Customer Reviews

Anonymous Rex: A Detective Story

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I picked this book up feeling unsure about how to approach the whole concept (a dinosaur detective?) but since it came to me highly recommended I brought it home and decided to give it a try. From the very first sentence I was immediately pulled in, and I ended up devouring it in 2 days. Garcia's writing is quirky, delightful, and strange; an odd mix of satire and seriousness. Here you will find all the elements reminicent of the 1940's film noir genre: the wise-cracking detective, disillusioned and down on his luck, the sultry singer who is both a suspect and a romantic interest, and an underground world of secrets and intrigue. Garcia pulls out all the old cliches and gives them a clever twist: this is LA cofidential meets the X-files.

It is a joy to tag along with velociraptor Vincent Rubio, to feel both the suspense and humor in moments such as when he gets his tail hopelessly caught in his human disguise and fears discovery, or when he calmly attempts to talk his way out of death and danger. Garcia's language is never boring, never too frilly, and always keeps readers on their toes. Vincent talks to his invisible "audience" in the manner of a friend relaying a strange-but-true tale, and Garcia fills his writing with interesting metaphors that paint a vibrant and funny world. I especially enjoyed the way each dinosaur was able to recognize another of their (disguised) kind through their sense of smell. Every dino has a scent, some like "children's cough syrup" and others like "a pleasant mixture of carnations and old baseball gloves."

This is an unusual and enjoyable book for mystery fans, sci-fi fans, or anyone who is willing to appoach it with an open mind. We may be seeing more of Vincent Rubio soon, and not just in a sequel. Eric Garcia's official website,... mentions that movie rights have been sold. I'm looking forward to seeing how they manage to portray a t-rex in a "human suit", especially with those little arms Garcia describes so well.

I'll never look at herbs the same way again.

When I first picked up ANONYMOUS REX, it sounded a bit daffy to me - dinosaurs weren't extinct and lived among us. Granted, you have to get used to the idea that the main character in the book, Vincent Rubio, is a Velociraptor in disguise - a human "guise" as dinos call it. It seems that over decades, dinosaurs became smaller and decided to get along with humans, instead of wiping us out. How nice of them. Along the way, they figured out how to make guises so a human couldn't tell the difference. But dinosaurs can; each one has a distinct odor that identifies them - this is how dinos tell who's human and who's not. They even faked dinosaur fossils to fool humans into thinking they'd indeed become extinct a long time ago.

Back to Vincent - he's a private detective who's dealing with his partner's "accidental" death. This happened while they were working on a big case involving the murder of a dino who'd committed a big no-no: sexual relations with a human. Because of Vincent's insistence it wasn't an accident, he blew it big-time, lost his contract with the PI firm he worked for, got kicked off the Council (the dinosaur consortium that keeps everyone in line) and lost himself in a daze of herbs, especially basil - herbs make dinosaurs high and each dino has their favorite "drug."

Vincent suddenly gets a freelance job to investigate a Los Angeles nightclub fire. The job comes from the same PI firm that blacklisted him. He needs the dough, so he takes the job and soon finds there's a connection between the fire and the case he and his partner worked on.

Vincent hops a plane to New York to continue the investigation, much to the chagrin of many dinos, including the wife of the murdered dino from his old case, the girlfriend, the coroner and an encounter with a particularly nasty dino sans a human guise.

If I say anymore, it'll give the plot away.

Eric Garcia is a master at getting the reader involved to the point of distraction. I know - my spouse was about ready to leave me because I couldn't put the book down. You get used to the contraptions that hold the human guise in place and you wonder how a Brontosaur could get so small to look like a human. ANONYMOUS REX is rollicking good fun and a fantastic detective story. I can't wait for the next book, CASUAL REX. But I have just one question for the author: Why is it called ANONYMOUS REX when the main character is a raptor?

This book is hilarious, I loved the concept of dinosaurs guised up as humans! It's a strange combination but it works. I was addicted from beginning to end, good plot, great concept and it is incredibly humourously told. All I can say is...I WANT MORE! Look out for his upcoming book Casual Rex. YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK, especially if you like detective books with imagination.

I found Anonymous Rex by Eric Garcia an amusing, but not terribly original book. Mind you it is different! The premise is that dinosaurs did not die off 65 million years ago but went underground. They now live among us disguised as humans.As would be expected with something like this the hero is a detective or more to the point a private eye. With all the attendant cliche of that genre. The idea is that all this is being played for laughs, the problem is I for did not really find it all that funny. There were a few moments that I chucked at but I did not find it any more amusing than a dozen forgettable paperback P.I. novels.The book is not even set up in an altered universe type setting. It's our world as it is, only one person out of every person you pass in the street is really a dinosaur in a rubber suit. Yep that big fellow over there is really a thirty foot long twenty ton brontosaurus, just pretending to be a big fellow.To say the least a lot could be done on the comedy front with a set up like that. But no, basically we are just lead to believe that they fit right in, and have from the start.In the end I found this a pedestrian P.I. story with an interesting, but poorly thought out & absurd overlay.A willing suspension of disbelief is one thing, but this abuses the privilege.

Good lord that was funny.

The last book I read about dinos was "The Lost World". So when I saw this book and read the plot I thought I'd pass. But I decided to take a chance on the quirky tale. I'm not sorry. It was hilarious. I can't wait until the next one to come out!

Although it takes a slight suspension of dis-belief to accept the premise that dinosaurs faked their extinction and are wandering around disguised as humans, this book is very enjoyable. I am a dino-nerd so I also found some technical flaws, but they can be easily overlooked in what has to be the best hard-boiled dinosaur novel ever written. I recommend that anyone, mammal or reptile, who wants to be entertained read this book. This book is not a one-trick pony -- or a one-trick stegosaurus for that matter. The dinosaur jokes do not get stale.