Dog Eat Dog | ||||||||||||
Jerry Jay Carroll | ||||||||||||
Ace Books, 304 pages | ||||||||||||
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A review by Victoria Strauss
In Top Dog, William "Bogey" Ingersoll, a bloodthirsty
corporate raider whose huge fortune has been made by gutting
businesses and putting thousands of people out of work, wakes up
one day in another world, transformed into a dog. It turns out
that he's been abducted by the wizard Zalzathar, the main
representative of Evil in the other world. Zalzathar's management
style, it seems, is a trifle inflexible, making it impossible for
him to win his ongoing war against the angel Helither, leader of
the forces of Good. Zalzathar wants Bogey's underhanded
strategizing skills so that he can turn the tables. Bogey, playing
both ends against the middle, is finally forced to make a moral
choice, helping Good to vanquish Evil yet again, and wrecking all
of Zalzathar's world-dominating plans.
When Dog Eat Dog opens, Bogey is back in his own body in his
own world, a changed man. He's given up corporate thuggery, made
his estate a home for stray dogs, and plans to give away his entire
fortune to worthy causes. But he doesn't get to enjoy this new
life for long. Zalzathar has followed him, and is now intent on
two things: getting revenge, and fighting on new turf the battle he
lost in his own world. To that end, he co-opts Bernie Soderbergh,
a fabulously wealthy tycoon even more rotten and ruthless than
Bogey used to be, and sets out to make him President of the United
States.
Once again, however, Zalzathar has underestimated Bogey -- who,
escaping Zalzathar's attempts on his life, sets out to destroy
Soderbergh's candidacy in the most logical way possible: by
supporting it. But Zalzathar still has a few tricks up his sleeve,
and Bogey is only human. And this time there may not be divine
intervention to save him...
Like Inhuman Beings, Dog Eat Dog is a bizarre
blending of themes and styles, combining over-the-top parody,
thriller-like suspense, and some pretty trenchant observations
about God, the universe, the nature of evil, and the psychology of
dogs. It's a delicate balancing act that constantly runs the
danger of descending into mere silliness. But Bogey's sardonic,
offhand narration, which makes a joke out of even the most chilling
moments, provides just the right note of amused distance, and binds
all the wild events together with a zany logic that's difficult to
recount but makes perfect sense while you're reading.
Carroll is a skillful writer, with a precise, bare-bones prose
style that packs as much story into a paragraph as other writers do
into several pages. He's a funny one, too. The book is full of
comic set-pieces and clever turns of phrase. "Plastic surgery had
given Mimi's face a molded look, as if to cut down on wind
resistance," Bogey says of a woman he encounters. And about
executives with an addiction to exercise: "They walked on
treadmills while doing three other things so that every moment was
crammed to the fullest." Yet there's considerable seriousness
here, layered beneath the humour and the throw-away lines. Angels
and others speak deeply about theology and metaphysics. And the
hilarious account of Bogey's nefarious "support" of Soderbergh is
also a clever skewering of the out-of-control political campaign
industry. (It makes perfect sense, actually. I wish someone would
try it for real.)
The problem with this kind of crazy soufflé of a story, of course,
is the ending. How do you wrap it all up in a satisfying way?
Carroll doesn't quite succeed -- things are resolved just a little
too quickly -- but he comes close. I don't know if Bogey will return
for a third installment (which would surely make for one of the
stranger fantasy trilogies ever written), but some room seems to be
left for that possibility. I hope it materializes.
Victoria Strauss is a novelist, and a lifelong reader of fantasy and science fiction. Her most recent fantasy novel, The Arm of the Stone, is currently available from Avon Eos. For an excerpt, visit her website. |
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