The Dog Who Saved Me: A Novel
By: Susan Wilson / Narrated By: Fred Berman, Rick Adamson, Jeff Gurner
Length: 11 hrs
Things are never easy in a Wilson story… huzzah…!
Cuz seriously, tho’ one ALWAYS knows how a Susan Wilson story is going to end, it’s usually a tough slog.
Yup, story starts off with a vaaaastly melancholic Cooper who’s wallowing in self-pity, grief, and good ol’ PTSD after a violent chase turned deadly, killing his dog partner in their K-9 duo. He just can’t get past it, is off the job, is NOT looking for another, is hitting the bottle a bit too much, and has gone and driven his wife away. A rePEAted offer to return to his hometown of Harmony Farms to become the Animal Control Officer finally makes its way into his brain, and he reluctantly takes the job.
Once in Harmony Farms, he finds that his job is a bit of a joke gone wrong, what with having to do stuff like hunt down a wandering pet donkey before it trashes the gardens of the rich folks who’ve taken over the sleepy town. Dark side? Having to return dead dogs (Traffic is NOT kind to wayward animals) to suddenly grief-stricken owners. Bright side? Getting to return live dogs to grateful owners: Like Natalie. She’s the somewhat attractive owner of a horse rescue, and she comes with her own grief (Natch!).
A yellow lab who’s seen verrrrry dark times, suffered a grave beating and even gunshot wounds, and who’s gone feral, soon makes its way into Cooper’s notice. Here the story becomes about Cooper being driven to earn the dog’s trust, to catch him before the harsh winter.
This sounds like a banal story that could wind up dull and something that’s Been Done Before, like, a gazillion (And six!) times. But what elevates The Dog Who Saved Me into a nice listen with meat on its bones are the side stories. Cooper is one of Those Harrisons, Dad was the destructive town drunk, and brother is juuuust being released from prison after a conviction in drug dealing. Dad, known now to all as Bull after an ill-considered stunt in his early years, is a rather complex character, as most alcoholics are. He’s trying to just get along and, unfortunately for Cooper, is reeeeeally trying to just be A Family with his law enforcement son and his drug criminal Other Son, Jimmy.
But he’s not really making amends, just running on good intentions. Cooper’s not buying it, until he has to.
This has the family drama thing going for it, some criminal suspense, a touch of romance, but more importantly? Dude, it has dogs and animals in it. We’re talking that errant donkey, a woman whose initial cat-saving impulse has turned into something just shyyyy of hoarding, dogs mistreated, dogs taken care of. Cooper is slowly shedding his apathetic skin in favor of creating a new life for himself, and the dog is just plain learning that not all people suck and maybe it might be nice to wag his tail now and again.
This Wilson story has a trio of male narrators, and I canNOT for the life of me tell you who’s who: Cooper, the dog, Bull? Also, as she is apt to do, Wilson gives the dog’s thoughts its own narrator interspersed throughout so we see how fearful he is, how mistreatment and starvation change a dog. I’m not usually a big fan of animals getting their thoughts trotted out, probably cuz I was raised with the Generation where Anthropomorphism is one of the Seven Deadly Sins. It’s more relaxed nowadays, animals are FINALLY being given their due as thinking and feeling creatures. So I’m pleased to see it here, it’s just that yup, knee-jerk twitchiness and all that.
Complicated characters for complicated storylines make this a good Listen, and most certainly a Grand Listen if ya happen to love dogs (Or if, say, you once lived in a house with a yard and had dogs who lived to a peachy-keen old age but you are now crammed into an apartment, and you miss, like crazy, having a dog or two… Just saying…). Wilson is a master storyteller for dog lovers, and I always look forward to one of her books as things are always fraught aaaaallll throughout the book but yesss, that Happily Ever After does indeed come around.
It’s a mighty good payoff when a dog wags its tail…!
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