Diamond Dogs
By Brett E., Hamden, CT
“People were getting up and putting on their clothes and washing their hair and eating their eggs and reading their newspapers. And my father was in the shower, washing himself clean.” This intriguing quote is from Alan Watt’s crime thriller Diamond Dogs. It takes place in Carmen, Nevada and tells the story of 17-year-old Neil Garvin, who, while driving home from a friend’s house in his father’s car, accidentally runs over and kills his classmate. Neil shoves the body into the trunk and tells no one but when it goes missing, he realizes that his father found the body and hid it somewhere.
The book deals with Neil’s plight of killing somebody, and the abusive relationship he has with his father. Neil wishes so badly to escape and break free from his life. He often thinks about his mother, who left years before, and why she isn’t there in his life. “When I looked at the photograph of my mother, I felt like I was staring at a stranger,” he says.
The reader pulls for Neil, who is a genuine and believable character. I’ve never read a novel quite like this that grabbed me from the very first chapter. Dogs doesn’t make you feel good due to its dark and graphic nature, but it is truly exciting and unique, as the reader actually wants to know what will happen to the main character.
The novel boasts a situation that hits hard with teenagers - drunk driving and its aftermath - but also explores abusive relationships and a parent leaving a child. All in all, I recommend this to anyone who wants to read something different and is looking for a bold, powerful and insightful piece of work.
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