there are many enjoyable moments (the dead lizard in the freezer being one of them) as Jack searches for the truth about the death of Jimmy Stoma, lead singer of Jimmy and the Slut Puppies. Hiaasen obviously has a handle on modern pop culture as he drops current band names and trends every few pages and doesn't miss a beat. Carl introduces us to the newsroom, ravers, Ecstasy, photo shop girls who make secret duplicates of naughty amateur photos, industry scumbags with L'Oreal hair and thug bodyguards, a Courtney Lovesque widow bent on building her career at the expense of her deceased husband. The plot moves along at a steady pace, and Hiaasen includes enough twists and turns to make things interesting every few chapters. Being a musician, I enjoyed the musical descriptions and aspects of the book. Lots of memorable characters and moments.
Rating:
Summary: Great fun to read
Review: This is the second Carl Hiaasen book I've read and it certainly didn't disappoint! Basket Case is full of zany characters who get themselves into interesting and sometimes outrageous situations. The book features an obituary writer, Jack Tagger, who is obsessed with death. When a rock icon, Jimmy Stoma (of Jimmy and the Slut Puppies) dies under mysterious circumstances, Tagger sets out to solve the mystery. The thing that I find most entertaining about Hiaasen's books is his ability to capture the oddities of Florida in such a funny way. This is one you don't want to miss!
Rating:
Summary: One of Hiaasen's better novels.
Review: The first Hiaasen I ever read was "Sick Puppy," which I enjoyed immensely. The problem with reading a really entertaining book as your first by an author is that the others have a harder time living up to the first. Intentional or not, every Hiaasen novel I've read since (there have been many) has been measured against "Sick Puppy" and very few measure up. "Basket Case" comes closer than most...I loved its main character Jack Tagger, a neurotic (about dying) but ballsy news guy who has been busted down to writing obits for...well, being ballsy. He sinks his teeth into a bizarre mystery surrounding the death of a washed-up (literally) rock star who he once admired in the hopes of getting back onto page 1 of the newspaper. The mystery is intriguing, there is a very sexy side story (Jack, you naughty boy!), and the way it all wraps up is QUITE satisfying! I was very pleased to once again finish a Hiaasen novel and go "YES! Now that's what I'm talkin' about!"
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Summary: Maybe Big Money and Newspaper Don't Mix
Review: Jack Tagger is a forty-six-year-old reporter whose public indignation over the direction his newspaper is taking under the money-grubbing corporation that recently purchased it gets him the plum the job of writing up the paper's obituaries. At least the obits allow him the time to mull over his own mortality by keeping track of the deaths of famous people, like the one of Jimmy Stoma, lead singer and front man for the Slut Puppies, who is found dead after a diving accident in the Bahamas. Working on Stoma's obit, Jack quickly assumes Jimmy was murdered. If he can prove it, his byline will be back on the front page again, right where he thinks it belongs. His investigative juices start flowing and he focuses on the barely grieving widow, would-be rock singer Cleo Rio. When another former Slut Puppy is killed and a third wounded, Jack goes into high gear, but Now he has to stay alive because whoever is after Slut Puppies now has Jack on the list. However with clues from Stoma's music, Jack eventually learns what really happened to the singer. Toss in Hiiasen's usual cast of characters, plus give him a cause, big money buying out and ruining newspapers, and you have a book that you can't put down. I know, because I couldn't. Reviewed by Vesta Irene
Rating:
Summary: A Novel Full of Darn Fine Reading
Review: Because Jack Tagger, former ace investigative reporter for the Union-Register, had the gall to publicly humiliate the young CEO of the publishing group that purchased the paper in front of the shareholders, he has been demoted to writing obituaries. Jack listens to the re-released CDs of a lot of '70 rock bands as his music of choice, so when he hears that Jimmy Stoma, of Jimmy and the {small} Puppies, has turned up dead after scuba-diving in the Caribbean, he wants to know a little more that just what has come across the obituary desk. Unfortunately his obit editor allows him no leeway, so he starts to investigate on his own time, because the headman for the rock group that gave the world such songs as "Mouth Full of Muscle," and the Grammy-Award winning album A PAINFUL BURNING SENSATION deserves more than only few lines in a obit column. He sets out to dig up some answers, tracking down Stoma's widow, a Courtney Love type pop star called Cleo Rio; the surviving band members; and Stoma's Internet stripper sister Janet. The story zooms along to its satisfying end, powered by delicious dialogue, and a quirky but likable cast of characters such as - Juan Rodriguez, womanizing loyal friend and aspiring novelist; Emma Cole, ambitious newspaper editor who has a unique fetish for fluorescent nail-polish; Carla Candilla, the teenage club scene veteran and jailbait daughter of Jack's ex-girlfriend; and Colonel Tom, a 175 dead lizard who sleeps with the Dove Bars in Jack's freezer. Like Hiaasen's other outrageous offerings, this one will have you laughing the night away and before you know it, you'll be finished with a fine story and you'll have learned a heck a lot about the newspaper business too, in this mucho humorous five star novel. Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne
Rating:
Summary: An Outrageously Funny Way to Look at the Newspaper Biz
Review: Jack Tagger winds up at the obit desk after using a shareholders' meeting to tell off the smoothie who purchased his paper. However, he comes across a the story that could put him back onto the front page again - the death of Jimmy Stoma, of Jimmy and the Slut Puppies. While trying to scratch his way back to the top, Jack uncovers a mystery whose solution is fiendishly subtle and deadly. Very funny book that will tell you more about the newspaper business than you'd ever get in a journalism class.
Rating: 
Summary: This is one Sick Puppy..............
Review: I'm a big Carl Hiaasen fan, but to be honest, this was not as enjoyable as say Sick Puppy or Stormy Weather. The humor is sporadic, and the characters fail to take on a life of their own. If anyone has read any of his books with Skink in them, you will understand what I mean by that.
The main character, Jack Tagger is a reporter who has been demoted to the obit section of the paper and becomes a walking almanac of who died at what age. It's a running gag that is funny, but again, it's not enough compared to his other works. The plot is boring, a rock musician (Jimmy Stoma) dies in the Bahamas, and during the course of writing the obit, Jack has a lot of questions surface. He investigates and speculates Jimmy was murdered.
Sadly, this just is not a very good effort from an author I thoroughly enjoy. Hopefully he'll get back on track. Bringing back Skink always seems to work.
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