Imagine a cool, brisk fall day. You’re out for a pleasant stroll with your little Chihuahua, Heinrich (yes, I like a good juxtaposition when naming animals). He sniffs the air suspiciously, then begins to bark incessantly and act strange. You say, “That’s nothing new for the breed,” but then old Heinrich turns on you, his eyes obscured with a milky film, and suddenly he moves to bite the hand that feeds him.
Welcome to the world of DOGS, as created by author Nancy Kress, in which it’s not just little Heinrich going crazy, but also the Great Dane Jesus down the street and the Irish setter Ali — it’s a full-blown canine plague. Most of the dogs in the small Maryland town of Tyler have turned on their owners with little or no warning. (Even now as I write, I sneak a peak at my Lab/basset hound mix, he seems to be watching… and waiting.
As the dog plague progresses through Tyler, FEMA slams in, bringing the CDC. A full quarantine walls in the town. The story transforms into individual tales of lost loved ones, love for one’s pet bordering on obsession, a kid protecting his pooch and an overworked animal control officer named Jess Langstrom. He’s been ordered to round up every mutt in town, going door to door, taking them from their owners by force when necessary, leading some folks to respond as if it were a governmental gun grab, “You can pry my poodle from my cold dead hands.”
Recent Tyler transplant and ex-FBI agent Tessa Sanderson tries to protect her dog as she begins to receive cryptic e-mails hinting toward the disaster building in town. As a former member of the FBI’s domestic terrorism unit, Tessa reaches out to the agency for help, but is rebuffed. She begins a loan campaign to get to the heart of the problem and stop the plague. This takes her out of Tyler and out of the country as she closes in on the source of all her problems.
The most interesting aspect to the story was the reaction by the locals to both the loss of their animals and the threat their loving pets had become. There was a lot of interplay between people who had been victimized by dogs and wanted the government to kill them all (infected or not) and those who loved their animals like their kids and would do anything to protect them.
All these folks locked up in a small town with wild, vicious packs of plague-ridden dogs running loose — that’s where I got my thrills. When Tessa leaves town on her hunt, I wanted her to get back to Tyler so I could see the breakdown of society over man’s best friend. The domestic/international terrorism angle didn’t thrill me half as much.
By and large, DOGS is a good read and an interesting look at how connected we people are to our pets. As I sneak another suspicious peek at mine, he just rolls over and farts; maybe the plague wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all. —Bart Brunscheen
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
The plot is quite uncommon. However I wouldn’t like to see such a film
The movies never as good as the book anyway.
Sounds like The Birds. Except with dogs.