Rating: 
Summary: Whimsical Satire and Mystery
Review: Jack Tagger , a 46 year old investigative reporter gets into hot water with his boss when he rips the owner of the Union Register
newspapper. Reassigned to writing obits as pentence. James Bradley Stomartis, A most unusual character with a past,falls into his lap and Jack is on the case. Hiaasen's whimsical treatment and satirical account are first rate. This was the second best book, I've read in the past year. MURDER DOESN'T FIGURE was the best and I heartily recommend. Also any of Hiaasen's earlier works or books by Nelson Demille are always first rate reads.
Rating:
Summary: Only In Florida
Review: Carl Hiaasen is a nut. He has an off-the-wall, how-does-he-think-of-that sense of humor that is often rather black. For example, Jack Tagger, the forty six year old hero of Hiaasen's latest "Basket Case", defends himself from a nightime house break-in by pulling a giant lizard out of the freezer and belting one of his attackers across the face, putting out his eye. Sick? Maybe, but--in context--hilarious.Jack is a down-on-his-luck journalist relegated to the Siberia of obituary writing for having verbally accosted his newspaper's new owner in a shareholder's meeting. The owner, intent on a 25% yearly return on his investment, has cut back on reporting staff and is milking the paper. While churning out obituaries, Jack has lost lady friends due to his constant fixation on celebrities who have died at his current age. Down on his luck, Jack siezes one last opportunity to return to the front page when he stumbles on the probable murder of faded rock star Jimmy Stoma formerly of Jimmy and the Slut Puppies. The mystery is pretty obvious, but the sly dissection of modern America typified by Florida with its environmental depradations, overwhelmingly bad taste and capitalistic pusuit of the dollar is scathinly brilliant. It is a thirty or more years from John MacDonald's Travis McGee to Carl Hiaasen's "Basket Case", but their readability and their insight into modern culture are very much the same. This is an excellent, and instructive, read.
Rating:
Summary: Only In Florida
Review: Carl Hiaasen is a nut. He has an off-the-wall, how-does-he-think-of-that sense of humor that is often rather black. For example, Jack Tagger, the forty six year old hero of Hiaasen's latest "Basket Case", defends himself from a nightime house break-in by pulling a giant lizard out of the freezer and belting one of his attackers across the face, putting out his eye. Sick? Maybe, but--in context--hilarious. Jack is a down-on-his-luck journalist relegated to the Siberia of obituary writing for having verbally accosted his newspaper's new owner in a shareholder's meeting. The owner, intent on a 25% yearly return on his investment, has cut back on reporting staff and is milking the paper. While churning out obituaries, Jack has lost lady friends due to his constant fixation on celebrities who have died at his current age. Down on his luck, Jack siezes one last opportunity to return to the front page when he stumbles on the probable murder of faded rock star Jimmy Stoma formerly of Jimmy and the Slut Puppies. The mystery is pretty obvious, but the sly dissection of modern America typified by Florida with its environmental depradations, overwhelmingly bad taste and capitalistic pusuit of the dollar is scathinly brilliant. It is a thirty or more years from John MacDonald's Travis McGee to Carl Hiaasen's "Basket Case", but their readability and their insight into modern culture are very much the same. This is an excellent, and instructive, read.
Rating: 
Summary: A mystery of a humorous nature!
Review: Basket Case by colorful storyteller Carl Hiaasen is a mystery of a humorous nature. An engaging tale centered around a recent widow who is a wannabe star! This story made me laugh on more than one occassion but yet the suspense and intrigue are still left tastefully in tact. A story everyone will enjoy reading!
Rating:
Summary: Funny and good writing
Review: Hiaasen is a good writer who deserves a better reputation. He can turn a phrase with the best authors, giving the reader a point of view that is unique. While the plots are pretty pedestrian (Westlake and Leonard are better. It is his writing that sets him apart. His books are quickly read, providing a wonderful break from stressful days. Well worth the time spent!
Rating: 
Summary: Still better than his imitators...
Review: I was absolutely delighted to get back from a week out of the country and see a new Hiassen on the bookshelves at the airport on my arrival. After discovering Tourist Season back in '86, I've pounced on every release since on the day it hit the stores and have always finished reading the same night or the night after. So I was disturbingly surprised that Basket Case took me four days. Don't get me wrong, the book has its moments and I was laughing out loud by page 10. But unlike the others, which I couldn't put down, this time I didn't get hooked until Tagger's interview with Mac, which was about halfway through -- and giving credit where it's due -- a plot twist that is among Hiassen's best. Still, I feel CH was hitting me over the head about the sorry state of newspaper journalism so much so that I was beginning to feel like I got slammed with a frozen monitor in the eye. And although I never expect CH's character interactions to make perfect sense, the romance between Tagger and Emma seemed a bit too convenient. All the same, I'm happy to have read it and add to my other eight. And it's still light years ahead of anything put out by his imitators ("If you like Hiassen, you'll love X"). However, I wouldn't rate it his best (Double Whammy/Stormy Weather). Rich
Rating:
Summary: Einstein balances checkbook
Review: You know how it's said that mathematical geniuses, after determining the age of the universe and the distance to Andromeda, cannot then balance their checkbooks? Carl has come off the most important American novel since Garp - Sick Puppy -- which was a daring tightrope walk -- and he's written a basic, find the bad guy and save the girl crime novel. Carl's the physicist who can also do small things, balance the checkbook and write the basic crime novel. Perhaps the critics of Sick Puppy got to the man...but please, Carl, you are capable of so much more, of the complex novel spilling out from its covers. Hiaasen heroes Skink and Jim Tile are missed here. Can't give it less than five stars, but this is the simplest and easiest Hiaasen novel to date. Get back to the 600 page, 35-character novel, Carl!
Rating:
Summary: Big news conglomerate = bad
Review: After much repeating, we get the message. More characters are less cartoonish than usual, and we do care about them, but we have less fun than usual. The hero-reporter has a mid-life crisis going, that's resolved by falling into the arms of a woman who could be his daughter. The story seemed to go through the motions without the passion of earlier works.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent read
Review: Carl Hiaasen is a very good writer who has shown once again that
he can spin a good tale, filled with well developed characters
and spiced with some insightful humor. I do like the way that he
utilized the first person point of view for this book.
There is nothing ground breaking
in this book,but there are several hours
of very enjoyable reading.
Rating:
Summary: Worth a read
Review: A different style from some of Hiaasen's other works. Not quite the wacky humor that many fans are accustomed to, however the book works very well. The only problem that I had with it was the motivation for the crime. On the whole, a very solid book. I'd recommend it to fans and newcomers alike.
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