HOT AND SWEATY REX

Name: HOT AND SWEATY REX
Author: Eric Garcia
ISBN: 0-375-50523-7

by Eric Garcia ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 9, 2004

Garcia (Casual Rex, 2001, etc.) is brutally funny, paying wacky homage to noir conventions while spoofing mafiosi loyalties,...

bookshelf

Forget the Hatfields and the McCoys, the Gambinos, the Colombos, the Genoveses. The Velociraptors are battling the Hadrosaurs for control of Miami.

Anyone who thinks dinosaurs died out has been fooled by their human-emulating latex disguises. Deep down, Tom Cruise and Julia Roberts are just like p.i. Vincent Rubio, a walking, talking descendant of ages past. Vincent, a raptor suffering herb-addiction withdrawal, has been paid twenty large by Frank Tallarico, head of the LA Raptor Mafia, to tail Nelly Hagstrom, a Miami Hadrosaurs fighting Frank’s younger, meaner, dumber brother Eddie for supremacy in South Florida. Vincent’s long-time pal Glenda comes along to help, but she can’t do much when Jack Dugan, Nelly’s boss and Vincent’s boyhood friend sidelined to a wheelchair by degenerative muscle disease, is gunned down; when a batch of pretty Ornithos lose their tails; when dissolving powder attacks a dino/horse who throws a race; when Nelly is left to drown as a hurricane looms; when Noreen, Jack’s sister Vincent mistakenly jilted back in his herb-orgy days, has to decide whether Vincent should live or die. The streets (not to mention the Everglades) are littered with bodies of rival dinosaurs as Vincent plays all sides against each other, has a minor herb relapse, and finally ends a friendship to end the strife.

Garcia (Casual Rex, 2001, etc.) is brutally funny, paying wacky homage to noir conventions while spoofing mafiosi loyalties, AA principles, race relations, and double-agent double-dealings.

Pub Date: March 9, 2004

ISBN: 0-375-50523-7

Page Count: 384

Publisher: Villard

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2004

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
WE'RE NOT BROKEN
by Eric Garcia

- BOOK REVIEW
CASSANDRA FRENCH’S FINISHING SCHOOL FOR BOYS
by Eric Garcia

- BOOK REVIEW
MATCHSTICK MEN
by Eric Garcia

bookshelf

NINETEEN MINUTES

by Jodi Picoult ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 6, 2007

Though all the surface elements are in place, Picoult falters in her exploration of what turns a quiet kid into a murderer.

bookshelf

Picoult’s 14th novel (after The Tenth Circle, 2006, etc.) of a school shooting begins with high-voltage excitement, then slows by the middle, never regaining its initial pace or appeal.

Peter Houghton, 17, has been the victim of bullying since his first day of kindergarten, made all the more difficult by two factors: In small-town Sterling, N.H., Peter is in high school with the kids who’ve tormented him all his life; and his all-American older brother eggs the bullies on. Peter retreats into a world of video games and computer programming, but he’s never able to attain the safety of invisibility. And then one day he walks into Sterling High with a knapsack full of guns, kills ten students and wounds many others. Peter is caught and thrown in jail, but with over a thousand witnesses and video tape of the day, it will be hard work for the defense to clear him. His attorney, Jordan McAfee, hits on the only approach that might save the unlikable kid—a variation of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder caused by bullying. Thrown into the story is Judge Alex Cormier, and her daughter Josie, who used to be best friends with Peter until the popular crowd forced the limits of her loyalty. Also found dead was her boyfriend Matt, but Josie claims she can’t remember anything from that day. Picoult mixes McAfee’s attempt to build a defense with the mending relationship of Alex and Josie, but what proves a more intriguing premise is the response of Peter’s parents to the tragedy. How do you keep loving your son when he becomes a mass murderer? Unfortunately, this question, and others, remain, as the novel relies on repetition (the countless flashbacks of Peter’s victimization) rather than fresh insight. Peter fits the profile, but is never fully fleshed out beyond stereotype. Usually so adept at shaping the big stories with nuance, Picoult here takes a tragically familiar event, pads it with plot, but leaves out the subtleties of character.

Though all the surface elements are in place, Picoult falters in her exploration of what turns a quiet kid into a murderer.