Who Censored Roger Rabbit?

By: Gary K. Wolf

Narrated by: L.J. Ganser

Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's Summary

Private eye Eddie Valiant doesn't like Toons - those cartoon characters who live side-by-side with humans. Not the way they look, and especially not the way they talk: word-filled balloons come out of their mouths and then disintegrate, leaving dust all over his rug. 

Eddie will work for a Toon if his cash supply is low enough. So he reluctantly agrees when Roger Rabbit, a Toon who plays straight man (or should that be straight rabbit) in the Baby Herman cartoon series, asks him to find out who's been trying - unsuccessfully - to buy his contract from the DeGreasy Brothers syndicate. 

Then Rocco DeGreasy is murdered - and Roger is the prime suspect! The rabbit is also, as Eddie soon discovers, very, very dead. Who censored Roger Rabbit? And who shot Rocco DeGreasy? Was it Roger, or was it Rocco's hot-cha-cha girlfriend, Jessica Rabbit? Why had Jessica - a pretty steamy number for a Toon - ever married a dopey bunny in the first place? And why does everybody want Roger's battered old teakettle? 

As Eddie combs L.A. from the executive suites of the DeGreasy Brothers to Sid Sleaze's porno comic studio, he uncovers art thefts, blackmail plots...and the cagiest killer he's ever faced.

©1981 Gary K. Wolf (P)2019 Tantor

NOT A NOVELIZATION OF THE MOVIE!!

If you're looking for a novelization of the movie this is not it. BUT that is not a bad thing. To be frank this story would not have made a good movie. However this a fantastic book. There are three things I want to share about the story, BUT THEY ARE NOT SPOILERS. They tell you nothing about any of the plot.
1. Eddie does NOT have a bad attitude toward or any bad experiences with TOONS.
2. Eddie is not an alcoholic.
3. Roger and Baby Herman are not animated cartoons. They are a newspaper comic strip. And though the narrator gives each TOON its own voice they do not actually talk out loud. They have speech balloons that have to be read. This does not really change the story at all, but there is a lot of great humor about the balloons.
There three things I would have liked to have known going in.

At long last

For a very long time I’ve wanted this on audio. I am not disappointed either, even though I enjoy the movie far more I find this novel which the movie is based on to be an interesting mystery story. I hope that someday the sequel to this book will also make it onto audible. If you want to read a detective story with toons then this is the book for you. There are elements in it that are kind of strange and silly but once you think about it it does have toons in it after all. So what more can you expect from a novel with cartoon characters in it. I find the story and the elements in it are very creative. Well done Gary K. Wolf

Wow, simply wow.

I can see why they changed so much for Disney movie. Making it more kid friendly and all. But I would to see series adaptation of this geared more towards the young adult audience this was clearly meant for. Now I love the movie, but so many characters where changed and added to the story that it became something completely different. I would more people to read the original story to see how much more different and good it truly was.

Nothing like the movie but that’s a good thing

While the movie is a classic and one of the best of all time, it is refreshing to hear its roots and see how the author originally envisioned the world of Roger Rabbit. If you’ve seen the movie you owe it to yourself to hear the book it stands on its own

It really cool to see where it all came from

I was 10 years old when “who framed Roger Rabbit was released. The film was unlike anything I’d ever seen and see me on the career path to be an illustrator. 32 years later, I’m floored by the book that inspired the film.
There’s not much in common outside of Eddie Valiant, Jessica and Roger. There are a couple of lines that made the translation from book to film, but that’s about where the similarities stop. The book plays more closely to film noir than the movie did. There’s no Marvin K. Acme murder plot, here and this book isn’t really for kids.
I do wish that this version of the book saw it’s way to film; if for no other reason for the pencil chomping beaver psychiatrist, alone.
This book sent me down a ::ahem:: rabbit hole to read the other two books in the series.

Enjoyed a lot!

Very different from the movie, but pretty good in its own right. The narrator is great at doing every characters' voices. Dont lose focus though, there are many details in the story that its easy to quickly get lost.

A lot different from the movie

This is an amazing book. And it is so much different than the movie right off the gate. I highly recommend it. The story is captivating. The twist is… weird but in a fun way and the performance is wonderful.

Surprise Gem

Completely blindsided by how much I enjoyed this book. The story had it's twists, red herrings, and floored me in the end.

a good time

I grew up loving the film, but the book was much better. hope you enjoy!

very fun book. awesome listen

loved the reading of this book. had not read this before and was completely absorbed by it.the author was great and the narrator was wonderful.

better than the film

completely different from the film, it's like a totally different story, I prefer the book to the film to be honest, definitely recommend

Mty favourite book

10/10 it just soooo good. characters are soo livey they jump out of my phone. the bast

Very different from the film

"Who Framed Roger Rabbit" is one of my favourite films, so I decided to check out the source novel / inspiration. Apart from the names Eddie Valiant, Roger Rabbit & Jessica Rabbit, and the idea of toons being real (although the book has comic strip toons vs the movie's film / TV toons) everything else is very different (even the characters themselves are totally different). It's a good story, with lots of twists & turns (maybe too many), great descriptions of the toon world, some great narration, but I'll stick to the film in future.

A Solid Listen.

An enjoyable listen. A good fun version of hardbpiled detective books with a cartoonish twist. Genuine mystery that you can figure out if you want, but that is also just as easy to just float along with the story and enjoy the journey.

A gripping mystery, very different from the film.

Whilst the book is light-hearted and whimsical, the mystery kept me guessing until the very end. There are some fairly unguessable twists, but also some that you don't quite want to believe - especially if you're a fan of these characters from 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit?'. This book is great fun and the performance by L.J. Ganser was entertaining and superbly delivered throughout.

A real stand up tale

I went into this story after hearing of its differences to the 1988 movie. This story is a fantastic noir tale with great characters, compelling plots and enough twists to make a toons head spin off his neck. Wolf had fantastic descriptions and you can immerse yourself in this world no problem.
If you like noir with a dash of comedy you'll love this, I wish more noir tales were like this. 10/10

Much better than the film

This book is amazing and the audio performance was brilliant. Whi Censored Roger Rabbit is a brilliant Noir. It has become one of my favourites