Who Censored Roger Rabbit?

A murder investigation with as many suspects as there are witnesses. A femme fatale with icewater in her veins and sex appeal that she knows exactly how to use. A down-on-his-luck private investigator trying to make good on a promise to a client. In a lot of ways Who Censored Roger Rabbit seems like an assortment of cliches of the hardboiled detective genre, and then you pause for a second and realize that one of the main characters is a 6 foot tall bunny rabbit. It doesn't feel exactly like satire or parody, but more like an absurdist, screwball take on an old genre.

You might be thinking that you're familiar with Roger Rabbit, because you've seen the Disney film. The two are absolutely nothing alike - the character share the same name but the characterization is completely different, the plot's completely unrelated, and the tone and style is completely different as well. It's almost baffling how completely different they are from each other; I like each for what they are, but don't go into this thinking you're getting anything like the film.

One of the biggest differences, and one that I found most entertaining, was the character of Roger. Sounding like Annie Hall-era Woody Allen, Roger's a neurotic mess, and his play and banter off of Eddie Valiant's hardboiled straight man is good for a lot of laughs throughout the book.