JasonA's Reviews > Who Censored Roger Rabbit?

This ended up being an interesting read. Yes, it's the book Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is based on, but unlike the current trend, the original book was the dark and gritty version. While a lot of the characters show up in both versions, the movie and the book have completely different plots.

There are some other differences between the book and movie worlds. In the book, Toons mainly work in comics and not cartoons. They speak with speech bubbles that float above their heads, probably explaining the comic thing. In the book, Toons aren't nearly indestructible, like in the movie; they can die as easily as humans. The catch is that they can create limited time doppelgangers to serve as their stunt doubles like Loki in the MCU. Another big difference is that some humanoid toons like Jessica Rabbit are so realistic that they can almost pass as human. In universe conspiracy theories are centered around famous people really being toons.

The book plays the story pretty straight, for the most part. It's a hard-boiled detective story that just happens to take place in a world with Toons. I liked the mystery, but I wasn't a huge fan of the very ending. I was floating between 3 and 4 stars, and the ending settled it for me. I still think it's worth a read if you're a hard-boiled mystery fan or liked the movie. Being familiar with one won't ruin the other.

There are more Roger Rabbit books, but it sounds like they're a direct sequel to the movie and retcon this book. Sounds like I'll probably skip them.