Anonymous Rex: A Detective Story - Hardcover

Garcia, Eric

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0375503269 ISBN 13: 9780375503269

Publisher: Villard, 1999

Synopsis

"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.

About this title

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 the Back Cover:

"If a novel, by definition, is new, rare, and strange, then Eric Garcia's Anonymous Rex is the most novel novel I've ever read. The central conceit is so startling and clever and the prose so fluid and assured, the reader doesn't even have time to blink. By turns hilarious and chilling, this is a terrific, joyful read." --T. C. Boyle

"Think you've seen it all? You're wrong. You've never read anything like Anonymous Rex. An incredible idea--brilliantly executed. Anonymous Rex is a true original, crackling with imagination, and more fun than growing your own goatee. And did I mention the interspecies sex?" --Brad Meltzer

About this edition

• Publisher: Villard
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0375503269
• ISBN 13: 9780375503269
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384