Basket Case, Carl Hiaasen
Basket Case, Carl Hiaasen
1 Rating(s)
List: $20.00 | Sale: $14.00
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Basket Case

Author: Carl Hiaasen

Narrator: George Newbern

Unabridged: 10 hr 10 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/30/2013


Synopsis

Once a hotshot investigative reporter, Jack Tagger now bangs out obituaries for a South Florida daily, “plotting to resurrect my newspaper career by yoking my byline to some famous stiff.” Jimmy Stoma, the infamous front man of Jimmy and the Slut Puppies, dead in a fishy-smelling scuba “accident,” might be the stiff of Jack’s dreams—if only he can figure out what happened.

Standing in the way are (among others) his ambitious young editor, who hasn’t yet fired anyone but plans to “break her cherry” on Jack; the rock star’s pop-singer widow, who’s using the occasion of her husband’s death to re-launch her own career; and the soulless, profit-hungry owner of the newspaper, whom Jack once publicly humiliated at a stockholders’ meeting.

With clues from the dead rock singer’s music, Jack ultimately unravels Jimmy Stoma’s strange fate—in a hilariously hard-won triumph for muckraking journalism, and for the death-obsessed obituary writer himself.

“Always be halfway prepared” is Jack Tagger’s motto—and it’s more than enough to guarantee a wickedly funny, brilliantly entertaining novel from Carl Hiaasen.

About The Author

Carl Hiaasen was born and raised in Florida. He is the author of eleven previous novels, including the bestselling Nature Girl, Skinny Dip, Sick Puppy, and Lucky You, and three bestselling children’s books, Hoot, Flush, and Scat. His most recent work of nonfiction is The Downhill Lie: A Hacker’s Return to a Ruinous Sport. He also writes a weekly column for The Miami Herald.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Ravenskya on April 25, 2008

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......more

Goodreads review by Frank on April 16, 2025

Another fun outing from Hiaasen. The protagonist of this one is Jack Tagger who is stuck writing obituaries for a Florida daily newspaper after he insulted the owner of the paper. He longs to be back in the action writing more significant stories and when he gets assigned to write the obit for a for......more

Goodreads review by James on September 28, 2008

I am a big fan of Mr. Hiaasen. That being said I was pretty disappointed in Basket Case. It took me over two years to read this book, simply because I didn’t care. It turned into the book I picked up and read a few pages in between the next thing I would read. The characters weren’t as interesting a......more

Goodreads review by Mike on March 26, 2014

Very enjoyable book. This book wasn't laughing out so much your sides hurt for a least 2 days like the Skink series, but was very humorous! If you like Carl Hiaasen and haven't read it ,you should!......more

Goodreads review by Russ on January 25, 2021

I always enjoy learning about the newspaper business from irreverent Hiaasen, and this was no exception. I love the journalist characters he creates who are constantly pissing off editors and forced into a second-tier position as penance. Writing obituaries is a particularly inspired job for the pur......more


Quotes

“[A] rollickingly comic and suspenseful adventure.”
    —Los Angeles Times

“Fresh and juicy ... A sunny delight.”
    —Entertainment Weekly

“As delicious as ever ... [Hiaasen is] a master of the comic crime novel.”
    —People
 
“Hiaasen delivers a culpable caper that’s a pleasurable hit.”
    —USA Today

“A riot ... It’s one thing to be twisted and funny. It’s quite another to manage twisted, funny, and serious.... Hiaasen consistently juggles the heavy with the light.”
    —Detroit News

“Frisky.... The real music here is Mr. Hiaasen’s self-assured banter.”
    —The New York Times

“Riled, righteous, and rip-roaring funny ... Hiaasen’s novels ought to bear the warning label: may be hazardous to your sides. They may split.”
   —New York Newsday

“[Hiaasen] is head and shoulders above the rest.... Straight crime fiction with a biting, satiric edge, and it proves what his hardcore fans have known for a long time—he is, at heart, simply a great storyteller and a better writer.”
    —Charleston Post and Courier

“Great good fun ... Basket Case is typical Hiaasen. In other words, it’s wildly hyperbolic, with lots of digs at South Florida's zany lifestyle and (in this case) a total smearing of corporate journalism.”
    —St. Louis Post-Dispatch