Top Dog: The Story of Marine Hero Lucca
By: Maria Goodavage / Narrated By: Neil Shah
Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
A heroine for Women’s History Month! Er, yeh, she has four legs, so what?
Lucca, Mama Lucca, Lucca Bear, Mama Lucca Bear.
You know it, we’ve all done it. Her name is actually Lucca K458, but naaaaaturally that can ONLY come down to: Mama Lucca Bear, right?
Here is a tough marine, a top dog, a specialized working dog who works off-leash to sniff out explosives and things of that sort. She’s top-notch at it, and her reputation precedes her, built as it is on her practical infallibility. Not only that, she’s found wanted high value targets hiding in fields, even though she was never specially trained for that. The dog just has a good head on her broad shoulders!
Top Dog is the story of Lucca and Chris Willingham, her first handler and teammate. They went on over 400 missions, found extraordinary amounts of weaponry and bomb making materials, made friends wherever they went (though, of course Lucca was the more popular of the two). It’s written with grittiness, and a little bit o’ blood and guts. Plus, there are a few tragedies thrown in there that’ll break a listener’s heart. And I have to admit that I teared up a bit when Rod emails Willingham after Lucca was severely wounded in an IED blast: The guilt/survivor’s guilt he has so closely mirrors what Willingham has felt, that it darned near KILLED me, I tell you!
Very well-written, with every type of mission a military working dog can undertake, and there are precious downtimes too. It’s not all tension (but what tension there is had me teetering on the edge of my seat). By the way? That she gets nearly torn to shreds in that blast is NOT a spoiler! The book opens with that, so gimme a break for cripes sake!
While the book covers Lucca, it covers Willingham’s experiences also. When their team is split up and he is redeployed to Afghanistan, we don’t know what Lucca is up to, but we get to hear about tragedies Willingham suffers, losses he has to bear. But I like that kinda thing, give me mooooore military; the more the better!
But it is good to get back to Lucca and her time with new handler, Rod. We also are given a chance to see how medics, doctors, nurses, deal with and treat K-9 war heroes. It’s all very high-tech and infinitely fascinating, and as it is written by the same woman who wrote Soldier Dogs, Maria Goodavage, we’re treated to a quick look at history as to how Lucca would have been treated in the past. All very sobering, I guarantee you, and huzzah for Lucca’s being wounded at a time when the military gives its working dogs a chance at better lives once their jobs are impossible for them to accomplish.
Ahhhh; this is the second time I listened to Top Dog, and now I remember why I generally think of Neil Shah as not-one-of-my-favorite narrators. So sad, but the guy tries waaaaay too hard when doing dialogue. He goes to aSTOUNding lengths to give each person a completely unique voice/accent. Which makes for some laughable moments. Stuff like strong words being said…by a guy with a wimpy accent. Tender, touching moments…by a guy who sounds like he smokes a couple of packs a day. Don’t get me wrong: Even wimps can be tough, and even bikers can have their softer sides, but really! Shah should just take it down a notch and let us listen without all the vocal contortions.
So there’s that.
But all in all, Top Dog is top-notch listening entertainment. It’s educational at times, enlightening at others; tension-filled at times, incredibly sweet at others. And you’ll looooove Lucca, especially when you hear about how she utilizes her happy ending. As a matter of fact, it’s almost like there is no ending because the dog just won't stop!
Lucca, my dear friends, always has a job to do!
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.