Anonymous Rex/Casual Rex Omnibus [Mass Market Paperback]

Eric Garcia (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2, 2004

It's "Dashiell-Hammett-gone-goofy"* twice over in this single-volume edition of the first two novels in Eric Garcia's "genre-bending, species-bending, gender-bending romp of a mystery"** series hailed as "irresistible... outrageous...brilliant...funny, poignant, dramatic, satiric, brutal and tender."*** Whew. And now the novels are a Sci-Fi Channel movie event.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: Ace Trade (November 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441012752
• ISBN-13: 978-0441012756
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.2 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #762,296 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliantly clever, strikingly imaginative - two claws up all the way, September 16, 2005

By 

Daniel Jolley "darkgenius" (Shelby, North Carolina USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Anonymous Rex/Casual Rex Omnibus (Mass Market Paperback)

Forget everything you know about dinosaurs. Not only did they not become extinct 65 million years ago, they currently make up about 5% of the "human" population. Rather than stomp all of us humans out of existence eons ago, they decided just to live in our world secretly (they have much smaller bodies than their ancestors), donning complex human guises involving lots of straps, buckles, and epoxy. You'd be amazed at just how many celebrities and power brokers are actually dinosaurs in disguise. All they want is to keep their secret, find the time and opportunity to really be themselves every now and again, and maybe get a good buzz on with basil or certain other herbs if and when the urge strikes. They live by two golden rules: never let a human learn their secret (and kill any who do) and never, ever, ever engage in interspecies relations with a human.

With Anonymous Rex, author Eric Garcia first brought this strange new world to life, garnering critical acclaim and a cult following for his efforts. He is a brilliantly wicked author, packing loads of comedy into noir-ish tales of dinosaur private investigator Vincent Rubio. Poor Vince has had a rough nine months. It all started when his partner Ernie was run over by a taxi in New York. Vince went a little nuts after that, broke a lot of rules and at least one nose during his investigation of the accident, and got himself declared dinosaur non grata in both New York and back home in Los Angeles. He is in an emotional and financial tailspin, nursing a major basil addiction and basically trying to find a reason to keep on keeping on. With little left to his name, he finally gets a case thrown his way, an insurance job investigating a fire at a local dino club. As luck would have it, the club owner had important contacts in New York, and before you can say Velociraptor, Vince is back in the Big Apple conducting interviews for a case that may well have some relation to his partner's death.

This thing gets pretty involved, as a simple case of possible arson soon leads Vince into a conspiracy of dinosaur-sized proportions involving human-dinosaur genetic experimentation. Slowly but surely, Vince starts assembling the pieces of the puzzle, but progress doesn't come without setbacks - a couple of attempts on his life, some inconvenient deaths of informants and friends, a serious lack of funds, and even a dangerous relationship with a singularly appealing human female. Danger is Vince's middle name, however, and in time he breaks out of his emotional funk, manages to stay away from basil long enough to clear his head, and relentlessly pursues a solution to a surprisingly complex mystery.

The book is written in first person, in the classic style of ye olde detective mysteries from the golden age of Dashiell Hammett and Sam Spade. And make no mistake - aside from the unique dinosaur angle and the constant showcase of sarcastic wit and genuinely funny writing, Garcia knows how to construct and tell a good mystery. Anonymous Rex is a thoroughly engaging read from start to finish. There's an edge to this story, a fair share of surprises along the way, and all sorts of social commentary you can ponder or simply ignore. If you've been yearning for something different, Vincent Rubio, P.I., is on the case, and the game's afoot.

Casual Rex is Garcia's second "Rex" novel, but it is actually a prequel to Anonymous Rex. Victor and his partner Ernie are your basic PI's - snooping on roving spouses, hunting down petty thieves, etc. Their humdrum state of existence changes when Ernie's ex-wife asks them to find her brother and bring him home (forcibly, if necessary). It seems the poor kid has gotten all caught up in a dino cult called the Progressives. Most dinosaurs have accepted the fact that they have to go to great pains to pass themselves off as humans, but some yearn for the old lifestyle of complete dino freedom. Vic and Ernie infiltrate the cult and get their man - but that's just the beginning of the story. There's something really sinister going on here, and our detective heroes are determined to find out just what the Progressives are up to. Their mission eventually leads them to a back-to-nature retreat in the islands of Hawaii, where they learn even more than they bargained for about the cult.

The fact that Casual Rex wasn't quite as funny as I expected it to be is certainly not a bad thing. It does, after all, deal with such serious issues as drug abuse (ah, sweet basil), cults, murder, and your proverbial world domination and genocide - as well as friendship, honor, and humanity (or whatever the dinosaur equivalent of that would be). Garcia's writing style remains delightfully quirky, the absurdist setting is effectively presented (with explanations of dinosaur culture over the millennia enriched by rich and numerous off-the-cuff remarks), the action is well-paced, the tragedies that take place over the course of the novel are surprisingly poignant, and a rising level of suspense (not to mention curiosity) definitely draws the reader in and carries him/her all the way to the end.

This Anonymous Rex/Casual Rex omnibus places Casual Rex in front of Anonymous Rex, which is fine if you want to read the prequel first. If you'd rather read the two books in the order of publication, though, be sure to start with Anonymous Rex.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How well do you really know your Neighbors?, February 5, 2005

By 

Starchaser519 (Ann Arbor, MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anonymous Rex/Casual Rex Omnibus (Mass Market Paperback)

When I first saw this book on the shelves I was skeptical. This is because after having read many science fiction books over the years I have seen many a good concept turned in to utter garbage and also have fallen victim more than once to a clever title that masked a used ream of toilet tissue. Needless to say I had discovered that clever titles equal bad books. So originally I shied away from this one; at first. The last week I decided to pick it up and read it. Imagine my shock that such a puny title could mask such a gem. The hallmark of good science fiction is an original twist on reality in some remotely plausible way and Garcia pulls this off.

The premise is that not all dinosaurs went extinct because of the great fire showers. Some of them survived and evolved to smaller forms in order to live in the new world. They also discovered a bunch of ground dwelling apes that were barely sentient but did have one solid trait; they believed in helping other species go extinct. So the surviving dinos learn to dress up like humans and blend end. Now fast forward a million decades or so and you got the P.I. firm of Watson and Rubio. Ernie Watson and Vincent Rubio are dinos. From here there is an investigation of a dino naturalist cult in the first book, Casual rex which is actually the second book but a prequel so it comes first in this omnibus. In the second book but first book, Anonymous Rex, Vincent is dealing with a drug habit and Ernie's death which leads him to discover some nefarious experimenting and clandestine humans. The rest I suggest you read for your self.

These books were engrossing and I really couldn't put them down. Garcia's writing style is a humorous twist on film noir. All of the characters are fully developed with the exception of a few compys but then they are compys. Garcia is able to make it all seem feasible, realistic and more importantly he is able to draw you into the story. You really start to feel for Vincent and the others.

Read this omnibus or the books individually. You will not regret it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You gotta read it to believe it!, April 9, 2006

By 

K. Sozaeva "Obsessive bibliophile" (Athens, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Anonymous Rex/Casual Rex Omnibus (Mass Market Paperback)

Eric Garcia has created a world that, bar none, is one of the most novel I have had the fortune to step into during all the years I have been reading. The premise of his noir-ish detective stories, told - of course - first-person by Vincent Rubio, is that all dinosaurs did NOT become extinct 65 million years ago; in fact, 16 species survived, mutated and now live among us, disguised as humans (apparently with the use of lots of high-stress girdles, buckles and epoxy). Garcia presents this so matter-of-factly that while reading, you just go with it - maybe once you have put the book down and are thinking about it, you might go "hey, waitaminute," but while reading the book he makes it seem eminently plausible.

This omnibus presents the first two books in the series in chronological order, rather than publication date so "Casual Rex" is actually first up. Rubio's partner Watson's ex-wife comes to them for help - her brother is part of a strange cult and she wants them to get him out. So, they go out and infiltrate the cult, with equal measures of comic and horrific results. I won't go into any more details as to what happens here, or to any of the other events of the story so as to avoid ruining it for you, but this story is actually quite humorous in many places while having a darker core as well. "Anonymous Rex" is a slightly different matter - from what I could piece together, it takes place about 9 months after the end of the previous book (I believe the case referenced is the case that Watson was leaving to investigate at the end of that book); Watson has been killed - supposedly in a hit-and-run by a taxi in New York. Rubio has gone on a serious bender with the basil and is refusing to buy the story about what happened with Watson and as a result has just about burned all his bridges and lost most of his business. Things are looking really bleak when he gets thrown a bone by one of the big companies in town - which seems to lead right back to the case that Watson was investigating when he was killed. Although this story is a bit darker, it provides quite a number of laugh-out-loud moments as well, and both of the stories are also well-crafted mysteries at their base.

Take this trip inside the mind of a truly creative writer. You will NOT regret it!