Anonymous Rex: A Detective Story [Hardcover]

Eric Garcia (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 27, 1999

"What would the world be like if the dinosaurs hadn't gone extinct?   As this very funny book shows, for one thing, L.A. would be even weirder than it is now."        --Dave Barry

Vincent Rubio, a Los Angeles private investigator, is down on his luck: He's out of work. His car's been repossessed. His partner has died under mysterious circumstances. And his tail just won't stay put. Vincent is a dinosaur--a Velociraptor, to be precise. It seems the dinosaurs faked their extinction 65 million years ago and still roam the earth, disguised in convincing latex costumes that help them blend perfectly into human society. A heightened sense of smell allows the dinos to detect one another--Vincent's got an odor like a tasty Cuban cigar.

When Vincent is called to investigate a two-bit case of arson at a hip dino nightclub, he discovers something much more sinister, which lures him back to New York City--the scene of his partner's death and a dangerous nexus of dinosaur and human intermingling.        
        
Will Vincent solve the mystery of his partner's death? Will a gorgeous blond chanteuse discover his true identity, jeopardizing both their lives? Will Vincent be able to conquer his dangerous addiction to basil, or will he wind up in Herba-holics Anonymous? Will he find true love, or resort to crumpled issues of Stegolicious?
        
Somewhere between Jurassic Park and L.A. Confidential lies Eric Garcia's Anonymous Rex, one of the smartest, wittiest, and most entertaining debuts this side of the Ice Age.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

For Los Angeles private eye Vincent Rubio, the idea of having a tail means a lot more than being followed. Vincent is a velociraptor, one of those little dinosaurs who caused so much panic in Jurassic Park. He keeps his tail tightly strapped up in the special latex costume that he wears to make himself look human.

In Eric Garcia's wild but winning first mystery, dinosaurs never did get wiped out--they evolved secretly and now make up about 5 percent of the world's population. There are dinosaur doctors, lawyers, even detectives like Rubio--although he's hit a low point in his own career because of the suspicious death of his beloved partner. Now the distraught Vincent sucks up so much basil that he can't do his job. But when a human who knows the dinosaurs' secret is killed during an arson fire at a popular dino disco called the Evolution Club, Rubio's luck begins to change. He starts to snoop, following the trail of a lovely human female to the office of Dr. Emil Vallardo, where bizarre experiments are being done on interspecies breeding between humans and dinosaurs. It's all great comic book fun, full of nice little inside jokes, served up deadpan and with full respect for the private eye genre it enlivens. --Dick Adler

From Publishers Weekly

Jonathan Lethem's 1995 PI spoof, Gun, with Occasional Music, featured a genetically altered, talking kangaroo hit man, but Vincent Rubio, the Los Angeles detective hero of Garcia's audacious and imaginative debut, would have him for lunch. Rubio is a dinosaurAspecifically, a Velociraptor, one of those deadly creatures who did so much damage in Jurassic Park. Garcia's outrageous conceit, beautifully supported by research and wit, is that dinosaurs never did become extinct. They secretly evolved and learned to coexist with an unsuspecting human population through an elaborate system of disguises and deceptions. (Those fossils that decorate most museums? Fakes left to fool gullible humans.) With the dinosaur community now about 5% of the human population, including doctors, cops and NFL players (most of them Brontosaurs), there should be plenty of work for a smart PI like Rubio. But ever since his beloved partner's death in a suspicious accident, the Raptor has been on a downslide. He hits the herbs too hard (his drug of choice is basil), and behaves so badly that even the nasty T-Rex who manages a large detective agency ("He had a sheep for breakfast," notes Rubio. "I can make out the fur on his molars") won't give him work. But in the true spirit of the genre, every dino dick gets a chance at redemption. Rubio's comes when he stumbles onto some top secret stuff about highly illegal mating between dinosaurs and humans. You might not believe any of this 30 seconds after you close the covers, and at odd moments the narrative veers into shtick, but while it's going on you're mostly going to be dazzled by Garcia's energy and chutzpah. Agent, Barbara Zitwer Alicea. Author tour. (Aug.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Villard; 1st edition (July 27, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375503269
• ISBN-13: 978-0375503269
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,311,600 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fully realized alternate world, February 12, 2004

By 

Michael J. Mazza - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Anonymous Rex: A Detective Story (Hardcover)

The hero of "Anonymous Rex," the novel by Eric Garcia, is a private investigator named Vincent Rubio. But there's a twist to this detective story. Vincent is a dinosaur--a raptor, to be specific. He lives in a world in which dinosaurs never went extinct--instead, they evolved into human-sized intelligent beings. The dinos live intermingled in the human population, wearing ingenious prosthetic disguises that allow them to masquerade as humans.

Vincent is contracted to investigate a suspicious fire, and this leads him into a twisted web of murder, deceit, sex, and weird science. Garcia has taken a great concept and used it to create a fun, exciting story. "Anonymous" has something in common with narratives like the Harry Potter saga, which similarly postulates a "hidden" world which coexists with our mundane human world. Despite this common theme, however, Garcia's book is fresh and unique.

Garcia creates compelling characters and throws in some intriguing twists. His writing is clever and witty, and he fleshes out this bizarre concept in a rich and satisfying way. Along the way he tackles some "real world" issues such as drug abuse, forbidden sex, social control, and personal identity. This is a wild and wondrous story that leaves me eager for a sequel.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So much for extinction, November 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Anonymous Rex: A Detective Story (Hardcover)

Cross an apex predator with Sam Spade, spend a lot of evolutionary time reading Raymond Chandler and you have a serviceable approximation of Vincent Rubio, the hero and protagonist of this story.

But that's just a hint of the fun to come. There's action, sleuthing, wise-cracking, science, sleaze and high society along with a clever plot and our hero moves deftly through it with a lot of grace for a guy with a tail and wearing a girdle.

The pre-quel, 'Casual Rex' is in the works, by the way.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun, fun, fun!, February 17, 2001

By 

Scott S. (San Luis Obispo, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anonymous Rex: A Detective Story (Hardcover)

I had six friends who read this book. Five loved it, one hated it, and I'm the sixth that thought it was tremendous. My friend who hated it ain't much in the fun department, so I'm guessing that's where the split comes. Look, if you can't get past the basic concept of dinosaurs shrinking down and fitting into human constumes, understanding that its supposed to be a comedy, then there's no way you'll like it. But if you want some major laughs and a good story then you'll dig this book. Vincent Rubio (the main character) is one swinging dinosaur and I can't wait to read more about him.