Basket Case (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Regarding the death of James Bradley Stomarti: what first catches my attention is his age..." (more)
Key Phrases: shipwrecked heart, opossum man, frozen lizard, Jimmy Stoma, Cleo Rio, Slut Puppies (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Take one dead rock & roll star, his Courtney Love-type widow, the mysterious deaths of his former bandmates, and the lost tracks of a comeback album. Stir in Jack Tagger, a middle-aged investigative reporter obsessed with death since his banishment to the obit desk; a fetching young editor with a yen for our hero; and a boss looking for a reason to fire him. Put them in the hands of a master like Carl Hiaasen, who adds his trademark flourishes (who else would use a frozen lizard as a weapon?) to a creaky plot like this one, and the result is a winner. Florida is full of caper writers with journalistic credentials, and plenty of them have a deft hand with quirky characters, but no one in the genre is better than Hiaasen. --Jane Adams

From Publishers Weekly

Hiassen gets back to his roots with this (almost) straight-ahead mystery, but doesn't skimp on the funny stuff as he follows the adventures of Jack Tagger, down-on-his-luck journalist relegated to the obit beat at a smalltown Florida daily. While researching a death notice, Jack stumbles by accident upon an actual news story: former rocker Jimmy Stoma has drowned while diving in the Bahamas, and his widow, wannabe star Cleo Rio, can't convince Jack that his death was accidental. The mystery offers Jack a way out of his job-related death fixation ("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") and toward his increasingly lusty feelings for Emma, his 27-year-old editor (" `Bring whipped cream,' I tell her, `and an English saddle' "). But when things turn violent and Jack suddenly has to defend himself with a giant frozen lizard, he enlists the help of his sportswriter friend Juan Rodriguez and teenage club scene veteran Carla Candilla to try to find out why someone is killing off has-been sleaze rockers. A hilarious sendup of exotic Floridian fauna in the newspaper business, the novel offers all the same treats Hiassen's fans have come to crave. What makes this book different is its first-person, present-tense narrative style. Unlike previous capers, which were narrated in the omniscient third person, this book settles squarely in the mystery genre from whence Hiaasen's fame (Double Whammy; Tourist Season, etc.) initially sprang. Despite the absence of perennial Hiaasen favorite Skink, this should make an easy job for Knopf's sales force even easier. (Jan. 9)Forecast: A 22-city author tour, a drive-time radio tour and national print and television advertising are all in the works for Basket Case. With first serial going to Rolling Stone and a 300,000-copy first printing, this looks like another bestselling sure bet for the Florida funnyman.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; 1st edition (January 2, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375411070
• ISBN-13: 978-0375411076
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (178 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #485,028 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not As Wacky As Previous Efforts, But Fun Nonetheless, January 23, 2002

By	K. Palmer (Illinois) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have read Carl Hiaasen novels for over 10 years and do because I love the off-the-wall humor he brings to his novels. Previous efforts have reflected interesting uses of weed-wackers (in Skin Tight) and "The Club" (in Stormy Weather), not to mention the periodic exploits of a former Florida governor turned road kill conniseur (Skink). He is a terrific storyteller who is passionate about the Florida environment as all of his previous novels had some type of "Save the Everglades" bent to them.

However, Hiaasen has taken a different turn with "Basket Case". First of all, this is his first novel written in the first person as he assumes the voice of Jack Tagger, former hotshot investigative newspaper reporter who has committed career suicide by publicly humiliating his boss and has been relegated to writing obituaries. Tagger is obsessed with the ages of people when they die and judges his life based on the famous people who died at his current age, which drives the people who care for him crazy. Tagger gets the chance to investigate the death of Jimmy Stoma, a washed-up rock star who was attempting to make a comeback at the time of his demise. You get to meet his wacky widow as well as several folks who help him in his quest. Hiaasen handles the limitations of the first person narrative pretty well, primarily through crisp use of dialog. It's a nice first effort for this style, although he can open himself more by staying in the third person as he has done previously.

I also credit Hiaasen for staying away from the environmental issues in this novel. I have stated in previous reviews of the recent Hiaasen novels that this subplot, present in all his novels in some form, was getting old, a sentiment agreed with by many other faithful readers. I think it's great that he has the forum of a novel to get his anger with the over-development of South Florida out, but it was time for a break. It's not his best work (Native Tongue and Stormy Weather are his best in my opinion), but Basket Case is just plain fun without a lot of messages being sent.

I look forward to the next novel, which if form holds, will bring back Skink. But I enjoyed this one nonetheless. You will too.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delicious Dialogue, Quirky Cast, Sizzling Reading, June 29, 2005

By	Katie Osborne (Portland, Oregon and the sunny Caribbean) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Basket Case (Paperback)

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

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Obit Worthy., January 4, 2002

By	Cammy Diaz (Fictionland, USA) - See all my reviews

Like many Nelson DeMille novels, Carl Hiaasen writes his "Basket Case" from the first person viewpoint. And like many of DeMille's protagonists, obit writer Jack Tagger tells us the story with a smart-assed dialogue.

Dead is James Bradley Stomarti, also know as, Jimmy Stoma. You know. The Jimmy Stoma, lead singer in his band, Jimmy and the Slut Puppies. The Slut Puppies were famous for the hit single "Basket Case" from the "Floating Hospice" album. That Jimmy Stoma. Anyway, to bring you up to date, he died.

It seems that Jimmy was a regular rocker too. Like many of his peers he was into alcohol, drugs, and had a rap sheet longer than his Fender guitar. He'd been arrested on a regular basis for such things as; indecent exposure, (he was caught wearing a rubber Pat Robinson mask and a day-glow condom), he crashed his SeaDoo in to the SS Norway, gets popped for whizzing on Englebert Humperdink's limo, got busted for stealing a bundt cake, you name it. All in all, this makes for a very interesting and "obit worthy" character. According to Jack Tagger, anyway.

Jimmy's death may not have been an accident, and so the mystery begins. Jack, the obit writer, has his suspicions. While Jack's editor, Emma, has the "hots" for Jack. This is where the sexual tension weaves its way into the storyline.

I mention Emma because Carl Hiaasen is a master of great dialogue and great characterization. Taggar describes Emma: "Emma has the bearing of an exotic falcon." Those eight words told me everything that I needed to know about Emma.

This one is five stars and highly recommended. I know you will enjoy "Basket Case" as much as I did. Cammy Diaz, lawyer.