Customer Reviews

The Last Dinosaurs

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I had no idea what to expect based on the title of Ms. Calvani's book. Readers will discover its pertinence soon enough as they dive into the pages. Dark and quirky humor coupled with quixotic characters adds to the surprising mix found in The Last Dinosaurs.

27 year old Daniella Carlier is a naieve architecture student living and working in Puerto Rico. Her ex-husband Ismael is a starving artist turned art critic turned hotel owner now married to a much older woman not-so-fondly known as Lady Dracula. Daniella and her new boyfriend Tony share a small studio apartment with her beloved Turkish cat. Despite his use of several illegal drugs, Tony is a gorgeous male animal, another starving artist who will soon become the new wunderkind of art connosieurs. Daniella often wonders how she got involved with such an unusual group of people, likening those around her to carnivores from the Mesozoic era - dinosaurs who gobble up everyone and everything in their wake.

Several odd mysteries are threaded through Daniella's everyday life. Ismael's elderly rich wife looks more like vampire than woman as she struggles to regain her youth by unusual means. Someone dubbed El Zorro is terrorizing Puerto Rican women who wear mini skirts by carving Zs in their behinds. And strange happenings at Ismael's specialty hotel leave Daniella troubled. These mysteries and assorted plot twists are guaranteed to keep readers guessing until the last page.

The Last Dinosaurs may well be one of a kind as stories go. I've never read a book remotely like it. Everything from the humorously weird to the acutely macabre can be found between these covers, and then some. It may not be fare for sensitive adolescents and adults, but there is no bad language or explicit sex. If you're tired of the same old genre fiction, consider giving this one a try.