The year of animals continues here! Animals are fun and light and fresh and delightful. Sometimes they’re bad, and need to be punished. What is punishment, and what would make it necessary? Those are basically the questions being answered in ‘Stray Dogs’, a romp of canine companionship as disparate dogs are brought together from a variety of lifestyles.
We meet Sophie, a lil pup if ever there was one. She’s scared. All the time. Even though she has a master. We meet her at the vet. Not long after, we find she’s been abandoned, adopted, and is going to her new home. And what a home it is! Like I mentioned before, there’s all sorts of dogs, from all walks of life, and they’ve ALSO been adopted.
‘Dog Brains and YOU’
You see, their new master absolutely loves dogs. Loves taking care of them, feeding them, training them, rewarding them. They just have to be good dogs. Good news though! All dogs are good dogs with the right love, food, training, and rewards. Eleven other dogs welcoming just one little one, her brain barely the size of a pea. (We learn about dog brains and how they work at the vet. I wonder if that will matter next paragraph?)
‘Sophie’s new friends’
Sophie’s new master gets home from work and is immediately concerned when he can’t find her. She’s been in a new environment. She’s scared at her best, so this is a terrible downgrade. She’s located, under a table, and because he’s such a good guy, her new master brings her food and wraps her up to stop her shivering. In a scarf. With familiar ‘dog brains would get this’ smells. That’s wonderful! Familiar smells? Warmth? In a house full of 11 happy dogs? Their master must be some kind of wonderful for them to be so enamored with him. Who cares how they got there?
‘Who’s defining safety for YOU?’
Sophie cares, because that scarf smells like her old master. Who was wearing it when she came home. Who was wearing it when she was murdered. Because her new master killed her former owner. Killed her, and brought Sophie here. To a house with 11 other dogs.
“Wait…” you say. “That doesn’t sound fun or light or fresh or delightful.” That means there’s at least 11 other victims. They’re owned by a serial killer. That’s correct! 5 doggie biscuits for you.
‘Dog Brains, Revisited’
The charm, the genius of this story is that visuals reminiscent of Don Bluth or Disney are employed to drag the reader through an escalation of atrocities that would be unbearable if represented in an even remotely realistic fashion. The art by Trish Forstner is clean and light and fresh and fun, an animation inspired art style applied to a ‘Seven’ level situation.
‘Minority Report has got nothing on RUN here.’
What follows after Sophie’s revelation all relates back to how dogs’ brains work, and without giving too much away, short term memory may not be their strongest suit. I’m not going to give away everything here. I will tell you you’ll need a strong stomach. The characters are rich. Sophie is a treat. The dogs she meets all have distinct personalities that may not line up with their actual best interests. That mention of punishment? Yeah, that didn’t come from out of nowhere.
It’s a surprising, disturbing, engaging book on all levels. Don’t let the childlike veneer fool you. Let it protect you. You’ll need it. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.