The blurb on the front of Top Dog comes from the San Francisco Chronicle and reads: If Kafka and Tolkien shared an office on Wall Street, this is the novel they might have written.
My reading of the book, however, makes me think instead that it’s a cross between The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and Lord Foul’s Bane. The hero, W. B. Bogey
Ingersol, a Wall Street raider awakes in the body of a dog in a fantasy world. The world has been at peace for generations, long enough for the fair residents of the idyllic countryside to forget the threat of Mogwert. But the animals haven’t forgotten and already sense that Mogwert is set to return. Bogey doesn’t exactly have a well-developed conscience. While he likes the good
people of Gowyith much better, he’s willing to throw in with Mogwert if he thinks they will win and will return him to the reality he knows. Of course, neither side is willing to promise him anything before the final battle. Who will Bogey ultimately side with, and will he side with them for the right reasons?
This is, I believe, the third time I’ve read the book. However, my memory of it was that it was quite a good book. But my re-reading places it further down in the pretty decent
category, mostly because of the over-done and over-clich&ecute; amoral person much choose between good and evil theme. The book works best when it stays breezy and slightly humorous, and focuses on the fish out of water story of Bogey in dog form. It’s pretty easy reading, and if you can ignore the very explicit Christian-mythos-like antagonists, you’ll enjoy the book.
Title: Top dog
Author: Jerry Jay Carroll
Imprint / publisher: Ace Books / Penguin Putnam
Format: Mass market paperback
Length: 330 p.
Publication date: 1998
ISBN-10: 0-441-00513-6
Subject: Dogs — Fiction
LC classification: PS3553.A7642 T66 1996
