Casual Rex

After just picking up Anonymous Rex because the cover caught my eye, I was surprised to find out how witty and well written it is, despite the fact that sci-fi novels really never seem to be good readin'. As you could imagine, I just had to pick up the next one (or in this case, the one before it). This book is truly the work of an articulate marvel. The innuendos and hardened, realistic characters make them seem like everyday joes (pfft, please), in an everyday world (I restate my previous comment). Follow your nose (more than one pun intended, catch them?) to your nearest bookstore to get this.

Garcia's 2nd dino novel out shines the pervious Anonymous Rex. His witty writing style is perfect and the plot is original.

Vincent Rubio is a velociraptor and private investigator working in Los Angeles. If that sentence doesn't sound a bit off to you, then you should read Casual Rex by Eric Garcia. Casual Rex is the second book about Vincent Rubio, P.I., but takes place before the story told in the first book, Anonymous Rex. Vincent and his partner Ernie take on the Progressives, a church/cult that sounds a lot like a religion based in Hollywood, California that attracts some very famous people crossed with the Church Universal and Triumphant. Figuring out this alternative world where dinosaurs didn't go extinct and disguise themselves as humans isn't difficult. Even though Casual Rex and Anonymous Rex have been marketed mainly as mysteries, I think SF fans and dino fans will find a lot to like Mr. Garcia's weird world. I enjoyed Casual Rex even more than Anonymous Rex and look forward to Hot And Sweaty Rex when it comes out. I read paperback copies of both books so that I could preserve my first printing hardbacks in mint condition. I'm betting that Mr. Garcia's early books in the Rex series will be highly collectible, not that my opinion is worth all that much. About my book collecting habit...don't ask, don't ask.

Casual Rex has as interesting a set of characters as The Maltese Pterodactyl, has a plot as intricately woven as the storyline of The Big Extinction, and is as gritty as I the Jurrasic. It's even a better read than Anonymous Rex, which I also rate at five stars.My one problem with the book was that there were three places in the book where the author was inconsistent in his use of dinosaur species. It bothered me, but when I mention these sort of nits to most people they look at me funny. Oh, well, I guess that's my problem. Us Iguanadons are like that...

Normally, you hope that a second novel in a series from such a new author will be better than the first (We won't talk about Caleb Carr). I finished this novel in two days because the plot lines and description of the reptile world is so detailed. Mr. Garcia has woven issues from today into the book in such a way that you start to wonder if we evolved from the dinosaurs. Very worth the read, even if you haven't read the first.When is the movie on its way?