From Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble Review
Private investigator Vincent Rubio is a busy guy. He spends his days shopping for his designer wardrobe, hanging out in the latest herb bar, and chasing cases with his inveterate sidekick, Ernie. He's dedicated, he's debonair -- and he's a dinosaur.
In Anonymous Rex Garcia created an innovative and almost believable world where dinosaurs still live among us, cleverly disguised in human costumes. Casual Rex continues the escapades of Rubio, a Velociraptor with a penchant for basil and beautiful women, in an adventure that will take him from the decadence of Hollywood to the primordial landscape of Hawaii.
It all starts out as a simple missing-persons case. Ernie, a Carnotaur whose human guise is that of a hopelessly unfashionable middle-aged man, is contacted by his ex-wife, who is concerned for the welfare of her brother, Rupert. He's involved in a cult called the Progressives, whose goal is to enlighten the dinos of the world by putting them in touch with their ancestral selves. Posing as potential members, Vincent and Ernie infiltrate a posh Progressive party in the Hollywood Hills in an attempt to locate Rupert and hopefully deprogram him. Unfortunately, their mission fails, and Vincent and Ernie find themselves pitted against an ancient force that is beyond anything they've ever encountered before.
Caught in a web of intrigue, Vincent falls under the spell of the nubile leader of the Progressives, a fellow Velociraptor named Circe. Urging him to shed his human guise, she warns him of the dangers of becoming too human and regales him with tales of the magnificence of their ancestors. One thing leads to another, and Vincent and Ernie find themselves signed up for a "Back to Nature" convention on a private Hawaiian island.
Once in Hawaii, Vincent and Ernie spend their days dining on food that appeals to true dinosaurs -- namely live chickens and raw pork -- and learning to run properly au naturale. Their nights, however, are spent investigating the inner sanctum of the Progressives. As they begin to uncover one secret after another, the duo discovers that the cult has a lot more in mind than returning modern-day dinos to their natural state.
In a truly hilarious climax that involves fire, fake fossils, and a cadre of perfectly coiffed cross-dressing dinosaurs, Vincent and Ernie battle the nefarious leaders of the Progressives and -- with a little help -- save the day. Eric Garcia has once again crafted an awesomely funny dinosaur yarn that will have readers eagerly awaiting further adventures of Vincent Rubio, private investigator and dinosaur extraordinaire. (Karen Lovell)
Entertainment Weekly
Awesomely funny.
Jill M. Smith
Hot new author Eric Garcia has developed a human/dino world that is both absolutely fascinating and extremely original. If you are looking for something suspenseful, exciting and completely different, look no further.
— Romantic Times
Keith Phipps
Content aside, there's a superficial resemblance between mystery novels and pornography. Walk into a store specializing in either and you'll find numerous examples of what the television industry calls narrowcasting, with subgenres designed to appeal to almost any interest. Just as, say, Finnish spanking videos have to be out there somewhere, there's a mystery novel designed to appeal to almost any imaginable taste, whether it turns to horse racing, 18th-century dandies, or mystery-solving ferrets. First-time novelist Eric Garcia, however, has nonetheless managed to find a new, unanticipatable niche, creating a mystery novel starring dinosaurs. In the world of Anonymous Rex, the great secret society hidden from the common view through history is not the Masons or the Illuminati, but dinosaurs. Contrary to popular belief, the great lizards did not become extinct, but instead evolved to a more manageable size and disguised themselves as humans, finding employment in every corner of human society, including the field of private investigation. Vincent Rubio, a down-on-his luck velociraptor private eye with a dangerous basil habit, serves as Anonymous Rex's protagonist. After he's tossed a rare bone in the form of an arson investigation, Rubio heads from L.A. to New York and soon finds himself involved in a convoluted case involving adultery, genetic experimentation, and cross-species romance. Though not without humor, the greatest strength of Garcia's novel may be that it's not played for laughs: Anonymous Rex works as a mystery, albeit a fairly conventional one, that just happens to involve dinosaurs masquerading as humans. Garcia treats this conceit in a matter-of-fact manner, and his assured prose--in the form of semi-hardboiled narration by Rubio--never lets the inherent ridiculousness poke through. And ridiculous it is, though still a pleasurable read. Anyone waiting for dino-noir to finally hit bookshelves need wait no longer.
— The Onion.com
People
Dinomite detective yarn...splendidly warped.
USA Today
Eric Garcia pulls off this parallel dino world to a T (rex...delicious...sly humor.
Publishers Weekly
Vincent Rubio is your typical PI: He's single, drives a Lincoln, has trouble saying no to a good-looking woman and occasionally takes photos of unfaithful husbands with their mistresses for extra cash. The only things separating him from other hard-boiled private eyes are his tail, claws and reptilian hide. In this prequel to the popular Anonymous Rex, Garcia spins another comical scenario involving Vincent and a host of other dinosaurs who never became extinct and have integrated themselves into modern society by covering up with human-looking latex costumes. Once readers get over the initial oddness of the idea, a somewhat normal detective story materializes: Vincent and his partner, Ernie, are hired by Ernie's ex-wife (herself a T. Rex) to rescue her brother Rupert from a cult group he's become involved in. As they immerse themselves in Rupert's recovery, Vincent and Ernie learn more about the cult, a sort of heritage club for dinosaurs who call themselves the Progressives. Further investigation uncovers some shady doings, and the two detectives throw themselves headlong into an inquiry involving the Progressives and other young dinos who've been lured in like Rupert. Meanwhile, in a nutty side story, the dino-shamuses agree to help their landlord get back a certain human body part of his that his girlfriend stole. Garcia keeps the jokes coming, bordering on overwriting but coming out on top to present a tale that's slightly cornball, at times hilarious and unquestionably original--though not as original as the first novel and exuding a faint air of shtick. Agent, Barbara Zitwer. (Mar. ) Forecast: Fans of Garcia's first novel will enthusiastically gravitate to this follow-up, and the author's X-Files take on the classic detective tale will appeal to both mystery and SF readers. Here's a series with dino-sized legs. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
KLIATT
To quote KLIATT's Jan. 01 review of the Publishing Mills audiobook edition: Dinosaurs never really became extinct—they just evolved and adapted. Three million years ago they developed a method of camouflaging their species in human forms and they surreptitiously walk among us today. Some of them even solve crimes when they aren't munching basil or cilantro (to get high). Enter Vincent Rubio. He's a velociraptor who happens to be a private eye with a nose for pheromones. The secret of the dinosaurs is about to be exposed and Rubio is on the case... The language is adult at times and the action is what one might expect of this genre... a cool comedy with plot—what fun! KLIATT Codes: SA—Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2000, Berkley, 322p, 21cm, 00-048644, $12.95. Ages 16 to adult. Reviewer: Bette D. Ammon; Director, Missoula P.L., Missoula, MT, May 2001 (Vol. 35 No. 3)
VOYA
Vincent Rubio, the seedy Los Angeles private eye who happens to be a dinosaur, returns in this prequel to Anonymous Rex (Villard, 1999/VOYA April 2000), which set up the premise that dinosaurs never actually become extinct but instead went underground. Vincent, a Velociraptor, is the private detective whose agency crumbled under the weight of his guilt when his partner, Carnotaur Ernie Watson, mysteriously was killed. In this book their partnership flourishes, although Vincent has doubts about accepting a case brought to the agency by Ernie's still-beloved ex-wife, Louise. Her brother, Rupert, has joined the Progressives, a shady dinosaur cult that warns of the tainting of dinosaurs by human qualities. Vincent supports Ernie's promise to locate Rupert and remove him from the cult, by force if necessary. When Vincent, confident that he has seen and done it all, meets the leader of the Progressives, he realizes that he has never encountered anyone like Circe. Ernie, unaffected by her charm, snatches Rupert to deprogram him. Rupert is found dead a few days later, an apparent suicide, and Circe shows up at the funeral, arousing Ernie's suspicions. Although Garcia's first Rex book succeeded in being an excellent noir PI novel blended with science fiction humor, this one's aim is not as true. Here the laugh-out-loud sarcastic humor feels somewhat awkward and heavy-handed. Plot twists are predictable, but the relationship between Ernie and Vincent is convincing. Fans will want to read this book even if it is not up to the standard Garcia set in his first dinosaur detective novel. Libraries that purchased Anonymous Rex will want this one, but the book does not stand alone. VOYA CODES: 4Q 4PS A/YA (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Broad general YA appeal; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12; Adult and Young Adult). 2001, Villard, 337p, $23.95. Ages 16 to Adult. Reviewer: Joanna Morrison SOURCE: VOYA, August 2001 (Vol. 24, No. 3)
Library Journal
When fiction is hard pressed to keep pace with reality, there's always Garcia, who, in Anonymous Rex, peopled the hardboiled underworld of L.A. with dinosaurs dressed in vinyl guises that allowed them to blend into the human world--a sort of X-Files meets Sam Spade. If you are amused by the premise, Garcia here delivers more of the same with a hip, knowing, and often very funny look at cults in La-La Land. One such cult, begun by a nutcase vacuum cleaner salesman, gathers its filthy and amazingly prodigious lucre by hooking up prospective, often wealthy clients to a device that registers their dino-quotients on a machine straight from Flash Gordon. When several members of the cult end up dead, Vincent Rubio and partner Ernie Watson follow the trail through Hollywood and finally to Hawaii to get lei'd. Along the way, they "out" several famous figures as raptors in disguise, among them Samuel Winchester, Charlton Heston, and, of course, Mick Jagger. Not for hardcore sf fans or hardboiled purists, this book is recommended as great fun for all larger public libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 11/1/00.]--Bob Lunn, Kansas City P.L., MO Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Brad Meltzer
"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?"
T. C. Boyle
"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."
Kirkus Reviews
Not many people know this, but dinosaurs only faked their extinction millions of years ago. Disguised in latex costumes, they've been working secretly among us ever since, at a ratio of 10–12% of the apparently human population. Some of them, like Vincent Rubio, hold down jobs as private eyes. And even though Vincent, while not extinct, has fallen on hard times—his partner Ernie Watson's been run down by a cab, his Lincoln's been repossessed, he's been drummed out of the Los Angeles Dinosaur Council—the canny Velociraptor still has what it takes to trace the links between an arson at the Raptor-owned Evolution Club, the murder last year of Carnotaurus industrialist Raymond McBride, and Ernie's own death. Working with evidence supplied by Brontosaurus LAPD Sgt. Dan Patterson and tidbits dangled by McBride's scheming Carnotaurus widow Judith and McBride's mistress, nightclub songbird Sarah Archer, Vincent follows the trail of Jaycee Holden, vanished Coleophysis ex-fiancée of comatose Evolution owner Donovan Burke, to Triceratops geneticist Dr. Emil Vallardo's nefarious plan to adulterate the dino gene pool. Along the way, Vincent not only provides detailed accounts of how to pass as a human, but unmasks such luminaries as Napoleon, Paul Simon, and Newt Gingrich as dinosaurs, which explains a lot about so-called human history. A whimsical, surprisingly logical farce aimed equally at fans of Who Censored Roger Rabbit? and devotees of interspecies sex. A sequel is in the works.
