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Title: Basket Case by Carl Hiaasen ISBN: 0-446-61193-X Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 January, 2003 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.84 (125 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Muckraking, romance and murder
Comment: 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: 5
Summary: A Black Humored Detective Story
Comment: 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: 5
Summary: A Great Way to Lighten Up
Comment: 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.
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Title: Skin Tight by Carl Hiaasen ISBN: 0446611514 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Tourist Season by Carl Hiaasen ISBN: 0446343455 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 February, 1987 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Sick Puppy by Carl Hiaasen ISBN: 0446604666 Publisher: Warner Vision Pub. Date: 01 March, 2001 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Stormy Weather by Carl Hiaasen ISBN: 0446603422 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 August, 1996 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Double Whammy by Carl Hiaasen ISBN: 0446352764 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 March, 1989 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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