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eBook Casual Rex download

by Eric Garcia

ISBN: 0007106645
Author: Eric Garcia
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd (November 5, 2001)
Language: English
Pages: 288
ePub: 1531 kb
Fb2: 1404 kb
Rating: 4.2
Other formats: rtf lit mbr txt
Category: Literature
Subcategory: Humor and Satire

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But as Eric Garcia's legions of fans already know from Anonymous Rex, Vincent is anything but average-though he. .Casual Rex is the second book about Vincent Rubio, .

But as Eric Garcia's legions of fans already know from Anonymous Rex, Vincent is anything but average-though he is cold-blooded. Garcia's conceit, so cleverly fashioned that it seems oddly natural, is that dinosaurs never really became extinct and that your next-door neighbor might just be a T. rex in a latex costume. 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.

Eric Garcia is the author of Anonymous Rex and Casual Rex. Originally from Miami, he attended Cornell University and . The book is written in first person, in the classic style of ye olde detective mysteries from the golden age of Dashiell Hammett and Sam Spade. Originally from Miami, he attended Cornell University and the University of Southern California, where he majored in creative writing and film. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Sabrina, and their new baby. And make no mistake - aside from the unique dinosaur angle and the constant showcase of sarcastic wit and genuinely funny writing, Garcia knows how to construct and tell a good mystery. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Sabrina, and their new baby

Eric Garcia is the author of Anonymous Rex and Casual Rex. His next book is titled Hot and Sweaty Rex.

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.

Temporarily out of stock. 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.

Eric Garcia (born 1972) is an American writer, the author of several novels including Matchstick Men which was made into a movie directed by Ridley Scott and starring Nicolas Cage, and the Anonymous Rex series, which was adapted in 2004 for the SciFi Channel. He is also a screenwriter, with Garrett Lerner, of the 2010 film Repo Men, based on Garcia's novel The Repossession Mambo.

About Casual Rex. Praised by Dave Barry and . Boyle, Anonymous Rex was called an awesomely funny debut with all the elements of a cult classic. Entertainment Weekly) Now Eric Garcia roars agai. ead An Excerpt. See all books by Eric Garcia. d Eric Garcia attended Cornell University and the University of Southern California, where he majored in creative writing and film. He lives outside Los Angeles with his wife, daughter, and dachshund, and is currently at work on Hot and Sweat. ore about Eric Garcia.

бесплатно, без регистрации и без смс. In 1999, Eric Garcia made his mark with one of the most striking mystery debuts of the year, Anonymous Rex, hailed as a dino-mite detective yarn by People, inventive and imaginative by USA Today, and a fresh and. In 1999, Eric Garcia made his mark with one of the most striking mystery debuts of the year, Anonymous Rex, hailed as a dino-mite detective yarn by People, inventive and imaginative by USA Today, and a fresh and antic comic thriller by The Seattle Times. Now, with Casual Rex, the sharpest dinosaur-detective in Los Angeles is back, funnier and grittier than ever, for the next tale in this acclaimed series. Vincent Rubio is a private eye, working the angles in Los Angeles with his partner, Ernie

Narrator Vincent Rubio is a cold-blooded LA PI - a velociraptor.

Hot and sweaty rex. by Eric Garcia. MATCHSTICK MEN. ANONYMOUS REX. Alice in tumblr-land.

Praised by Dave Barry and . Boyle, Anonymous Rex was called an "awesomely funny" debut with "all the elements of a cult classic.

Comments: (7)

Vetibert

See my review of the third book. This is book #2 in a series with a creative, albeit somewhat far-fetched premise. If you read the first book - Anonymous Rex - before Casual Rex, it will all make perfect sense! Have Fun. Life is too short to always read serious literature!

Xava

While Casual Rex was written after Anonymous Rex it is a prequel as opposed to a sequel. That said you don't absolutely have to read Anonymous Rex first although I would reccomend it. It's not that there's anything in the first one that sets up the second one and actually you might be better off reading Casual first but I always like to read things in the order in which they were intended. That said you really can go either way.

The premise is simple: Dinosaurs did not go extinct millions of years ago like everyone thought. A number of species survived and they decided that they needed to keep their existence a secret from humans which they do through the use of specially designed disguises. There's an entire dinosaur subculture out there including clubs, councils, and hospitals all devoted entirely to dinos that we mammals are unaware of.

Our heros, Ernie and Vincent, are Private Investigators brought in to investigate the dissapearance of a dinosaur (Ernie's former brother in law) due to his involvement in "The Progressives," a back-to-nature type dinosaur cult. They find him, find the progressives and a bunch of things happen from there.

On the surface it's a fairly straight-forward detective story with a lot of interesting twists and turns, enough to keep you interested. The real selling point, however, is the whole dinosaur twist which is deeper and more complex than you can imagine. A lot of attention is payed toward setting up the "reality." There are several dinosaur councils in the country and the world which monitor dinosaur behavior and set forth rules and punishments for violating said rules. There are numerous celebrities and historical figures who apparently were dinosaurs which our hero, Vincent, will casually throw out there ala "Napoleon was just a Compy with a height complex." And so on and so forth. Like any book though there are pros and cons:

Pros:

Pretty well-written. The title/concept might lead one to believe that this is glorified fan fiction written by an amateur. Untrue. Despite the silliness the book is very well-written. There are a ton of metaphors and it is written with a bit of a "film noir" sort of feeling to it and it all comes together quite well, especially seeing as it is written in the first person perspective (Vincen'ts) of which fewer and fewer books seem to be written these days.

So much attention to Dinosaur detail is what makes this book work for me. Ironically without the dinosaur twist this book would be kind of a carbon copy of any of a thousand run of the mill detective storys. WITH the dinosaur aspect it takes on a whole new theme, albeit a ridiculous one. The whole dinosaur culture that Garcia created is very intricately thought out to the last detail. You'll learn about the dinosaur hospitals, police force, how they deal with their dead, the dinosaur councils, etc etc etc. You need to suspend disbelief and just accept the "reality" that the books is presenting you. Don't get hung up on asking "but how do they... how come no one ever sees... but what about the..." sort of questions. It's a silly, unbelieveable concept but if you can just go with it, it works.

The dinosaur cult is a pretty interesting idea and is such a thinly veiled poke at scientology that you have to laugh (although I'm sure scientologists weren't amused). Right down to the machine that the dinosaurs use to test their "natural percentage." Cults are always interesting to read about because a normal person laughs at how ridiculous they are. This is no exception. The scientol- I mean, the "Progressives" are hilarious.

Cons

Really just one downside: The story is completely ridiculous. This will turn off potential readers and will alienate potential readers. However, if you spend 20 seconds reading the back cover then you sort of know what you're in store for. Again, just "go with it" and you can enjoy yourself.

There are three books in this series and each one is enjoyable. It's not Shakespeare but it's also not trying to be. It has its own identity and all the pieces mesh well if you can get into it. If you like goofy, offbeat sorts of books then give this one a try. If you read and enjoyed Anonymous Rex then this one is not a let down either.

anonymous

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.

Otrytrerl

This novel has gotten a fair amount of hype - and, I would argue, deservedly so because it really is unusual, memorable, and well-written. I must admit I didn't find the book as funny as I expected it to be, however. Certainly, there is a lot of humor in these pages, but this is a much deeper story than the quirky farce I expected it to be - and that is actually a good thing. There is one scene in the book, for example, that really captures the heartrending pain of a father who has lost his only son to suicide - and the comical bits surrounding it only make it that much more touching and poignant.

Casual Rex is, first and foremost, a mystery - told in the classic first person, film noir-ish, hard-boiled private eye perspective. The kicker, though, is the fact that Vincent Rubio is a dinosaur - a Velociraptor, to be exact. It seems that dinosaurs survived the great cataclysm 65 million years ago, after all; they witnessed the rise of homo sapiens and now dwell among them (in much smaller bodies than their ancestors), their true identities hidden by elaborate guises involving lots of straps, buckles, and epoxy. No human knows that dinosaurs live among them, but the dinosaurs themselves can easily identify one another by smell. They can be found in every profession, so whenever one of their kind kicks the bucket, needs some dental work, or goes out looking for entertainment, they're taken care of outside the prying eyes of humans.

Victor and his partner Ernie are your basic PI's - snooping on roving spouses, hunting down prostitutes with sticky hands (wait a minute there - I'm talking about stealing), etc. That humdrum state of existence changes when Ernie's ex-wife asks them to find her brother and bring him home (forcibly, if necessary). It seems the poor kid has gotten all caught up in a dino cult called the Progressives. Most dinosaurs have accepted the fact that they have to go to great pains to pass themselves off as humans, but some yearn for the old lifestyle, free of their human guises and able to kick back and do the kinds of things the dinosaur ancestors used to do (much of which involves the free use of a lot of very sharp teeth). Vic and Ernie infiltrate the cult and get their man - but that's just the beginning of the story. There's something really sinister going on here, and our detective heroes are determined to find out just what the Progressives are up to. Their mission eventually leads them to a back-to-nature retreat in the islands of Hawaii, where they learn even more than they bargained for about the cult.

The fact that Casual Rex wasn't quite as funny as I expected it to be is certainly not a bad thing - I didn't really expect much of a plot, so I was pleasantly surprised to find plenty of meat to this story. It does, after all, deal with such serious issues as drug abuse (ah, sweet basil), cults, murder, and your proverbial world domination and genocide - as well as friendship, honor, and humanity (or whatever the dinosaur equivalent of that would be). The writing style is delightfully quirky, the absurdist setting is effectively presented (with explanations of dinosaur culture over the millennia enriched by rich and numerous off-the-cuff remarks), the action is well-paced, the tragedies that take place over the course of the novel are surprisingly poignant, and a rising level of suspense (not to mention curiosity) definitely draws the reader in and carries him/her all the way to the end. Be forewarned, though: if you read one of Eric Garcia's novels, you will very likely want to read them all.

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