By Catherine Cheek
Dogs by Nancy Kress is an exciting novel by an expert writer. It deals with America’s paranoia about terrorism and our unreasonable attachment to our pets. Not only does Kress convincingly portray espionage and politics, but she also has a good handle on how to immerse a reader in a tale so thoroughly that the reader only gets up to lock the door and turn some more lights on.
Tessa is an ex-FBI agent, who resigned soon after the death of her husband Salah. She suspects, and later confirms, that the reason she was passed over for promotions was because she married an Arab. This incenses her, because she knows he was completely innocent. But then when dogs start mysteriously attacking their owners in the sleepy Maryland town of Tyler, she finds something not-so-innocent about her husband’s past. Someone warned Salah by email several months before his death. As she follows the threads of her investigation across the ocean and back again, she comes closer and closer to the true source of the virus that’s driving the dogs crazy.
Meanwhile, back in Tyler, Jess and Billy, the animal control officers, are trying to bring order to a town under siege. While many of the dog owners turned over their animals willingly (if reluctantly) others refused to cooperate and let their beloved pets free. Packs of dogs roam the streets, tearing apart people and uninfected dogs. People lock themselves in their houses, while Jess and Billy futilely try to maintain control in a town that has, literally, gone to the dogs. They round up what dogs they can, and shoot what they can’t. All the confiscated animals are caged and held in two huge tents in the center of town. The people begin to shift into two camps, those who want their pets back and want all the uninfected dogs set free, and those who think that all the animals should be destroyed before they kill anyone else.
Kress is known for hard science fiction, such as Beggars in Spain and Probability Moon. Dogs will likely be called SF because of the name on the cover, but it’s actually a thriller. It’s speculative, but like a Crichton novel, it’s neither futuristic nor far-fetched. For anyone who’s been bitten by a so-called ‘friendly’ dog, this novel will feel chillingly plausible. Dog lovers will never look at Fido the same, and will chuckle to see how convincing the dog owners in the book are portrayed.
And that’s the main strength of this book. Everyone is believable. Even tertiary characters, like a truckdriver that Tessa hitches a ride with, feel like real people. Secondary characters get their own plot lines, like Stephen, who decides to kill every dog he sees after a mastiff tears his son’s throat out, and Allen, a boy who goes to heroic extremes to keep his cocker spaniel safe and hidden in the basement of his house so that no one will take her away. There’s also a romantic plotline between Billy the animal-control officer and Cami, a nurse who’s trying to help a couple of children who were orphaned when their Newfoundland ate their mother.
Kress also gets a few political digs in at the ignorance and stupidity of government agencies. FEMA first puts the town under quarantine. Then a Great Dane bursts through a window to attack a family, and the government decides to evacuate instead. Scientists are trying to isolate the source of the virus, but are thwarted at every turn by guards who change passwords, unnecessary road-blocks, and of course underfunding. And when it turns out that the dog virus is caused by a terrorist the FBI knows about, the FBI hems and haws instead of taking direct action because it might embarrass some officials.
The terrorist himself is a little too frothing-at-the-mouth to be believable. He’s also pathetic. Unlike some of the townspeople of Tyler, who take violent action out of love for their pets, there’s little about him to empathize with. He’s crazy, and his motives aren’t understandable. Early on, there are some italicized cut scenes to set the tension.
The man in the Dodge Caravan lit a cigarette and rolled down the mini-van’s window….
Another ambulance raced past him on the approach to the Emergency Room, followed by a car driven wildly by a distraught woman.
A few minutes later, another racing car.
Then another ambulance.
The man finished his cigarette and crushed it in the ashtray….
He smiled. His work was done here. And it was good.
These are typical for thriller novels, making us believe that some criminal mastermind was playing with people like pawns. He also seems preternaturally intelligent because he knows where Tessa is even though she hasn’t seen him following her. However, when we finally meet the bad guy, he doesn’t seem stable enough to register his car at the DMV, much less orchestrate the tragedy. It’s understandable that Kress wouldn’t want to create a likeable villain, but with every other character so believable, it would have been nice to have a antagonist with more depth. Not that crazy people don’t commit terrible crimes, but a bible-spouting, disfigured loser trying to compensate for the inadequacies of his childhood should be fighting Spiderman, not the FBI.
I had to search for flaws, as the book is so strong, and the flaws I did find were minor. For example, some of the counter-agencies overwhelmed the story with names. Also, if you don’t already know what northern Maryland looks like, this book isn’t going to help you, as the setting details aren’t lavish. The action scenes make up for it though. Dogs are the perfect monster. They, like zombies, are the familiar and beloved turned murderous. Dogs is entertaining and intelligent, with great characters you’ll remember after you put the book down.
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