Carl Hiaasen has long been at the forefront of satire and outrageous comedy in crime writing but his last few books had lacked the righteous anger of his earlier efforts. Basket Case proves a welcome and thoroughly enjoyable return to corrosive form for the crusading Miami Herald journalist it's better not to cross. Instead of his customary and by now predictable targets of venal developers and corporate greed, Hiaasen here skewers the rock & roll business and its attendant denizens and hangers-on with wilful glee and a mischievous use of insider information (the title of the book is also that of a song from the forthcoming album by Warren Zevon, an iconoclastic singer with whom Hiaasen has collaborated before). A flamboyant rock singer dies in a suspicious diving accident off the Bahamas coast and disgraced and bolshie reporter Jack Tagger assigned to his obituary uncovers a nest of puzzles. Did his Courtney Love look-alike younger wife kill him to appropriate the tapes of his comeback album? Will Jack best his venal proprietors and redeem his journalistic integrity? Why does his young and nubile editor wear sexy nail polish on her toes? The jokes and witty observations come fast and furious, and it's a pleasing ride through more Florida craziness and a scintillating gallery of characters gleaned from headlines including a parade of musical crazies straight from Spinal Tap, ex-girlfriends with obligatory jailbait daughters and journalists you would never think of trusting your life to. --Maxim Jakubowski
[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"
"[A] rollickingly comic and suspenseful adventure."
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Los Angeles Times "Fresh and juicy. . . A sunny delight."
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Entertainment Weekly "As delicious as ever. . . [Hiaasen is] a master of the comic crime novel."
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People "Hiaasen delivers a culpable caper that's a pleasurable hit."
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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."
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Detroit News "Frisky. . . . The real music here is Mr. Hiaasen's self-assured banter."
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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."
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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."
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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."
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St. Louis Post-Dispatch