Anonymous Rex/Casual Rex Omnibus

Rating:
Summary: How well do you really know your Neighbors?
Review: When I first saw this book on the shelves I was skeptical. This is because after having read many science fiction books over the years I have seen many a good concept turned in to utter garbage and also have fallen victim more than once to a clever title that masked a used ream of toilet tissue. Needless to say I had discovered that clever titles equal bad books. So originally I shied away from this one; at first. The last week I decided to pick it up and read it. Imagine my shock that such a puny title could mask such a gem. The hallmark of good science fiction is an original twist on reality in some remotely plausible way and Garcia pulls this off.

The premise is that not all dinosaurs went extinct because of the great fire showers. Some of them survived and evolved to smaller forms in order to live in the new world. They also discovered a bunch of ground dwelling apes that were barely sentient but did have one solid trait; they believed in helping other species go extinct. So the surviving dinos learn to dress up like humans and blend end. Now fast forward a million decades or so and you got the P.I. firm of Watson and Rubio. Ernie Watson and Vincent Rubio are dinos. From here there is an investigation of a dino naturalist cult in the first book, Casual rex which is actually the second book but a prequel so it comes first in this omnibus. In the second book but first book, Anonymous Rex, Vincent is dealing with a drug habit and Ernie's death which leads him to discover some nefarious experimenting and clandestine humans. The rest I suggest you read for your self.

These books were engrossing and I really couldn't put them down. Garcia's writing style is a humorous twist on film noir. All of the characters are fully developed with the exception of a few compys but then they are compys. Garcia is able to make it all seem feasible, realistic and more importantly he is able to draw you into the story. You really start to feel for Vincent and the others.

Read this omnibus or the books individually. You will not regret it.