Basket Case

By Carl Hiaasen

Book Overview

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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375411070
• ISBN13: 9780375411076
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
• Length: 317 Pages
• Weight: 1.46 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Very enjoyable mystery

This is my second Hiaasen novel after Skin Tight, and I must say I enjoyed it immensely! The plotline, dealing with the mysterious and bizarre deaths of various members of 80's hard rock band, "Jimmy and The Slut Puppies" is both hilarious and engaging. Main character and narrator, investigative-journalist-busted-down-to-cheesy-obituary-writer, Jack Tagger, is a humourous and sympathetic hero. His obsession with outliving...

Amusing and irreverent

While protagonist Jack Tagger Jr., 46, solves an aging rock star's murder, he also tries to pry out of his mother the truth about his own dead father. This, and his job as obit writer for the Union-Register, a Florida newspaper, have made him morbid. Jack is also at loose ends romantically. Although these themes (newspapers, the music business, and a death-obsessed obit writer looking for love) could be dispiriting in another...

Good to the Last Drop, er Page, that is

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...

Muckraking, romance and murder

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...

Obit Worthy.

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...