Basket Case

This one goes on and on with surprises and great characterises. You won't be able to put it down until you finish the entire novel.

Sometime in the mid 90's I read everything that Carl Hiaasen had to offer and loved (almost) every one of them. Recently I decided to read them all again in chronological order and was having an absolute blast until I came across this stinker. Approximately a quarter of the way through, it dawned on me that I'd attempted to read this book 10 years ago and gave up not long after starting. This time I was determined to get through it, if only for the sake of completeness. So what's wrong with it?1) First and foremost, the first person narration just doesn't work for Hiaasen. In short, it sucks all of the Hiaasen out of the book. One of the absolute joys of reading a Hiaasen novel is hearing the story told with the author's razor sharp, snappy wit. We don't get any of Hiaasen's hysterical observation in Basket Case, we get the main character, Jack Tagger, telling the story himself. And Tagger isn't a particularly interesting or witty person. Which leads me to problem 2...2) The characters are bland and one dimensional. This is partly because the effort itself is uninspiring, and partly because a first person narrative doesn't allow for the kind of characterization which Hiaasen excels at. Once again we have a major part of Hiaasen's genius sucked out of the book. Every other of his novels is full of larger than life, exceptionally hilarious characters. His depiction of scumbags, fraudsters, shucksters and psychopaths brings every other of his books to life in glorious technicolor. In Basket Case, it's almost as if we're looking at the characters through a frosted window. The bad guys are what make Carl Hiaasen novels so intensely enjoyable, but they're boring stick figures in this one.3) The dialog is extremely wooden, in stark contrast to the spirited, authentic dialog in all his other books. This is mainly because the characters are so one dimensional. Dialog should sound spoken - in Basket Case, it sounds written. That's the best way I can describe it. Instead of bringing the characters to life, it just contributes to their sense of flatness.4) The plot is, for a Hiaasen novel, very dull. It's slow moving and completely without the hilarious twists and turns of his other work. Books like Skin Tight and Stormy Weather are a roller coaster ride. This one plods along at snail's pace despite its weak stabs at action, and halfway through I realized that I really didn't care how it ended.5) Fictional bands never work. I always cringe at the attempts of authors to fabricate names for bands and their songs, and Basket Case is no exception. I cringed at every song title and lyric.6) Hiaasens grasp of technology is embarrassing, if you know anything about computers and digital audio. At one point, Tagger refers to an external hard drive as a "computer box." He acts surprised that the cuts of Stoma's unfinished album add up to a whopping 400MB. I dabble in audio and have single songs that surpass 2 GB, so the idea of a whole album's takes being 400MB is just horribly off. Also, we're supposed to believe that the album's tracks are somehow encrypted so that you can only open them in Pro Tools. In actual fact they would just be ordinary WAV files which you can open in Windows Media Player or iTunes. So if you're as computer illiterate as Taggert then this probably won't bother you. But I found it annoying, especially since Hiaasen could have cleared these things up with a couple of Google searches (even back in 2002).All in all, I found this to be a very tedious read. Which is a shame because with the exception of Native Tongue which I found to be just slightly sub-par, all of Hiassen's other novels are intensely entertaining and funny. If you read this after enjoying such masterpieces as Skin Tight, Stormy Weather or Sick Puppy, you're going to be very disappointed. Unless your goal is to read the whole collection then you can pretty much skip this one, it's an experiment which Hiaasen doesn't pull off. But I forgive him for it!What baffles me is the good reviews of this book. Not only from Amazon reviewers but also professionally written newspaper reviews as well. A lot of them act as if this is just another classic Hiaasen romp, but it's clearly not. It makes you wonder how many of these reviewers actually read it, or whether or not they've read any of his other books. Because reading this against something like Skin Tight is like drinking fine wine and then switching to cheap soda.Oh, and in case you're wondering whether this novel represents the moment at which Carl Hiaasen "jumped the shark," I should point out that immediately after finishing Basket Case I dove straight into his next book, Skinny Dip. And within the first few pages I was delighted to find that Hiaasen appears to have found his mojo again - I'm laughing almost constantly and it's back to the brilliance!

Carl Hiassan has found a new niche...He has stopped railing against developers and politicians (which I loved) and has found a new crusade...one with which I identify...stopping the erosion of true journalisim.The real premise of this book is that local newspapers are being exploited by large corporations with tremendous resources and an appetite for Wal Marting the journalisim business. I agree with the premise because it is happening to one of the papers I subscribe to. There are no reporters anymore. Papers take "reports" from all sorts of civic groups, rather than "reporting" on what they are doing and peddle the results as news.Jack Tagger is this book's "champion." Jack has done the unpardonable and told the new owner of the paper what he thinks of his company..his policies and his ethics. For that, Jack is demoted to writing obits.And a good thing it is. Jimmy Stoma of Jimmy Stoma of the Slut Puppies has drowned while diving on a wreck in the Bahamas. Jimmys career has been up and down, but our hero knows all about that and takes an interest in the obit he is to write. Then it really gets interesting. The death looks suspicious, the autopsy never happened, his sister has real doubts and his editor...ahhh...his editor...well that's another story.Carl Hiassan has writen a story that keeps your interest, educates you on what is happening to our countries newspapers and is, as always very entertaining. This is a softer Hiassan. He has put away his flourescent paints, yet he still makes his point in a way that is both entertaining and educational. Some who are waiting for the former governor of Florida to come out of the swamp again and right a number of environmental wrongs, may be disappointed. Those that like a good story well told, will not be. It is good to see a successful author reinvent himself, if even slightly.

A well known publisher/editor once said, "the purpose of a newspaper is to make money." In the case of the "Union-Register," the newspaper has been acquired by a large corporation that treats its chain of newspapers like it treats its chain of fast food restaurants. The newspaper is now being managed by corporate suits whose attention is on the bottom line rather than the local news. Jack Tagger, a staff writer on the paper, finds himself demoted to writing obits after irritating the corporation's chief executive.Writing an obituary gives new direction to Tagger's career after the deceased, James Bradley Stomarti, is indentified as the musician Jimmy Stoma, well known by Tagger's generation. Digging into Stoma's death raises questions. Stoma's widow, Cleo Rio, does not seem unhappy about his sudden demise, and is using the death as PR for her own career. Tagger links up with Stoma's sister and others to carry out his own investigation. Things can be deadly as other people are attacked and/or killed, and homes are ransacked. Someone is looking for something.Cleo Rio claims Stoma was producing her new CD, but there is some mystery about just what Stoma was producing. There is unpublished music involved, and a question about who owns what. People are maneuvering for control if they can find the music.Meanwhile, back at the newspaper, there is a separate power struggle. Foreign corporations are trying to take control. The newspaper's previous owner has a large block of corporate stock which is key to the issue. Tagger finds himself in the middle of both power struggles and, in the meantime, is obsessed with finding out what happened to his own father.This is one of those novels that the reader gets involved in, and it will keep you up late to get to the end. Just when it looks like a black hat will walk away whole, there is a surprising twist in the tale.

Hiaasen's books make you feel good, bad things do happen, but only to the right people and only in the funniest ways. The female characters are strong and give as good as they get. Our hero is an everyman doing his best against difficult odds, you know it'll turn out OK, but it's not easy. Dead rock stars, frozen lizards and multiple beatings, what's not to love?

This is only the second book I have read by this author. The first one I read 'Stormy Weather' was brilliant. Fast moving, funny, complicated, interesting and that is why I bought another. I found 'Basket Case' to be funny but a bit long winded. Characters were good but not a huge amount happened. I have bought 'Native Tongue' so not given up...

Bought for someone else they liked the book would definitely recommend to others

As usual, Hiaasen provides a humorous and unexpected read during hot summer evenings. Classic.

Excellent and funny!