Book Review | Terrible Lizard: A Memoir of my Time in the Police Dinosaur Unit by Doug Goodman

This book had me at the cover. How could I not read a book with a velociraptor on the front? I am a huge fan of the Jurassic Park franchise so when this was offered I jumped at the chance. Overall the cover is clean cut, and eye grabbing. I wasn’t a huge fan of the blue font on blue background, but the muted cityscape perfectly highlighted the terrible lizard on the cover

The blurb, while a little long for my tastes, was a very accurate description of the book. It’s written as a memoir and each chapter tells a different step in the journey of Oak Jones and Banshee, his velociraptor partner. You get to know Jones and Banshee pretty intimately as the story goes on and follow their adventures working the beat in Houston.  From their initial encounter, which hurt pretty badly, to the day Jones learned the truth about his partner’s past (tear-jerker!), each story is filled with the bonding of two extremely opposite creatures into a working team.  

It seriously felt like I was reading this scene happen at the start of their working relationship!

I’ll be completely honest, I thought the book would be like watching the Sy-Fy channel with their over-the-top movies and poor acting. I was ready for Sharknado level cheesery.  I was pleasantly surprised at how much I came to like Banshee and Jones and their time together. The story is filled with realistic scenarios, or as realistic as one can get with an extinct lizard thrown in, with lots of mentions to real locations in the Houston area. I’ve never been to Texas myself, but his description of the weather in the summer does not make me want to visit! 

Banshee and Jones are easily likeable characters. Jones is down-to-earth and just wants his dream job, to work as a handler on the dinosaur unit. From a young age he says he was labeled as “Oakasaurus” for his love of anything dinosaur related. Banshee is by far the star of the show, erm book. He is hysterical in his antics and attitude, but also so sweet in how he comes to care for his partner. He is a sweet and bloodthirsty police dinosaur, who wants to get the job done. I can just imagine him looking at the bad guys like this:

Alright, good stuff over, I did have some minor problems with book. While the first two thirds was excellently edited, it seemed to falter in the last 30%. Nothing major, but enough that the grammatical/spelling errors stood out to me on the page.

Also, is Banshee a boy or girl velociraptor? It doesn’t matter to me so much, but the entire book it goes back and forth between calling Banshee ‘he’ in some places and ‘she’ in others. Consistency would’ve been nice.

And while Jones and Banshee were well-thought out and complex characters, everyone else was just kind of bland and filled with cliches. Typical tough guy cop? Check. Tough yelling drill instructor? Check. Stereotypical bad guys? Double check. Sweet next door love interest? Yep. Check. With such a crazy idea set in modern day, and two great main characters, I was expecting a more diverse cast. 

But, but, but, don’t let those negatives fool you. I loved reading this. There was more than one instance where I literally laughed out loud at their antics, typically Banshee’s. I loved the backstory we got sprinkled throughout the book. I loved the overall premise and execution of the story, so while my ‘minor problems’ were in fact there, they didn’t overshadow the great quality and story-telling of this sometimes-not-so dynamic duo. 

So, if you love buddy cop stories and extinct lizards popping up in the most unlikely of places, including your roof with your neighbor’s cat in tow, then this is the book for you!