Hot and Sweaty Rex

Title: Hot and Sweaty Rex
Author: Eric Garcia

The third Vincent Rubio "Dinosaur Mafia" book. Not all that long ago there was a bland movie adaption of the series. I wouldn't say any one book was adapted because they made a mess of it. I think this would work better as an animated movie than live action. Let's just say, it's easier to ssupsend disbelief when you're reading about dinos disguising themselves as humans than to see it via special FX that weren't so special.

That in no way reflects on the quality of the books, which are loads of fun. This is dinosaur noir with a sense of humor. In this installment, told somewhat out of order, Vincent Rubio, PI and raptor, gets tricked into helping a raptor mob boss. When his new "assignment" sends him to Florida and a reunion with a childhood friend, Jack, who heads a hadorsaur mob, things get more complicated than even Vincent bargained for. And then there's Noreen, Jack's sister and Vincent's first love.

It's to Garcia's credit that I readily accept his alternate universe where dinosaurs never went extinct and instead, adapted, learning to live in disguise among the monkeys or mammals as we humans are called. I find nothing unusual in the manipulation of clamps that keep dino tails bound close to their bodies or their varying odors that are as reliable an identification tool as human fingerprints. I love this series and hope I'll get to read a fourth book about Vincent in the foreseeable future.