Casual Rex

March 1, 2001
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.

November 1, 2000
Everyone's favorite velociraptor is back, still a detective and still in human form. (See Garcia's Anonymous Rex for clues if you're confused.) But now Vincent Rubio has got a case that hits close to home: a fellow dinosaur, leader of a movement to get dinosaurs everywhere to throw off their latex disguises, is dead under suspicious circumstances.

Copyright 2000 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2000
Garcia, whose rollicking debut, " Anonymous "Rex [BKL Jl 99], jazzed up the detective genre, returns to the land dinosaurs share with contemporary bipeds. This time " velocir"aptor PI Vincent Rubio sheds his latex human skin to infiltrate a cult dedicated to reasserting his kinds' superiority. His mission is to find the errant brother of his partner's ex-wife, but it isn't long before Vincent decides there's something very appealing about going "au natural" and reordering the world, especially after he meets ravishing raptor Circe, a major force in the cult's dynamics. Indeed, Vincent loses his head--but not long enough to prevent him from proving that dinosaurs can be as duplicitous and greedy as the " homo sapiens "majority. There's not much in the way of suspense--just seamless, wonderfully clever world building, a little dino-depravity, and an abundance of tongue-in-cheek humor to keep things rolling along" ." It's hugely entertaining." --Stephanie Zvirin "(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2000, American Library Association.)