Book Review: Hell Hound by Ken Greenhall

Baxter is a sociopathic bull terrier who is on the hunt for his perfect master, as he plots the demise of his current owner...

"What if some morning as the old woman stood at the head of the staircase she were suddenly to feel a weight thrusting against the back of her legs? ... What would become of me if she were found unmoving at the bottom of the stairway?"

Days later and I am still thinking about this book. I even gave my boyfriend a detailed description of the events in the book (which I'm pretty sure he loved - let's not ask him though). I just honestly did not expect SUCH a great story, in fact I'd never even heard of Hell Hound nor the author before - thank god for The Nocturnal Reader's Box, eh!?

What I really enjoyed about this was the fact that the story is told from a number of different POV's - we have the POV of the dog, Baxter, and then a number of the humans that come into contact with him. This book started off being quite humorous, some of Baxter's thoughts and comments were hilarious. Then it takes a bit of a dark turn... although some humour is still retained. I actually got quite intense Apt Pupil vibes at times, and we all know that novella is dark as shit!! I was uncomfortable for sure.  However I did feel like I was looking at dogs a little bit differently after reading this one... WHO KNOWS WHAT'S GOING ON IN THEIR MINDS? Are they plotting to kill us?! I don't know!!

The story itself didn't feel dated, it almost felt like it could have been written in recent times. There are seriously dark undertones and I constantly felt on edge as I really didn't know what to expect. Greenhall kept me guessing right until the end, and holy SHIT, that ending. I LOVED IT. I did have a teeny tiny minor issue with the story that I can't really go into much detail on without giving a potential spoiler, but some ridiculously bad parenting left me a bit pissed off and felt a tad unrealistic (hence it doesn't get the full 5 star treatment).

Basically, I DIG THIS. Very much. But if you are a bit sensitive when it comes to doggos...beware. I just tell myself that it's fiction and therefore it's fine. But I know that doesn't work for everyone. Thoroughly enjoyed this one - 4 and a half stars!

Johann
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