Once a hotshot investigative reporter, Jack Tagger now bangs out obituaries for a South Florida daily, “plotting to resurrect my newspaper ca...
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reviews
Apr 25, 2008
Kristen
rated it: 
Other than "Team Rodent" I had never read a Hiaasen novel until this one. I had always heard good things and had listened to him compared to many of my favorite authors. Last night I read Basket Case (actually I finished it... I started it yesterday). Now that I have finally read a Hiaasen novel, I must say, I absolutely loved it.
First, it takes place in my home state of Florida, which I miss immensely so it was nice to be back there, if only in my mind. Second, Hiaasen is More...
First, it takes place in my home state of Florida, which I miss immensely so it was nice to be back there, if only in my mind. Second, Hiaasen is More...
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Apr 01, 2009
Joanie
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I read this for the spring challenge. I liked this one more than Nature Girl but not quite as much as Skinny Dip. Hiaasen again brings to life some pretty funny characters including some of the dumbest criminals you've ever met. Entertaining story, pretty far fetched but still a lot of fun.
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Aug 01, 2008
Stephanie
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I listened to this on cd. It's okay. There have been some funny parts, but if I had been actually reading it, I probably would have stopped. I guess it would be a decent summer read if you like the unrealistic mystery/humorous type of books. The characters seemed very flat and one sided and I could not relate to any of them.
I would recommend this to someone who is looking for a light beach read and willing to sacrifice poorly written characters and an unrealistic plot line for More...
I would recommend this to someone who is looking for a light beach read and willing to sacrifice poorly written characters and an unrealistic plot line for More...
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Sep 23, 2011
Suzy
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This is my first experience of a Carl Hiaasen book. My husband read it before I did, and he was rolling about with laughter every time he picked it up. On his suggestion, I gave Basket Case a try, and was soon caught up in the antics of the lead character. Jack Tagger is a journalist whose career has seen better days, but due to a faux pas in his past, he is now writing obituaries for a local Florida newspaper.
When a famous rock singer is killed in a scuba diving accident, he begin More...
When a famous rock singer is killed in a scuba diving accident, he begin More...
Aug 09, 2011
Ken
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This one isn't too dissimilar to his other novels, but doesn't have one of his trademark crazies like the govenor who dropped off the face of the earth to become an eco-terrorist or the mad state senator who visited the strip clubs, or the body-builder thug who would in the middle of a shakedown check out his flexing muscles and forget what he was doing.
It does however have the sharptalking, newspaper hack who can keep his cool when dealing with the low life in these novels. This time he is an More...
It does however have the sharptalking, newspaper hack who can keep his cool when dealing with the low life in these novels. This time he is an More...
Jul 25, 2011
Wendy
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Jack Tagger writes death notices for a South Florida daily newspaper. He's 46 and already death-obsessed; nature of the business. Jimmy Stoma, front man for a gone-but-not-forgotten rock group, turns up dead from a diving accident in the Bahamas. Jack writes the death notice based on some bad information given to him by the rocker's pop-singer widow, Cleo Rio. Jack suspects foul-play and is hell-bent on finding out the truth behind Jimmy Stoma's death. With the help Emma, the young and ambitious
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May 01, 2011
Tony
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Here's pretty much the only problem I have with Carl Hiaasen: he's not Donald Westlake. I've been spoiled forever by the grand master of comic capers, characters and plot twists. But Hiaaasen is inventive, entertaining, and intelligent, and that's all good. This one concerns a dead washed-up rock star (in fact, since he dies in a diving mishap, you might say he's a washed-up washed-up rock star) and a newspaper reporter, fallen on hard times due to his own hubris, permanently relegated to the
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May 24, 2010
Christopher
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I made my way through this "novel" when I was on the toilet in the hopes of getting my business done faster. Who reads this garbage? Out of touch baby boomers? Fogies who get off on insulting a generation that they don't understand by firing off bland and most un-hilarious epithets? Or perhaps it's a book for people who hate reading, who do it only because they're trapped on an airplane and don't have an electronic device to be distracted by, or readers who are too stupid for innuendo
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May 23, 2010
Marcie
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This was good light reading (I literally read it on a beach). There's some nice satire of Florida culture going on, which I appreciated, and also some interesting insight on newspaper/journalism culture. Hiassen's prose & dialogue are witty & packed with strong verbs/nouns/adjectives. However, the protagonist of the book is a writer, so Hiassen uses him as a voice of literary criticism... Warning: if you're going to put Jane Austen down, you'd better make sure the book in which you do so is a
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Jan 08, 2010
Holly
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Another Carl Hiaasen review! This time a novel about a dead as a doorknob rocker Jimmy Stoma of the world famous band "Slut Puppies".
Obit reporter Jack Tagger would love an opportunity to revive his once respected front page reporter status. After messing up a case in a major way and causing humiliation to the newspaper he was thrown into Obits. After his move he became obsessed with death and dying, to the point of driving away the love of his life.
When Jack comes More...
Obit reporter Jack Tagger would love an opportunity to revive his once respected front page reporter status. After messing up a case in a major way and causing humiliation to the newspaper he was thrown into Obits. After his move he became obsessed with death and dying, to the point of driving away the love of his life.
When Jack comes More...
Jan 08, 2010
pinknantucket
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I confess I picked up this novel out of thousands of others because it features a band called “Jimmy and the Slut Puppies” – such a great name for a band. The hero of our story, Jack Tagger, is an experienced journalist who pissed off the boss and so has been relegated to the obituaries desk. Jack now suffers from a kind of obsessive compulsive disorder about dying – he knows off-by-heart how old all the celebrities were when they died and he gets complete physicals every month because he’s worr
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Dec 29, 2009
Modern Hermeneut
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There's something indecorous about faulting a noir thriller for misogyny. So instead I'll restrict my criticism to the sophomoric dialogue and the banal storyline. Notwithstanding his occasional, stomach-turning detours into ethnic caricature, Hiaasen equips every character with a common repertoire of faux-snappy rejoinders. Among its many deleterious effects, this lack of verbal distinction between characters threatens the very coherence of the novel (are we listening to a mastermind or a di
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Jul 24, 2011
David
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Carl Hiaasen is in top form here, even if he differs from his usual narrative by switching to a single-perspective first person present tense narrative. This doesn't matter, because Hiaasen's writing is so good, his wit is so dry and the comedic timing so brilliant...he can handle any narration device with ease. The bonus of the different narrative is that the mystery is more focused, and it's his best in this regard. Hiaasen drops the usual environmental platform in what is an homage to clas
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Sep 28, 2011
Scott
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Carl Hiaasen is funny. But he's probably not so funny to a lot of people, namely politicians (Republicans and Democrats alike), the Aryan Brotherhood, trailer trash, people who spend thousands on plastic surgery, plastic surgeons, Colombian drug dealers, tourists, pedophiles, supermodels, criminals, and dog-haters. I suppose if you're not in one of those demographics, you won't be offended by Hiaasen's salty disposition. Hiaasen basically hates everybody in Miami, Florida, and he writes lovingly
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Jan 02, 2012
Ron
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Carl Hiaasen is a wonderful writer - the words fly off the page and you keep hoping that the end isn't near. Hiaasen's background of writing for newspapers is evident in Basket Case. Its a book about a newspaper - and the state of newspapers today. Mixed in is a terrific story about murder, kidnapping and assorted mayhem. You'll love the characters - the good guys have their problems and a few of the bad guys have some good points - just like in real life. It's all down to Hiaasen's style o
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Aug 12, 2009
Kate
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One of my favorite Hiaasen books (maybe even my #1), I made the mistake of reading it on the plane across country back to school from the holiday break. I was stuck in the back corner, squished against the window by an octogenarian woman and an extremely large middle-aged businessman. But the time the large frozen lizard makes an appearance, I'd completely lost my mind.
This is the book I use when I introduce people to my favorite (living) author, and recommend it as a solid starting p More...
This is the book I use when I introduce people to my favorite (living) author, and recommend it as a solid starting p More...
Jan 06, 2009
Janelle
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Carl Hiaasen's works are usually very funny, intelligent, witty, creative, with a happy ending. What could you want more from an entertaining lite read? The imaginative characters, the adventure, the great use of irony and sarcasm, he keeps you guessing how things could possibly all work out for the best, and they do in his books which I like. I always find good qualities to admire in his heros, and can easily despise the villians, cheering when they meet their demise...in whatever creative f
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Jun 25, 2011
Rebecca
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How books like this are published is beyond me. Starts off going on direction and then ends up in a total other. Starts off talking about some bitch women in the preface and then it mainly ends up being about some dude who works in advertising, a closet gay, but has had a boyf for like 20 yrs or something. And in a change of lifestyle, changes to work in television with the bitch girl. The title comes from the man that knocked up the bitch women years ago because all that the person who caught t
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Oct 18, 2011
Amy
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I wish I could give Carl Hiaasen his own genre category. I mean, I guess he writes mysteries but I generally *loathe* mysteries. Is there a category for "comedic page turner?" There should be. I love his sense of humor, his style, his dialogue and the way he builds his plots. This book was no exception.
The only component I found off-putting was the improbable much older man with much younger woman romance plot line ... as Hiaasen was building it, I was thinking in my h More...
The only component I found off-putting was the improbable much older man with much younger woman romance plot line ... as Hiaasen was building it, I was thinking in my h More...
Nov 23, 2008
Lisa
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geez, I've forgotten how much fun it is to read these zippy little Florida detective/gangster novels! Hiaasen is in a similar vein as Elmore Leonard, whom I adore for his snappy dialog and fabulous florida gangsters. you know, I visited the wikiwachi mermaid show in florida after discovering much to my surprise that Elmore Leonard did not in fact invent this crazy underwater theater with the actors sipping on oxygen thru tubes and the audience behind the glass like a big old aquarium! anyway, Hi
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Feb 19, 2011
Joan
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I started this book listening to the final chapters on Books Radio. The story was intriguing enough for me to search for it at the local library where the large print edition was available. Carl Hiaasen was a journalist for the Miami Herald, so writing about a protagonist who is also a reporter is bound to have a couple of interesting observations among the otherwise unlikely tale of the death of a retired rock artist. Basket Case is told from the 1st person of Jack Tagger a reporter who curr
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Aug 23, 2010
M.
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Jack Tagger want to get his newspaper career going again and do something other than writing obituaries. His opportunity comes when Jimmy Stoma, leader of a 70's band, dies under mysterious circumstances in the Bahamas. Jack investigates Jimmy's death against a background of a dying newspaper, a paper once vibrant and relevant in its coverage of local news but morphed into a cash cow. (The new owner is only interested in maximizing profit regardless of the effect on the long-term health of eit
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Jan 01, 2012
Frederick
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Jack Tagger is a reporter who has been relegated to writing obituaries for a small town newspaper in Florida as a result of being too outspoken. He yearns to get back into writing "real news" but cannot figure out a way to do it. One day, Jimmy Stomarti, a former rock star drowns off a diving boat in the Bahamas and Tagger is assigned to write the obituary. As he writes, he finds the circumstances very suspicious and begins to investigate.The story proceeds from there. It involves corr
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Oct 01, 2009
Davis
rated it:
I give this a thumbs up for outrageous comedy at its best. I have been a Carl Hiaasen fan for years and have loved every one of his books that I have read.
What I loved about this book, as is the case with all of his, is that his characters are so engaging. The plot twists and turns are unexpected and the situations keep getting more and more outrageous. It is dark, satirical, and delicious. I don't know how he does it. The flavor of all of his books is the same. Yet this, just like t More...
What I loved about this book, as is the case with all of his, is that his characters are so engaging. The plot twists and turns are unexpected and the situations keep getting more and more outrageous. It is dark, satirical, and delicious. I don't know how he does it. The flavor of all of his books is the same. Yet this, just like t More...
Apr 25, 2011
Josh
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Someone is knocking off former band members of defunct hard rock act ‘The Slut Puppies’, with the police not yet taking an interest in the seemingly linked murders, long time fan and disgraced journalist Jack Tagger sets out to find the killer. Accompanied by hot newspaper editor and boss, Emma, Jack enters the world of pop culture and rock and roll in search of resurrecting his tarnished reputation and bringing justice to the fallen band members he adores. The protagonist is likable and has a v
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Jun 29, 2011
Dl2740
rated it:
Crusty newapaper man, after giving corporate suit an earful, is demoted to obit writer where he solves the murder of an aging former rock star with the assistance of his young, perky female editor, his ethnic best friend, a wet behind the ears intern and a 12 year old computer genius in the hope of regaining a front page byline. Oh yes, he's also got a death phobia and obsesses about famous people who died when they were his age. This isn't so much a novel as a pilot script for a USA "Char
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Sep 10, 2011
Dave
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Having worked in the newspaper business a few years before this book was written, I found myself often nodding in agreement with the author's descriptions of how things worked. Also, there were a number of funny lines and the bit with the frozen lizard offered some great visuals.
The story itself was, umm, ehhhhhh. Kinda flimsy, a little weak in spots, yet interesting in others. Picked it up at a book sale for a buck. I've done worse. (Unfortunately, done worse at the same sale where More...
The story itself was, umm, ehhhhhh. Kinda flimsy, a little weak in spots, yet interesting in others. Picked it up at a book sale for a buck. I've done worse. (Unfortunately, done worse at the same sale where More...
Oct 02, 2010
Laura
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Jack Tagger is a journalist who currently writes obituaries. At one time he was an investigative reporter, but he messed that up and kept his job only because they were afraid he'd sue. He finds that Jimmy Stoma, former frontman for rock group The Slut Puppies has died. According to Jimmy's widow, Cleo Rio, claims he accidentally drowned when scuba diving in the Bahamas. Jimmy's sister is not so sure, but has no proof. Jack convinces his editor to let him investigate the death. At times the book
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Jan 24, 2009
Chana
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It wasn't very funny for Carl Hiaasen. I was kind of disappointed. My question is this: When Carl Hiaasen is drunk does he want to move to Gibralter and write poetry, in iambic pentameter? There were funny, almost memorable characters like Colonel Tom the monitor lizard and Loreal the cascading hair guy. The descriptions of Lake Okeechobee brought back memories of Florida's weather which is appalling. I also liked most of the women in this book: his mother, Emma, Janet and Carla. He writ
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May 31, 2011
Jessica
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Another very entertaining book from Carl Hiaasen. He's one of my favorite authors and can always be counted on for a wild story that will keep you guessing until the last chapter. His books are especially great for summer given that they are set in Florida. You'd do yourself a favor to pick up a Hiaasen novel and head the to beach or pool. In a world where I pay $4 for a gallon of milk or a gallon of gas, checking out this book from the library feels like highway robbery. No better free ent
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