Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Oakdale Library | MYSTERY KAR | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | MYSTERY KAR | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
The hilarious and suspenseful introduction of Detectives Mike Lomax and Terry Biggs. Welcome to Familyland, an offshoot of Lamaar Studios. Once a small, Southern California animation house, it has grown into an entertainment conglomerate encompassing movies, television, music, video games, and a sprawling theme park. When an actor portraying Familyland's beloved mascot, Rambunctious Rabbit, is brutally murdered on park grounds, Lamaar executives are worried that the idyllic image of '50s America represented in Familyland will be shattered. They ask Mike Lomax and his partner Terry Biggs, the LAPD detectives assigned to solve the case, to keep the circumstances surrounding the death of their mascot quiet. When a second Lamaar employee is killed, Lomax and Biggs uncover a conspiracy to destroy Familyland and settle an unknown vendetta. Still under pressure to keep the case away from the public eye, the detectives are met with a third murder -- and an outrageous demand: Anyone who associates with Lamaar -- employees, customers, anyone -- will be killed. Bringing a fresh duo of cops to the thriller set,The Rabbit Factoryis both suspenseful and satiric, a taut mystery wrapped in sharp, comedic prose.
Author Notes
Marshall Karp is the bestselling author of the Lomax and Biggs series and co-author with James Patterson of the NYPD Red series and the novel Kill Me If You can.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
The publisher's blurb on playwright and screenplay writer Karp's first novel, "The hilarious and suspenseful introduction of Detectives Mike Lomax and Terry Biggs," makes the two LAPD detectives sound as if they're the reincarnation of the Keystone Kops. They are amusing, but the comedy never overshadows this smart, many-layered thriller. Lomax's beloved wife has died, his doting father is trying to get him to go on dates and his wayward, gambling-addicted brother is in deep trouble. Meanwhile, Lomax is trying to solve a string of high-profile murders aimed at destroying a Disneyesque theme park, Lamaar's Familyland. First, the employee playing Rambunctious Rabbit, Familyland's signature cartoon character, is strangled in his rabbit suit, then a series of other employees and visitors to the park are killed, bringing the company to its knees. Lomax, Biggs and the FBI have their work cut out for them in a clever plot that will keep readers guessing to the very end. Enthusiastic readers will anxiously await the return of detectives Lomax and Biggs. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Looking for a mystery novel with just the right blend of belly laughs and suspense? Karp's second offering featuring Hollywood detectives Mike Lomax and Terry Biggs is every bit as funny and fast-paced as The Rabbit Factory (2006). Middle-aged widower Mike is the straight man to one-liner-hurling Terry, who has a voice like melted butter and the world's ugliest face. This time around Lomax and Biggs are basking in the fame earned from solving their first case, the murder of the mascot at a popular Southern California theme park. There's talk of a movie, but before the detectives can meet up with notorious Hollywood mogul Barry Gerber, the much-hated megamillionaire winds up dead. It's a particularly sadistic slaying; the killers slowly drained a very much alive Gerber of every drop of blood. Soon, a handsome actor who publicly feuded with Gerber meets a similar end. Veteran writer and film producer Karp knows his way around the entertainment business. His depictions of its myriad personalities are hilarious and dead-on. Of a Hollywood executive, he writes: his cheeks were doughy, his jaw was sagging, and his sweat glands were working overtime. . . . He looked like a GQ cover boy gone to seed. --Allison Block Copyright 2007 Booklist
Kirkus Review
A big, leisurely paced thriller, the first novel for playwright and screenwriter Karp, traces an insidious, insider terrorist attack on a Disney-like cartoon empire in L.A. The Rambunctious Rabbit is the Mickey Mouse of creator Dean Lamaar's vast, popular theme park, Familyland, and the seminal character to be attacked in an attempt to dismantle the animation network based in Costa Luna, Calif. The man strangled in the rabbit suit was in fact a convicted pedophile, leaving the two LAPD homicide detectives assigned to the case, Mike Lomax and Terry Biggs, scratching their heads at how the man got a job working with kids. The casualties pile up over the course of two weeks: A former Lamaar producer is whacked with a bat; a visitor to Familyland is stabbed in the public bathroom; a bomb is set off at a Dallas Burger King, which has developed promotional tie-ins with Lamaar. Who's behind these scarily well-planned attacks aimed at humiliating Lamaar Studios, built up by the genius of now-deceased Dean Lamaar and four of his World War II army buddies--The Cartoon Corp? Protagonist Lomax is a 42-year-old widower, tough-talking but sensitive, and not quite ready to start dating despite the strong-arming of his father, Big Jim, a retired Teamster. In fact, Lomax is still wading sorrowfully through the letters his dead wife left him. During the course of the investigation, all kinds of intriguing subplots erupt, but it's the history of Lamaar Studios that proves key, as the elder members of the Cartoon Corp. express resentment at the vulgar course the network has veered since Dean's death, and the son of one of them, Danny Eeg, still simmers at what he considers unfair treatment of his father. Karp craftily engineers a statement on ethical values, both institutional and personal. A bloated piece of work, devoted more to the pleasure of reading than the offer of a dazzling dnouement. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
In screenwriter Karp's first novel, a man dressed as Rambo the Rabbit is murdered on the hallowed grounds of Familyland, a theme park not situated in Anaheim, CA. Rambo the Rabbit (not Mickey the Mouse) is the signature character of Dean Lamaar, a cartoonist from the Midwest who parlayed his colleagues' talents into a multimillion-dollar empire. Soon it becomes clear that there's a plot against the company, and the detective duo of Mike Lomax and Terry Biggs are on the case. Lomax has a cantankerous but lovable dad whose movie-business background allows bonding over this case, and Biggs is a wannabe standup comic. What might have been a darkly satirical insider's view of the entertainment industry or a detective/buddy novel attempts to be both and loses its fizz well before its 600-plus pages play out. An optional purchase.-Bob Lunn, Kansas City P.L., MO (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Excerpts
Excerpts
I. Killing Rambo Chapter 1 Eddie Elkins ambled down Fantasy Avenue. A light breeze penetrated his costume, and he felt relatively cool inside the furry white rabbit suit. Of course, these were the balmy days of April. July and August would be unbearable, but for Eddie, it would be a small price to pay. Six weeks ago he had lied, cheated, and bribed his way into the best job in the world. And now, he was Rambo. Rambunctious Rabbit, the most famous character Dean Lamaar ever created. The acknowledged superstar at Lamaar's Familyland. Eddie waved at the kids as he wandered through the sprawling theme park. Occasionally some wiseass teenager would give him the finger, but for the most part kids loved him. And Eddie loved kids. In fact, he loved them so much that he was mandated by Megan's Law to register with the Los Angeles police, so they could notify people in his community that he had moved into their neighborhood. But he hadn't registered. Not this time. He had complied with the law when he lived in Boston. But the Irish bastard across the street keyed Eddie's car, slashed his tires, and put dog shit in his mailbox. Eddie tried to explain that there's a big difference between high-risk offenders who are violent and regular guys like Eddie, who would never hurt anyone, but the guy wouldn't listen. Then one day Eddie made the mistake of saying hello to the man's ten-year-old son. That night two bullets came flying through his bedroom window. Eddie moved to Rhode Island and registered with the Woonsocket police. Life was better there. Nobody wanted to kill him, but nobody wanted to hire him either. Not for the kind of jobs Eddie wanted. He finally got work as a clerk in a paintball supply store, where he had plenty of time to think about his life. He was born Edward Warren Ellison in Trenton, New Jersey, majored in English Lit at Rutgers, was never any good at sports and was never really comfortable with women, although he had had sex with four of them. People said he looked like Buddy Holly, or at least what Buddy would have looked like at age thirty-six, if not for that plane crash. Eddie even wore the black horn-rimmed glasses to heighten the effect. He tried real hard to break his pattern with the kids, especially after the first conviction. He had a smart therapist, but stopping wasn't as easy as the shrinks make it sound. He didn't want to hurt the children, but fondling wasn't hurting. After three months in Rhode Island, he decided it would be easier to find a better job in a big city. Especially if he didn't register. He moved to Los Angeles. Getting a new name and new identity cards were easier than he thought. Other men like him had done it and there was the New Beginnings Network on the Web. His closest confidant, whom he e-mailed almost every day, was Vandy333. Vandy was divorced with two kids of his own and had been a school principal in Tennessee for twelve years. "Changing my identity made all the difference," Vandy had told him. So Eddie Ellison became Eddie Elkins. He found a nice clean place to live and set up his new persona just the way New Beginnings instructed him. Finally came his big break. They told him about Caleo. Anthony Caleo was a scumbag, but he was a great guy to know. He worked in Human Resources at Familyland. His job was to verify the résumés of people applying for jobs. Caleo didn't care about New Beginnings. He only cared about what was in it for Caleo. He charged Eddie six thousand bucks. For that he cleared Eddie's bogus résumé and prepped him on how to handle the one-on-one interview with Marjorie MacBride. And that's how Eddie landed the job of his dreams. His first day at work he reported to the Wardrobe Department. One of the Dressers, a chatty little Mexican woman whose name tag said Provi, helped him into the furry white Rambunctious Rabbit costume, with its distinctive red, white, and blue denim overalls. Provi was prattling on, but Elkins's mind and heart were racing too loud and fast for him to hear. He couldn't believe it. He was Rambunctious Fucking Rabbit. More recognizable than The President of the United States. Maybe even The Pope. Children would literally flock to him. How many guys did he know who would trade their left nut for this gig? "Elkins?" He looked up, as Provi's thick-toothed black comb raked over his hairy white rabbit arms. The speaker, standing ten feet away, was Danny DeVito tall with an Arnold Schwarzenegger chest. His face and close-cropped gray hair had the wear and tear of a fifty-year-old. But the body, in black nylon warm-up pants and a tight black tank top, had the muscle tone of a college wrestler. "I'm Dante, your Character Coach," he said. "Let's see what kind of a rabbit you are. Don't put the head on yet. Just let me see you walk over here." Provi gave the suit one final fluff and stood back. Elkins inhaled, took one bold step forward and immediately hooked the front edge of one giant rabbit's foot to the back of the other. Gravity took over and down he went, floppy ears over cotton tail, onto the rubber-matted floor. Provi let out a loud aye-aye-aye. "That's why you don't put the head on yet," Dante said, helping him up. "Don't want you to break it." "But it's okay if I break my own head? Why didn't you warn me?" "You learn faster this way," Dante said. "What size shoes do you wear?" "Ten and a half." "Well now you're wearing size twenty-four rabbit's feet and eighteen pounds of fur. Why don't you try it again?" Dante said, stepping to the other side of the room. Elkins hobbled his way toward Dante and made it to the other side without falling. "How's that?" he asked. "Fantastic," Dante said, "if you were one of Jerry's Kids. You gotta be animated. Bouncy, springy," Dante said, bouncing and springing across the room. "Don't worry. By the time I'm finished you'll be dancing around the park like Rudolf Nureyev." It took ten hours. "Tomorrow I'll show you how to find your way around every inch of this park," Dante said. "Then we'll go over the rules for handling kids. There's a right way and a wrong way, and you gotta be real careful. Don't scare 'em, don't drop 'em and don't touch 'em in any wrong places." They worked with dolls. Eddie had no problem not touching them in any wrong places. On the last day of training, Dante introduced him to a squat, moon-faced woman with a thick mane of bottled blonde hair, a dozen tiny gold earrings on each side of her head, and eyes that convinced Eddie there was nothing going on between the earrings. "This is Noreen Stubiak," he said. "She'll be your Keeper." From the Trade Paperback edition. Excerpted from The Rabbit Factory by Marshall Karp All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
