Rating: 
Summary: "This is not your textbook kidnapping ...
Review: this is *Fargo* squared." That's how Jack Tagger, obituary writer for a fictional daily newspaper, describes this latest Carl Hiaasen romp through Florida. There is no wood chipper here, but... well, I recommend that you read it and see what resourceful Floridians can "make do" with! Tagger, former ace investigative reporter, was busted down to Obit writing for ruffling managerial feathers. He has developed a morbid occupational affect of classifying everyone by their age - and the age of famous people who died at that same age. For instance, his editor is 27. "Hendrix Joplin Jones Morrison Cobain." One day, Jack, 46, (Elvis, JFK) comes across a death notice for a former Rock & Roller, Jimmy Stoma, of Jimmy and the Slut Puppies, and the fun and games are on. Who is killing the Slut Puppies? Basket Case is not as boisterous as many of Haissen's previous books, but it has its hilarious moments. Many of the previous books expose over-development of the Florida landscape. Basket Case has serious points to make too - about the current state of the newspaper wing of the 4th Estate. Haissen, a longtime newspaperman himself, knows wherefrom he speaks. And what he's saying is that we're losing the Woodward /Bernstein caliber to sell more Cheerios and Gucci loafers, and make a larger profit for the paper at the expense of a less-informed public. Because of the cut-backs, Jack's paper could only afford to send a reporter to alternating City Council meetings. So, on the "off" week, when the reporter was away ... "For the corrupt politicians in our circulation area, it was a dream come true. While Maggard-Feist was racking up a twenty-three percent profit, the unsuspecting readers whom MacArthur Polk had promised to crusade for - were being semi-regularly reamed and ripped off by their elected representatives, all because the newspaper could no longer afford to show up." [p. 230] Will the good guys win? and what about that wood chipper?
Rating:
Summary: Jouralists---Take Heart
Review: Carl Hiassan has found a new niche...He has stopped railing against developers and politicians (which I loved) and has found a new crusade...one with which I identify...stopping the erosion of true journalisim. The real premise of this book is that local newspapers are being exploited by large corporations with tremendous resources and an appetite for Wal Marting the journalisim business. I agree with the premise because it is happening to one of the papers I subscribe to. There are no reporters anymore. Papers take "reports" from all sorts of civic groups, rather than "reporting" on what they are doing and peddle the results as news. Jack Tagger is this book's "champion." Jack has done the unpardonable and told the new owner of the paper what he thinks of his company..his policies and his ethics. For that, Jack is demoted to writing obits. And a good thing it is. Jimmy Stoma of Jimmy Stoma of the Slut Puppies has drowned while diving on a wreck in the Bahamas. Jimmys career has been up and down, but our hero knows all about that and takes an interest in the obit he is to write. Then it really gets interesting. The death looks suspicious, the autopsy never happened, his sister has real doubts and his editor...ahhh...his editor...well that's another story. Carl Hiassan has writen a story that keeps your interest, educates you on what is happening to our countries newspapers and is, as always very entertaining. This is a softer Hiassan. He has put away his flourescent paints, yet he still makes his point in a way that is both entertaining and educational. Some who are waiting for the former governor of Florida to come out of the swamp again and right a number of environmental wrongs, may be disappointed. Those that like a good story well told, will not be. It is good to see a successful author reinvent himself, if even slightly.
Rating:
Summary: Put This One In Your Basket
Review: The is only one Carl Hiaasen. Sure there are a few pretenders out there but he is the master of the Florida landscape and it's peculiar brand of weirdoes, corrupt officials and sunseekers. Over the years the quality of his novels has been unequalled. NO ONE has consistently produced the goods, and the laughs, like Hiaasen. From Tourist Season to Sick Puppy, he is the reigning monarch. Perhaps it was inevitable that when he stepped into his most familiar territory (newspapers and reporters) for his lead in Basket Case, the cutting edge of the piece would be somewhat less than razor. Was he too close to the main character (Jack Tagger)? Maybe. Or maybe it's just impossible to produce that unexpected spark of lunacy when he's dealing with subject matter that he lives and breathes every day. Not to say this is a bad piece you understand. It is still way above the standard of most other humorous storytellers out there, but just misses clearing the high bar set by himself. Tagger is an excellent character, if a little lacking in color. Emma, his editor is wonderfully supportive and naïve, while Cleo Rio (the rock widow still chasing her own fame on the back of someone else's talent) is fun but cliched. Their supporting cast is the usual bunch of Southern Florida losers, mostly without new twists. The plot is interesting and the humor sharp, just not as sharp as we have come to expect. Definitely read it, and if it's your first Hiaasen, read the others. You will never be disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Three cheers for Hiaasen!
Review: Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart, Mr. Hiaasen for pointing out seemingly innocuous corruption with such a loud, clear and hilarious voice! You see, I too have spent the past several years losing my integrity and feeling like a conspiracy theorist while languishing in the bowels of what used to be a community newspaper. At times reading this novel felt like being in a company meeting (I swear you were listening at the door!). Thank you for nailing the "downstream" effect of corporate cost-cutting measures (ie. local politicians having no accountability because the community watchdog now has only one reporter to cover 3 Council meetings.) It's a breath of fresh air to hear someone say the things we wage-slaves are afraid to say. And to any critic who doubts the likelihood of an editor sleeping with her subordinate, you have no idea what a den of nepotism and sexual politics your local paper really is. Hiaasen actually toned it down for the tender readers. Oh yeah, and the part about the dead rock star was good too.
Rating:
Summary: Basket Case
Review: I wasn't disappointed with this newest from Hiaasen. I think it was breathtakingly fresh and well written. Once upon a time, Jack Tagger was an ace reporter, now he's a 46 year-old obituary writer for a small Florida daily. He's assigned to write up an obit for one Jimmy Stoma (accidental death by drowning), lead singer for the old Jimmy and the Slut Puppies band; (this band had some song titles that went quite well with the band's name). While getting more information on the old band and talking to the widow, Tagger soon finds out that things are not as they seem. While investigating what he thinks is a murder, he also has to deal with his editor, who seems to be looking for a reason to fire him. With the unique characters (Tagger's "loony death phobias") and the humorous dialogue created by Hiaasen, this book was a joy to read. I'll agree that it wasn't his funniest novel, but I still broke out in smile at times. Highly Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: This isn't about Alice or her restaurant
Review: .... It's about the Miami Herald. If you have lived in this town and wondered whatever ever happened to that great regional newspaper over the last few years, Carl lays it out for you. Corporate bottom lines and Gucci loafered MBA-types rule the roost where John McMullen and Alvah Chapman and John Knight and Jim Knight and Don Shoemaker used to put a pretty good paper to bed everynight. If you ever wondered where great reporters went, and why politicians feel they can steal the ranch right under your nose, read this book. And if you live in Charlotte, or Akron, or Detroit and wondered the same thing, Carl explains it all. And as for those who wanted Skink, you missed one of the most scathing satires of the newspaper business since The Front Page.
Rating:
Summary: Restrained madness
Review: Carl Hiaasen has restrained his usual madness for this thriller, although the humor is as great as ever. The protagonist is a reporter exiled to the obituary page for having confronted the new owner of the paper. The death of an aging rocker, former leader of Jimmy and the Slut Puppies, give him a chance to research and report again. No synopsis could do credit to the plot twists and subplots, so just buckle up and get ready for another fun ride through Hiaasen's Florida.
Rating: 
Summary: Carl, take a break for a few years
Review: Don't get me wrong, I own everything this writer has published in hard and soft cover. This novel, however, is not one of the high points on my bookshelf. It's like Carl on low wattage SlimFast. While it's an easy read, it seems like it was also an easy write on the part of the Hiaasen automatic writing engine. Sorry, Carl...it is indeed a basket case. Throw away that dictation software and get back to the paper/pen/hand thing. You're talking too hard.
Rating: 
Summary: This Basket Case is A Little Jumpy
Review: If you are interested in the life of a beat reporter in Florida, the music world or mortality in general, you should like this one. Hiaasen is obviously knowledgeable on the workings of a daily newspaper (he is currently a writer for the Miami Herald). At times he is laugh-out-loud funny and his character development is wonderful (I want to meet Emma). Where I lost him was the syntax and the organization of the book. The sentence structure sometimes made me feel like I was dyslexic and there was so much jumping around between the multiple thematic levels, I got dizzy. I still stayed up until 2:00 AM reading it so maybe I am just as lost in life as Jack.
Rating:
Summary: Hiassen's latest takes a long time to make its CASE
Review: Basket Case offers Carl Hiassen's usual satirical look at unlikely lowlifes. But unlike most of his other novels, it's a pretty long slog until you reach the funny stuff. Unlike Hiassen's other fictions, Basket Case is told in the first person, by one Jack Tagger. Jack is a reporter who mouthed off once too often to his newspaper's corporate boss and was thus demoted to the obituary page. When Jack finds out that his favorite rock singer, Johnny Stoma, has died in a plane crash, he briefly interviews Johnny's widow in hopes of getting a juicy quote. Mrs. Stoma turns out to be the sound byte of Jack's dreams when her quotes from a previous interview contradict what she told Jack. This leads to the usual Hiassen shenanigans in which Jack runs afoul of corrupt Floridians and muscular goons, as he tries to find out what really happened to his rock idol. And "usual" is, unfortunately, the key word. What seemed so novel and bracing in Hiassen's earlier novels seems to have hardened into a predictable style. Rather than straightforward insight and satire, what we get is: * Lots of name-dropping. If you're a Florida sports fan and/or a rock-music buff, Hiassen peppers his fiction with enough real-life celebs to flatter your knowledge of pop culture. Whether this qualifies as satire is another issue. * Cutesy character names. Jimmy Stoma's backing group is named The Slut Puppies. The once-indomitable newspaper for which Jack toils has been devoured by a corporate entity called Maggad-Feist. Which leads to my next gripe... * Anti-corporate diatribes. Reams of pages are devoted to Jack's musings about old-fashioned journalism vs. modern-day corporate synergy. These seem calculated to bring tears to the eyes of retired newspaper editors everywhere. However, the average reader might not quite as moved. * Worst of all, predictability. Hiassen's earlier work found seaminess in the unlikeliest locales. (For example, Hiassen's Double Whammy explored corruption at an innocuous fishing championship.) What's so surprising about finding that the death of a drug-addled rock star isn't all it's cracked up to be? Along the way, Jack becomes better acquainted with his nemesis editor, to the point that they become lovers. Even given the slim likelihood that an editor would conflict her interests to that point, the novel's biggest problem is that at times, it seems as though the editor and her lover are the only two people on Earth who have any stake in avenging the rock star's death. At about the two-thirds point, the novel finally delivers Hiassen's expected quota of black humor. For a first-time writer, that might be a herald of better things to come. From Hiassen, it means a low batting average this time around.
| 
