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Dogs
A singular, devastating debut novel, Dogs traces the fallout of one catastrophic night in the lives of five high school wrestlers, asking what can survive in the blast radius of latent trauma and violence.
As night falls on the city of Carbon, Hal and his friends are cruising the backroads in their terrible car. From the wrestling gym to the gas station, from his mom’s kitchen to the mall parking lot, Hal bears quiet witness to the beauty and the horror he perceives in the slow, lonely world of his hometown.
Withdrawn and reticent, Hal is haunted by the specter of violence. Safety and comfort are hard won in Carbon, a town dogged by stories of desperation and brutality, and his own home is a dark vault of troubled and unspoken memory. Hal’s greatest peace is found in the company of his dearest friend, Cody John, whose true compassion offers him a window to a better life.
Over the course of a single night, a catastrophic chain of events is set into motion. Its devastating conclusion will explode the fragile balance that once kept the boys together. Unflinching, resolute and beautifully rendered, Dogs is a stunning exploration of trauma, real love, and the limit of our ability to reach one another.
As night falls on the city of Carbon, Hal and his friends are cruising the backroads in their terrible car. From the wrestling gym to the gas station, from his mom’s kitchen to the mall parking lot, Hal bears quiet witness to the beauty and the horror he perceives in the slow, lonely world of his hometown.
Withdrawn and reticent, Hal is haunted by the specter of violence. Safety and comfort are hard won in Carbon, a town dogged by stories of desperation and brutality, and his own home is a dark vault of troubled and unspoken memory. Hal’s greatest peace is found in the company of his dearest friend, Cody John, whose true compassion offers him a window to a better life.
Over the course of a single night, a catastrophic chain of events is set into motion. Its devastating conclusion will explode the fragile balance that once kept the boys together. Unflinching, resolute and beautifully rendered, Dogs is a stunning exploration of trauma, real love, and the limit of our ability to reach one another.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published August 12, 2025
63 people are currently reading
7951 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 104 reviews
March 11, 2025
✰ 2.75 stars ✰
I'm looking at the blurb that, honestly does not offer enough to prepare you for what is to come; providing deeper context of what was to come may have been too spoiler-y. Of how one singular action can spiral so out of control, without remorse or restraint or purpose featuring five high school wrestlers - 'my beautiful friends. So totally fucked up, and laughing, fantastic and frail, sacred, jaded, and ugly, and cruel' - who did not ever know that everything would change. 😢 There was some foreshadowing indicating of how 'the whole time it was coming apart under my hands.' Some things I was not quite prepared for, until, well, I re-read some of the praise mentioned earlier that hinted of the betrayal of life's most sacred relationships. I should have paid more attention. 😔
If I can do anything by being as vague as possible it would be to prepare yourself with the three P's.
Patience - There were a lot of creative writing techniques applied that perhaps some will struggle with - it certainly tested my will to continue. There is a reason I don't DNF, though; you just don't know when something may impact you in a way that you're still thinking about it. I don't know if having it as one long narrative sans quotation marks is an editing choice that will persist in the original release, but this long stream of conscience did make it a struggle at times to stay focused with the clipped sentences and lack of breaks in the sentence structure. 😥 I also had no viable indication of what year the story took place in either; all I can assume that it's a time when cell phones have not come yet, and Peanuts and The Simpsons are very much in the know - and Springsteen... So maybe, 70s or 80s... 🤷🏻♀️
“He didn’t let go of my hand. He closed the circuit. He took the tough pressure that I put out and he met me there.”
Pain - Heartbreak and heart wrenching - my heart was hurting so deeply - the agony and the angst - the apprehension of what was to come - it was a visceral ache that... Rereading the blurb, maybe I should have paid more attention to devastating and latent trauma - and most tragically - true love. 🥺 The savagery and brutality of humanity that rivals the innocence and tenderness of genuine affection misplaced by a harshness of not knowing how to react. I know it's vague, but the subtle glimpses of how the author built upon it. The raw and unflinching exploration of misplaced grief and haunting repressed emotions in exchange for just the briefest respite of kindness that could be in its own wake, a grave mistake... 💔😞
Please - Oh, I'm tearing up. 😣 Trigger warnings would definitely help, but I understand how it serves as a major spoiler and takes away from the full impact to be felt when it hits. But it just feels slightly better - knowing rather than being caught off-guard at how dark and disturbing and heartbreaking it was. 🥺 For it's that feeling that you wish things could have ended differently - that just one mistake could have resulted in such disastrous, life-changing results - that you just wish for one more chance to do things right. 'He kept my hand in his hand. He was really brave.' To hope that you could just wake up from this nightmare and it could all have been just a dream... If only - if only time could turn back and things would be different. 🙏🏻
“What he’d said with his blonde, hallowed hands. I didn’t need that in words. I knew it already.”
Tough Guy - the bravest and most loyal and compassionate of all Dogs. Hal - oh Hal... the patron saint of the bad dogs What can I say about you without painting you as a victim or the villain? The horror he had to carry - bury deep within - his traumatic relationship with his parents. Oh Cody John, what can I say about you that doesn't make me cry - oh damn, I am crying. 😭 I knew his heart, saying hello to my heart.' Such a beautiful, heartfelt friendship that --- Look, I did raise an eyebrow more often than not at some of the choice word phrases - deliberate by the author or simply a characterization of Hal's unstable or volatile unreliable mind - I can try and be forgiving.
For just the final eruption of it all - just this achingly tender love that deserved something more than --- I wanted to be more harsh with my criticism... But, it was what I saw as flaws, which made the ending tear my heart apart. 💔💔 That with those tender gestures that meant so much more, and how with just the parsing of words, my heart was crushed beyond words. And as a fair honest reader, I cannot overlook how the author captured those emotions in such a fierce manner.
“Tell me a word from another place.”
I know it is something I will most likely never re-read again. But, every time I glance at it in my shelves, the memory of it will certainly resurface. If I were to find a way to express my final thoughts, there is a line from Titanic that has stayed with me a lot; 'wait to die? wait to live? wait for an absolution that would never come.' ❤️🩹🤧
*Thank you to Edelweiss for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.
“He was the lone star. He was the best thing that I ever had.”
I'm looking at the blurb that, honestly does not offer enough to prepare you for what is to come; providing deeper context of what was to come may have been too spoiler-y. Of how one singular action can spiral so out of control, without remorse or restraint or purpose featuring five high school wrestlers - 'my beautiful friends. So totally fucked up, and laughing, fantastic and frail, sacred, jaded, and ugly, and cruel' - who did not ever know that everything would change. 😢 There was some foreshadowing indicating of how 'the whole time it was coming apart under my hands.' Some things I was not quite prepared for, until, well, I re-read some of the praise mentioned earlier that hinted of the betrayal of life's most sacred relationships. I should have paid more attention. 😔
If I can do anything by being as vague as possible it would be to prepare yourself with the three P's.
Patience - There were a lot of creative writing techniques applied that perhaps some will struggle with - it certainly tested my will to continue. There is a reason I don't DNF, though; you just don't know when something may impact you in a way that you're still thinking about it. I don't know if having it as one long narrative sans quotation marks is an editing choice that will persist in the original release, but this long stream of conscience did make it a struggle at times to stay focused with the clipped sentences and lack of breaks in the sentence structure. 😥 I also had no viable indication of what year the story took place in either; all I can assume that it's a time when cell phones have not come yet, and Peanuts and The Simpsons are very much in the know - and Springsteen... So maybe, 70s or 80s... 🤷🏻♀️
“He didn’t let go of my hand. He closed the circuit. He took the tough pressure that I put out and he met me there.”
Pain - Heartbreak and heart wrenching - my heart was hurting so deeply - the agony and the angst - the apprehension of what was to come - it was a visceral ache that... Rereading the blurb, maybe I should have paid more attention to devastating and latent trauma - and most tragically - true love. 🥺 The savagery and brutality of humanity that rivals the innocence and tenderness of genuine affection misplaced by a harshness of not knowing how to react. I know it's vague, but the subtle glimpses of how the author built upon it. The raw and unflinching exploration of misplaced grief and haunting repressed emotions in exchange for just the briefest respite of kindness that could be in its own wake, a grave mistake... 💔😞
Please - Oh, I'm tearing up. 😣 Trigger warnings would definitely help, but I understand how it serves as a major spoiler and takes away from the full impact to be felt when it hits. But it just feels slightly better - knowing rather than being caught off-guard at how dark and disturbing and heartbreaking it was. 🥺 For it's that feeling that you wish things could have ended differently - that just one mistake could have resulted in such disastrous, life-changing results - that you just wish for one more chance to do things right. 'He kept my hand in his hand. He was really brave.' To hope that you could just wake up from this nightmare and it could all have been just a dream... If only - if only time could turn back and things would be different. 🙏🏻
“What he’d said with his blonde, hallowed hands. I didn’t need that in words. I knew it already.”
Tough Guy - the bravest and most loyal and compassionate of all Dogs. Hal - oh Hal... the patron saint of the bad dogs What can I say about you without painting you as a victim or the villain? The horror he had to carry - bury deep within - his traumatic relationship with his parents. Oh Cody John, what can I say about you that doesn't make me cry - oh damn, I am crying. 😭 I knew his heart, saying hello to my heart.' Such a beautiful, heartfelt friendship that --- Look, I did raise an eyebrow more often than not at some of the choice word phrases - deliberate by the author or simply a characterization of Hal's unstable or volatile unreliable mind - I can try and be forgiving.
For just the final eruption of it all - just this achingly tender love that deserved something more than --- I wanted to be more harsh with my criticism... But, it was what I saw as flaws, which made the ending tear my heart apart. 💔💔 That with those tender gestures that meant so much more, and how with just the parsing of words, my heart was crushed beyond words. And as a fair honest reader, I cannot overlook how the author captured those emotions in such a fierce manner.
“Tell me a word from another place.”
I know it is something I will most likely never re-read again. But, every time I glance at it in my shelves, the memory of it will certainly resurface. If I were to find a way to express my final thoughts, there is a line from Titanic that has stayed with me a lot; 'wait to die? wait to live? wait for an absolution that would never come.' ❤️🩹🤧
*Thank you to Edelweiss for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.
October 10, 2024
the world is not ready!!!!!
August 24, 2025
I was left sitting in silence after finishing Dogs, with a heaviness in my chest I couldn’t shake. At just 200 pages, it’s a small novel, but one that will stay with me for a long time. I kept trying to put words to the feeling it left behind, but the closest I can come is this: it’s a devastating read.
The writing is raw, poetic, and haunting. A style that has always stood out to me. I’ve always enjoyed books that make you feel the characters’ burdens as if they’re your own, and this one does it ver well. The fragmented, lyrical prose mirrors the characters’ inner chaos, painting their turmoil so vividly that you can’t help but absorb the weight of their struggles.
This is not a story that offers easy answers or comforting solutions. Instead, we follow broken characters weighed down by confusion, pain, and the inability to escape themselves. It’s a book full of desperation and isolating sadness, with no catharsis and no tidy redemption to soften the blow. Even love, when it appears, is fractured and difficult to recognize. Yet that, too, feels like part of its strange beauty. It’s not just about what happens, but about how the story unfolds. The atmosphere Mallon creates with stark, tension-filled language is mesmerizing and relentless.
If I have one complaint, it’s that a few moments felt unfinished or too brief. Which left them slightly out of place in the flow of the narrative. These moments clearly shaped the character’s inner chaos in profound ways, and giving them more space would have allowed them to land with the same gravity for the readers as they did within the story.
It’s important to say this is not a book for everyone. It’s heavy, emotionally draining, and at times deeply unsettling. Some readers may find the bleakness overwhelming, especially since the story offers almost no resolution. This is one of those rare books that captures the quiet devastation of life we sometimes face. Where there’s no happy ending, no neat conclusion, only the relentless truth that life goes on, whether we’re ready or not.
Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for the ARC.
The writing is raw, poetic, and haunting. A style that has always stood out to me. I’ve always enjoyed books that make you feel the characters’ burdens as if they’re your own, and this one does it ver well. The fragmented, lyrical prose mirrors the characters’ inner chaos, painting their turmoil so vividly that you can’t help but absorb the weight of their struggles.
This is not a story that offers easy answers or comforting solutions. Instead, we follow broken characters weighed down by confusion, pain, and the inability to escape themselves. It’s a book full of desperation and isolating sadness, with no catharsis and no tidy redemption to soften the blow. Even love, when it appears, is fractured and difficult to recognize. Yet that, too, feels like part of its strange beauty. It’s not just about what happens, but about how the story unfolds. The atmosphere Mallon creates with stark, tension-filled language is mesmerizing and relentless.
If I have one complaint, it’s that a few moments felt unfinished or too brief. Which left them slightly out of place in the flow of the narrative. These moments clearly shaped the character’s inner chaos in profound ways, and giving them more space would have allowed them to land with the same gravity for the readers as they did within the story.
It’s important to say this is not a book for everyone. It’s heavy, emotionally draining, and at times deeply unsettling. Some readers may find the bleakness overwhelming, especially since the story offers almost no resolution. This is one of those rare books that captures the quiet devastation of life we sometimes face. Where there’s no happy ending, no neat conclusion, only the relentless truth that life goes on, whether we’re ready or not.
Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for the ARC.
August 12, 2025
Thank you Scribner Books for sending me a free advance copy!
I didn’t set out to read DOGS by C. Mallon in a day but that’s exactly what happened. To be fair, it’s not a long book, less than 200 pages. The writing style has no quotations for dialogue and the lack of chapters are things I got used to after awhile.
I went into the book knowing the story revolves around a teenage boy and how a night changed everything. Keeping that in mind, I was unsure for many pages where the author was going as I wasn’t strongly invested in the character. But then something knocked the wind out of me. From this point forward it’s an absolutely gut wrenching tale. As a reader, when I pick up a book I want to experience a wide range of emotions and this one put me thru the wringer. While I couldn’t bear to read this type of story on a regular basis, every so often I do need a novel that shakes me to my core. So yes, despite it being a tough read, I’m thankful I read it.
I didn’t set out to read DOGS by C. Mallon in a day but that’s exactly what happened. To be fair, it’s not a long book, less than 200 pages. The writing style has no quotations for dialogue and the lack of chapters are things I got used to after awhile.
I went into the book knowing the story revolves around a teenage boy and how a night changed everything. Keeping that in mind, I was unsure for many pages where the author was going as I wasn’t strongly invested in the character. But then something knocked the wind out of me. From this point forward it’s an absolutely gut wrenching tale. As a reader, when I pick up a book I want to experience a wide range of emotions and this one put me thru the wringer. While I couldn’t bear to read this type of story on a regular basis, every so often I do need a novel that shakes me to my core. So yes, despite it being a tough read, I’m thankful I read it.
April 1, 2025
This 193 page novel was nothing short of brilliant. WOW. The story takes place in a day. A group of high school wrestling friends driving around one nite. Hal and Cody John being two of the main characters. What unfolds is horrific, and quite shocking. I did not see this story going the path that it did, but again...WOW. The last 10 pages will leave you emotionally exhausted. This book must be read by everyone reading this review. You can read it in one sitting, and it will stay with you for a very long time. 5+ stars!!!!!
August 18, 2025
This book will be difficult to get through for some people both for writing style and content. I loved (strange word to use) all of it. A gut punch, a hypnotic fever dream and the best dog. Well written dogs make every book better. Always.
March 17, 2025
Wow—this book was a gut punch after gut punch. Despite its shorter length, Dogs is packed with raw emotion, making every page feel heavy with meaning. The writing style and narration reminded me of The Catcher in the Rye, with Hal recounting the traumas of his small town in an almost detached, matter-of-fact way. From the blurb, I knew something devastating was coming, but I wasn’t fully prepared for the sheer levels of trauma the story unpacks. By the time I reached the ending, I was seriously considering scheduling a therapy session.
While the book is short, I found the pacing slow at first. The absence of chapters and quotation marks for dialogue took some adjustment, but it wasn’t a deal-breaker. Some of my favorite authors use similar stylistic choices, and it has never stopped me from loving their work.
That said, I have a few strong recommendations before diving in. First, if you need trigger warnings, check them—this book doesn’t hold back. Second, make sure you’re in the right mental space before reading. Dogs is not a happy book. There are no moments of reprieve, no silver linings. It is hauntingly beautiful, but it will devastate you. If you’re looking for a novel that will emotionally wreck you and linger in your thoughts long after the last page, Dogs is it.
I’ll be reflecting on this one for a long time.
Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for the free eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
While the book is short, I found the pacing slow at first. The absence of chapters and quotation marks for dialogue took some adjustment, but it wasn’t a deal-breaker. Some of my favorite authors use similar stylistic choices, and it has never stopped me from loving their work.
That said, I have a few strong recommendations before diving in. First, if you need trigger warnings, check them—this book doesn’t hold back. Second, make sure you’re in the right mental space before reading. Dogs is not a happy book. There are no moments of reprieve, no silver linings. It is hauntingly beautiful, but it will devastate you. If you’re looking for a novel that will emotionally wreck you and linger in your thoughts long after the last page, Dogs is it.
I’ll be reflecting on this one for a long time.
Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for the free eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
April 23, 2025
2.5⭐️
DNF @ 30%.
I hate that I seem to be in the minority for this one, but I just could not get into this.
While I see other people's points about how darkly emotional this book is, I failed to connect with any of the characters. It didn't help that the first anecdote was about Dylan and getting his car: why do I care? I don't.
Also, this is a nitpick: I detest the format of how this book was written. No paragraph separation, no quotations; it just does not please my eyes.
Very thankful to have been given the opportunity to read this ARC, but sadly I couldn't resonate. I hope to read something else from this author in the future...
DNF @ 30%.
I hate that I seem to be in the minority for this one, but I just could not get into this.
While I see other people's points about how darkly emotional this book is, I failed to connect with any of the characters. It didn't help that the first anecdote was about Dylan and getting his car: why do I care? I don't.
Also, this is a nitpick: I detest the format of how this book was written. No paragraph separation, no quotations; it just does not please my eyes.
Very thankful to have been given the opportunity to read this ARC, but sadly I couldn't resonate. I hope to read something else from this author in the future...
September 2, 2025
tl;dr dogs reads like a hoarse, visceral scream of anguish, its prose cascading, gushing bloodlike and thrillingly alive with violence, cruelty, the tug of good versus evil, and the wearying endurance required of mere existence
Midway through Dogs, five high school wrestlers Hal, Cody John, Zachary, Carter, and Dylan pile into a beat up sedan. Hal drives and requests that Cody John put on a Pavement tape. “Silence Kid” is the track that opens that particular record. Its first stanza goes:
Silent kid, no one to remind you
You got no heel, no reels to remind you
Silent kid, don't take your pawn shop
Home on the road, goddamn you
Silent kid, don't lose your graceful tongue
This, more than Hal’s favorite Bruce Springsteen, I think embodies the central tenet of C. Mallon’s stunningly harrowing debut novel Dogs, a compact picaresque of a fateful night. With graceful tongue, Hal negotiates his past, his, present, and most terrifyingly, his future, in an oppressive nowhere town.
The setting of Carbon is laid out through a series of violent episodes via Hal’s matter-of-factly sad recollections. The first we hear is that of Styrofoam Bob, the man from whom Hal’s friend group purchases the beat up car that would change all of their lives. Hal’s version of this story is deeply disturbing and sad – the way he depicts Bob is with great sympathy, a deeply aching pity. In a single long, unbroken paragraph we learn of how Bob got ahold of the car in the first place (taken advantage of), the incident that led to his mother forcing him to sell the car, and the moment that Dylan, the leader of the friend group, picks up the car. If it was a short story, it would be one of the best I’ve ever read: the ending especially sent chills down my spine. The distinct horror of being misunderstood. The way Hal tells it, I was horrified, sad. But he mentions that Dylan had retold the story some “forty times”, each time ending with laughter (p. 11). I couldn’t ever imagine finding that story funny.
The rest of Dogs is laid out in identical fashion to that first ten pages. Every chapter is an unbroken wall of text, with dialogue lacking quotation marks. This structure enhances C. Mallon’s prose: a rush, a cascade, of Cormac McCarthy-esque sentences that blend the spare and the poetic. Frequently, fragments of sentences feel like they dangle. Other sentences repeat their structure or themselves outright, a hypnotic rhythm redolent of Bullwinkel’s Headshot:
I liken the experience of reading Dogs to riding in the backseat of a car, driven by a crazy person, and realizing that your life is out of your hands, and you can only watch as the speedometer leans further and further to the right. This prose is so propulsive, so exciting, and so incredibly human. It’s the stuff of being alive, much like the town's name itself.
Though Dogs takes place over a night, much of Hal’s narration obsesses over the past, the aforementioned worldbuilding-via-violence. It’s a hell of a way to establish tone (this reminded me a lot of the harrowing film Snowtown), and also helps us to understand how each of the boys represents a different way of navigating such an oppressive living situation. Dylan is the leader, gets everything he wants. Zachary is self-conscious about his body image, but wants to be a lot like Dylan; is Dylan’s shotgun rider. Carter is Zachary’s cousin, softspoken, wary of danger, and prefers to ride in the trunk of the car. Then, Cody John, to whom Hal is closest; the “most loved” of the group, not prone to violence himself, and sees the good in Hal. The boys are an organism, but each of them are memorably distinct.
Then of course, Hal himself. Though Hal clearly demonstrates some capability for pathos towards others, he is also capable of horrible acts of violence. There is a push and pull between what is good and what is evil in this novel. What C. Mallon seems to say through Hal’s journey is that there is an inherent good in people ruined by circumstance, and/or by evils done unto others, which then get passed on. There also of course having to navigate the world as a teenage boy. The performance of maleness, of masculinity, is a disease, especially for young boys. Hal basically decides that it’s just how it is; with no role model to understand what it means to feel, he concludes:
Dogs is not for the feint-of-heart. We experience back-to-back violence, which for many will likely be excessive. I think there was something cathartic in its sense of destruction. Dogs is confrontational, raw, but still so full of heart. I hated my time with these boys in Carbon, but I’m also so grateful for it. Between the never-stopping text and difficult subject matter, C. Mallon’s blistering novel is somewhat of endurance test. It was also a thrilling ride through the ups and downs of being human that I couldn’t get enough of.
I figured when people didn’t do what they most probably ought to have done it was shame. Ratchet strap tightened to quiet their limbs and hands. I had a lot of shame. (62)
Midway through Dogs, five high school wrestlers Hal, Cody John, Zachary, Carter, and Dylan pile into a beat up sedan. Hal drives and requests that Cody John put on a Pavement tape. “Silence Kid” is the track that opens that particular record. Its first stanza goes:
Silent kid, no one to remind you
You got no heel, no reels to remind you
Silent kid, don't take your pawn shop
Home on the road, goddamn you
Silent kid, don't lose your graceful tongue
This, more than Hal’s favorite Bruce Springsteen, I think embodies the central tenet of C. Mallon’s stunningly harrowing debut novel Dogs, a compact picaresque of a fateful night. With graceful tongue, Hal negotiates his past, his, present, and most terrifyingly, his future, in an oppressive nowhere town.
The setting of Carbon is laid out through a series of violent episodes via Hal’s matter-of-factly sad recollections. The first we hear is that of Styrofoam Bob, the man from whom Hal’s friend group purchases the beat up car that would change all of their lives. Hal’s version of this story is deeply disturbing and sad – the way he depicts Bob is with great sympathy, a deeply aching pity. In a single long, unbroken paragraph we learn of how Bob got ahold of the car in the first place (taken advantage of), the incident that led to his mother forcing him to sell the car, and the moment that Dylan, the leader of the friend group, picks up the car. If it was a short story, it would be one of the best I’ve ever read: the ending especially sent chills down my spine. The distinct horror of being misunderstood. The way Hal tells it, I was horrified, sad. But he mentions that Dylan had retold the story some “forty times”, each time ending with laughter (p. 11). I couldn’t ever imagine finding that story funny.
The rest of Dogs is laid out in identical fashion to that first ten pages. Every chapter is an unbroken wall of text, with dialogue lacking quotation marks. This structure enhances C. Mallon’s prose: a rush, a cascade, of Cormac McCarthy-esque sentences that blend the spare and the poetic. Frequently, fragments of sentences feel like they dangle. Other sentences repeat their structure or themselves outright, a hypnotic rhythm redolent of Bullwinkel’s Headshot:
The strip miners gutted the mountain a long while back. They’d wanted iron ore. They’d wanted diamonds. They didn’t ever find anything. A lot of them died for the seams of coal and copper holding out in the hard pressure of the earth. I could feel the metal in the dirt holding my weight up. I could feel all of the force we struck down with. I could feel all of the force that hit back. (p. 114)
I liken the experience of reading Dogs to riding in the backseat of a car, driven by a crazy person, and realizing that your life is out of your hands, and you can only watch as the speedometer leans further and further to the right. This prose is so propulsive, so exciting, and so incredibly human. It’s the stuff of being alive, much like the town's name itself.
Though Dogs takes place over a night, much of Hal’s narration obsesses over the past, the aforementioned worldbuilding-via-violence. It’s a hell of a way to establish tone (this reminded me a lot of the harrowing film Snowtown), and also helps us to understand how each of the boys represents a different way of navigating such an oppressive living situation. Dylan is the leader, gets everything he wants. Zachary is self-conscious about his body image, but wants to be a lot like Dylan; is Dylan’s shotgun rider. Carter is Zachary’s cousin, softspoken, wary of danger, and prefers to ride in the trunk of the car. Then, Cody John, to whom Hal is closest; the “most loved” of the group, not prone to violence himself, and sees the good in Hal. The boys are an organism, but each of them are memorably distinct.
Then of course, Hal himself. Though Hal clearly demonstrates some capability for pathos towards others, he is also capable of horrible acts of violence. There is a push and pull between what is good and what is evil in this novel. What C. Mallon seems to say through Hal’s journey is that there is an inherent good in people ruined by circumstance, and/or by evils done unto others, which then get passed on. There also of course having to navigate the world as a teenage boy. The performance of maleness, of masculinity, is a disease, especially for young boys. Hal basically decides that it’s just how it is; with no role model to understand what it means to feel, he concludes:
There was something really unpleasant about anything that ever got me to feel good. I figured getting around to being a man was all about refusing to let the bad part throw you off. Getting around to being a man was all about letting it hurt you. All that you had to do was take it. (p. 125)
Dogs is not for the feint-of-heart. We experience back-to-back violence, which for many will likely be excessive. I think there was something cathartic in its sense of destruction. Dogs is confrontational, raw, but still so full of heart. I hated my time with these boys in Carbon, but I’m also so grateful for it. Between the never-stopping text and difficult subject matter, C. Mallon’s blistering novel is somewhat of endurance test. It was also a thrilling ride through the ups and downs of being human that I couldn’t get enough of.
September 9, 2025
Rep: gay mc
CWs: drug use, self harm, child sexual abyse, incest, death/injury in car accident
ok i had to come back and readjust my rating and write something more of a review because i spent like an hour pissed off about this book on finishing it. originally 2 stars, now down to 1 star.
i am not opposed to reading tragic narratives by any means but, personally, i prefer my tragedies one of two ways: capital-t Tragedies or narratives which are mostly tragic but have a glimmer of hope at the ending. this was neither. about halfway through, when i was feeling this would max out at 3 stars and whether that happened was entirely dependent on the ending, i went to look up reviews and i saw a comp to a little life. now, had i seen this beforehand, i would not have read this one. i would have saved myself. but it was less than 100 ebook pages and i was most of the way through, so i figured i'd finish (more fool me!).
i said originally ymmv on this but i just found this one unrelentingly miserable and bleak. judging by the blurb you might think that it's a book that starts with the car crash and continues through the aftermath but this is not the case. i can't really say this next bit without spoilers so. so you might begin to see what i mean by unrelentingly miserable.
would it, for example, have been so hard to have just the tiniest glimmer of hope at the end? just a hint that maybe everything hadn't been ruined for them? apparently so. it was that ending, that lack of anything optimistic, that ultimately led me to rate this one a single star. again, i point you back to "ymmv". my mileage was pretty short.
CWs: drug use, self harm, child sexual abyse, incest, death/injury in car accident
ok i had to come back and readjust my rating and write something more of a review because i spent like an hour pissed off about this book on finishing it. originally 2 stars, now down to 1 star.
i am not opposed to reading tragic narratives by any means but, personally, i prefer my tragedies one of two ways: capital-t Tragedies or narratives which are mostly tragic but have a glimmer of hope at the ending. this was neither. about halfway through, when i was feeling this would max out at 3 stars and whether that happened was entirely dependent on the ending, i went to look up reviews and i saw a comp to a little life. now, had i seen this beforehand, i would not have read this one. i would have saved myself. but it was less than 100 ebook pages and i was most of the way through, so i figured i'd finish (more fool me!).
i said originally ymmv on this but i just found this one unrelentingly miserable and bleak. judging by the blurb you might think that it's a book that starts with the car crash and continues through the aftermath but this is not the case. i can't really say this next bit without spoilers so. so you might begin to see what i mean by unrelentingly miserable.
would it, for example, have been so hard to have just the tiniest glimmer of hope at the end? just a hint that maybe everything hadn't been ruined for them? apparently so. it was that ending, that lack of anything optimistic, that ultimately led me to rate this one a single star. again, i point you back to "ymmv". my mileage was pretty short.
August 9, 2025
Dogs by C Mallon. Thanks to @scribnerbooks for the gifted Arc ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Within a single night, Hal and his friends cruise the roads. Hal is haunted by a past of violence.
This is a heartbreaking story and the hits just keep coming and coming while you’re reading it, similar to A Little Life but packed into 200 pages. The writing style is difficult at first but once you get into it it flows better; don’t be put off by it at first, give it some time. Make sure you have the emotional bandwidth for this one before reading.
“I figured getting around to being a man was all about refusing to let the bad parts throw you off. Getting around to being a man was all about letting it hurt you. All that you had to do was take it.”
Dogs comes out 8/12.
Within a single night, Hal and his friends cruise the roads. Hal is haunted by a past of violence.
This is a heartbreaking story and the hits just keep coming and coming while you’re reading it, similar to A Little Life but packed into 200 pages. The writing style is difficult at first but once you get into it it flows better; don’t be put off by it at first, give it some time. Make sure you have the emotional bandwidth for this one before reading.
“I figured getting around to being a man was all about refusing to let the bad parts throw you off. Getting around to being a man was all about letting it hurt you. All that you had to do was take it.”
Dogs comes out 8/12.
July 23, 2025
Hit me in ways A Little Life tried and failed to do
March 17, 2025
4.5
RAW and TRAGIC!
RAW and TRAGIC!
August 3, 2025
This is a story that follows Hal. He is grappling with traumatic events that happened to him in childhood, which slowly gets revealed as the book progresses.
The writing style made it difficult for me to feel attached to the characters. The entire book is written essentially as one long paragraph, and there is very little punctuation to separate dialogue. Stream of consciousness writing isn’t my favorite, but I got used to Hal’s voice about halfway through.
I will say that the writing on a sentence level was poetic and i could feel the momentum and pulse of the story.
This was not an “enjoyable” read by any means— the events in the story are tragic. However, my interest in this did pick up once the distance between me, the reader, and Hal narrowed & i understood him.
Content warnings: incest, child abuse, drug use
Thank you Scribner for the advanced reader copy!
The writing style made it difficult for me to feel attached to the characters. The entire book is written essentially as one long paragraph, and there is very little punctuation to separate dialogue. Stream of consciousness writing isn’t my favorite, but I got used to Hal’s voice about halfway through.
I will say that the writing on a sentence level was poetic and i could feel the momentum and pulse of the story.
This was not an “enjoyable” read by any means— the events in the story are tragic. However, my interest in this did pick up once the distance between me, the reader, and Hal narrowed & i understood him.
Content warnings: incest, child abuse, drug use
Thank you Scribner for the advanced reader copy!
August 29, 2025
I find hope in knowing there are authors like this in the world, willing to take the risks to give these stories life. Like many others, I was devastated by this book. It left me in tears long after the final page. The language really drove the story. It's unique and powerful poetic narrative is so immersive. It burrows under your skin. It makes it difficult to breathe. The sheer intesity and relentless nature of this story makes the small moments of compassion that much more impactful.
Kindness and suffering, pain and mercy. This book is a tight rope walk across the thin line that separates us and dares you to reach across the divide and take that hand. I'm so glad I happened across this book. I don't think it's a coincidence that it found me.
Kindness and suffering, pain and mercy. This book is a tight rope walk across the thin line that separates us and dares you to reach across the divide and take that hand. I'm so glad I happened across this book. I don't think it's a coincidence that it found me.
August 28, 2025
A portal to hell, a portal to paradise - the best debut I’ve read this decade
March 6, 2025
I’m not even really sure where to begin. This book is absolutely gut wrenching and it broke my heart about a million times. I think I loved it? I might still be too close to the material to form a coherent thought about my feelings regarding the story itself. I honestly don’t think I should say anything about that anyway, it’s something you really should read for yourself.
But what I can say is that the writing is absolutely beautiful, I fell right into it from the very first page. I knew right away that I was in expert hands and that the author knew exactly what they were doing. I especially loved the ways we learned about each character through Hal’s eyes. The way he sees the world is so unique and with such a strong sense of empathy that he has absolutely no idea what to do with. Hal’s observations of the small habits and details of his friends and the world around him made everything feel so real and visceral.
An example of this attention to detail that hit me particularly strongly for some reason was Hal’s observation of one of his friend’s (Dylan’s) habit of hitting his nails. I was struck by his noting not only that Dylan bit his nails, but how severely he did it. It was a small detail, but it showed the depth of his awareness of those around him. Everything was illustrated vividly, and the prose felt poetic without being pretentious. There was an artfulness to the way the sentences were crafted, getting the author’s voice without the cost of losing the narrator’s, it was a masterful balance and made for a great reading experience. I fully intend to read any future work from this author.
My only issue with the style of the writing, and the reason I didn’t give this book 5 stars, was the formatting. There were no paragraph breaks except between the major scenes, and no grammatical indications of dialogue, which made the text visually difficult to read. It did feel like a distinct and intentional stylistic choice that made sense to reflect the mind state and thought process of the narrator, and it was certainly very effective in that regard, but, from an accessibility standpoint, it was less than ideal.
I should also say, without getting into the details of the story, that this book is not for the faint of heart. When you sit down to read this you need to be ready to cry, it will be inevitable.
This story is going to stick with me for a long time, I’m certain that I will be thinking about it for years to come, and I look forward to any future titles from this author!
Also, the cover is beautiful! The art, the typeface (I’m a bit of a nerd about fonts), and the layout all work so well together. It’s incredibly visually appealing and it feels just like the story it represents.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc. All thoughts are my own.
But what I can say is that the writing is absolutely beautiful, I fell right into it from the very first page. I knew right away that I was in expert hands and that the author knew exactly what they were doing. I especially loved the ways we learned about each character through Hal’s eyes. The way he sees the world is so unique and with such a strong sense of empathy that he has absolutely no idea what to do with. Hal’s observations of the small habits and details of his friends and the world around him made everything feel so real and visceral.
An example of this attention to detail that hit me particularly strongly for some reason was Hal’s observation of one of his friend’s (Dylan’s) habit of hitting his nails. I was struck by his noting not only that Dylan bit his nails, but how severely he did it. It was a small detail, but it showed the depth of his awareness of those around him. Everything was illustrated vividly, and the prose felt poetic without being pretentious. There was an artfulness to the way the sentences were crafted, getting the author’s voice without the cost of losing the narrator’s, it was a masterful balance and made for a great reading experience. I fully intend to read any future work from this author.
My only issue with the style of the writing, and the reason I didn’t give this book 5 stars, was the formatting. There were no paragraph breaks except between the major scenes, and no grammatical indications of dialogue, which made the text visually difficult to read. It did feel like a distinct and intentional stylistic choice that made sense to reflect the mind state and thought process of the narrator, and it was certainly very effective in that regard, but, from an accessibility standpoint, it was less than ideal.
I should also say, without getting into the details of the story, that this book is not for the faint of heart. When you sit down to read this you need to be ready to cry, it will be inevitable.
This story is going to stick with me for a long time, I’m certain that I will be thinking about it for years to come, and I look forward to any future titles from this author!
Also, the cover is beautiful! The art, the typeface (I’m a bit of a nerd about fonts), and the layout all work so well together. It’s incredibly visually appealing and it feels just like the story it represents.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc. All thoughts are my own.
September 9, 2025
This is going to be an unpopular opinion and I usually don't mind trauma heavy reads. In fact, I loved A Little Life but what was lacking for me here was a storyline. I felt like this was just trauma without a cause. It came across as 'how much trauma can we cram into 200 pages?' I also felt the prose was trying to hard to compensate for that. There just wasn't enough depth and substance here to support whatever it was the author was trying to convey. I didn't feel connected to any of these characters on an emotional level to have any empathy and just wanted it to be over.
August 19, 2025
“I couldn’t look at him once we quit holding each other. The coming apart was so much more complicated than the coming together.” …oh okay so i’m abt to get destroyed huh 😀
Dogs is like if The Outsiders (1983) met A Little Life then crossed over with Fight Club, in all the best possible ways—but it’s also it’s own precious thing. C. Mallon is an artist with language, & i was annotating like mad. hal verbalized the unspeakable in so much nuance & it crushed me. i will mourn these five boys & their story for a long time, & the grace & sharpness of the writing made it all so grossly, beautifully real & possible. a new favorite book.
Dogs is like if The Outsiders (1983) met A Little Life then crossed over with Fight Club, in all the best possible ways—but it’s also it’s own precious thing. C. Mallon is an artist with language, & i was annotating like mad. hal verbalized the unspeakable in so much nuance & it crushed me. i will mourn these five boys & their story for a long time, & the grace & sharpness of the writing made it all so grossly, beautifully real & possible. a new favorite book.
August 14, 2025
I need 3-5 business days to recover. That last 25% had me in tears. It starts off slow but stick with it. And definitely check trigger warnings!
July 12, 2025
I hate to be in the minority, but I really did not enjoy Dogs. All I knew going into it was that “Dogs traces the fallout of one catastrophic night in the lives of five high school wrestlers.” Every little moment set me on edge waiting for the night to turn “catastrophic.” From running a stop sign, to just the act of smoking a cigarette in a car that seemed like it was written to explode. But the night also seemed like a typical one for these kids.
I was fine with all of this and the writing style, until I came upon a sentence that started “Laminar flow set to foam on the tarmac…” This really annoyed since it was being poetic and cinematic for the sake of it and is clearly just the wrong use of laminar flow (I am a fluid dynamic physicist).
I really don’t understand why authors use words they don’t understand the meaning of. This sentence was emblematic of the book as a whole. He could have still been poetic and written something along the lines of, “Runoff foamed on the tarmac, sloughed down through the storm drain, and breached the low creek bed.” Why use terms you don’t know the meaning of?
I love this style, but it felt forced due to misuse of words, such as when he compared the flavor of a drink to both saltwater and heavy cream. Well which is it?! Those taste nothing alike!!
The “catastrophic” event finally happened at 73% of the way in, and I couldn’t have cared less.
I am sorry that this was not my cup of tea. I also did not mind that the dialogue was never technically spoken, but the constant “he said” or this person “said” got frustrating. Isn’t there another word for “said?” Maybe “uttered” or “exclaimed?” Anything?
Thank you to C. Mallon, NetGalley, Scribner, and Simon & Schuster for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I was fine with all of this and the writing style, until I came upon a sentence that started “Laminar flow set to foam on the tarmac…” This really annoyed since it was being poetic and cinematic for the sake of it and is clearly just the wrong use of laminar flow (I am a fluid dynamic physicist).
I really don’t understand why authors use words they don’t understand the meaning of. This sentence was emblematic of the book as a whole. He could have still been poetic and written something along the lines of, “Runoff foamed on the tarmac, sloughed down through the storm drain, and breached the low creek bed.” Why use terms you don’t know the meaning of?
I love this style, but it felt forced due to misuse of words, such as when he compared the flavor of a drink to both saltwater and heavy cream. Well which is it?! Those taste nothing alike!!
The “catastrophic” event finally happened at 73% of the way in, and I couldn’t have cared less.
I am sorry that this was not my cup of tea. I also did not mind that the dialogue was never technically spoken, but the constant “he said” or this person “said” got frustrating. Isn’t there another word for “said?” Maybe “uttered” or “exclaimed?” Anything?
Thank you to C. Mallon, NetGalley, Scribner, and Simon & Schuster for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
May 5, 2025
Succinct. Compulsively readable. Expert poetic timing page after page. This book is for you if you enjoy a greasy backroads gas station sort of feel to your body once you close a book. Or if you eat lime green jello with whipped cream from a spray can.
June 30, 2025
Incredibly raw and tragic but I loved the writing
August 2, 2025
One of the best books I read this year. Looking forward to new books by C. Mallon!
Raw and powerful storytelling
Raw and powerful storytelling
April 24, 2025
2.5 rounding up.
Thanks to NetGalley for the free E-ARC.
I think this had a lot of potential but ultimately I had a hard time connecting due to the writing style and format. It read like slam poetry.
Overall, this was incredibly dark and sad but lacked any emotional response from me.
Thanks to NetGalley for the free E-ARC.
I think this had a lot of potential but ultimately I had a hard time connecting due to the writing style and format. It read like slam poetry.
Overall, this was incredibly dark and sad but lacked any emotional response from me.
August 12, 2025
4.5⭐️
Thanks to Scribner for the gifted copy!
Well, now I understand why the publisher included a few packets of tissues in the mailer when they sent me this book. Ouch.
For such a short book, I was able to feel so much for these characters. This group of boys is rough around the edges and yet often tender with one another in a way that I found surprising. They seemed to genuinely care for each other and expressed that in ways you wouldn’t normally expect from high school boys.
This is written in an extreme stream-of-consciousness style, with the language often being quite poetic. Being in Hal’s head in this way allowed me to really connect with him, and I could feel the rawness of his pain.
The structure was a little tough for me with no chapters, quotation marks, or even paragraphs. It may just be an ADHD thing, but it made me feel like I wasn’t making much progress as I read, and I felt more susceptible to distraction.
After I finished this, I swear I just stared at the wall for a few minutes. I don’t know how I feel about the ending. I usually am a loud proponent for sad and messy endings because I find them more realistic, but this was just so brutal, and I wanted more for Hal. I think it makes sense, and I don’t think the author did anything wrong or made a bad choice here; it’s really just me wishing for justice for him.
Go into this with tissues nearby, and if you’re someone who ever needs to check trigger warnings, absolutely do that for this one.
Thanks to Scribner for the gifted copy!
Well, now I understand why the publisher included a few packets of tissues in the mailer when they sent me this book. Ouch.
For such a short book, I was able to feel so much for these characters. This group of boys is rough around the edges and yet often tender with one another in a way that I found surprising. They seemed to genuinely care for each other and expressed that in ways you wouldn’t normally expect from high school boys.
This is written in an extreme stream-of-consciousness style, with the language often being quite poetic. Being in Hal’s head in this way allowed me to really connect with him, and I could feel the rawness of his pain.
The structure was a little tough for me with no chapters, quotation marks, or even paragraphs. It may just be an ADHD thing, but it made me feel like I wasn’t making much progress as I read, and I felt more susceptible to distraction.
After I finished this, I swear I just stared at the wall for a few minutes. I don’t know how I feel about the ending. I usually am a loud proponent for sad and messy endings because I find them more realistic, but this was just so brutal, and I wanted more for Hal. I think it makes sense, and I don’t think the author did anything wrong or made a bad choice here; it’s really just me wishing for justice for him.
Go into this with tissues nearby, and if you’re someone who ever needs to check trigger warnings, absolutely do that for this one.
September 10, 2025
I’ll be taking a deep breath and wiping away the tears I can’t stop crying after finishing this book. I think it’s definitely obvious that this book won’t be for every reader, but that’s how all books are, right? There were some heavy, intense topics that left me shocked to the core. Maybe that’s why I enjoyed it so much. Pulling any kind of emotion out of me, when I’m normally reading for vibes, makes me fall harder for the story. I expected a group of high school wrestlers acting like fools and getting in trouble… but then comes the childhood trauma and the ripples that slowly hit them all like a tsunami.
Dogs was a very quick read, so it’s mind-boggling that I felt so much while reading it. Just remember that if/when you do pick it up, be forewarned that the topics are heavy and you may end up bawling your eyes out like me. 🫠
Dogs was a very quick read, so it’s mind-boggling that I felt so much while reading it. Just remember that if/when you do pick it up, be forewarned that the topics are heavy and you may end up bawling your eyes out like me. 🫠
August 18, 2025
Be careful dipping your toes into this one because you’ll quickly find yourself fully immersed in a brutal yet tender story of one catastrophic day in the lives of five teenage wrestlers. This was a quick read, under 200 pages, but there is so much raw beauty and pain packed into these pages that I found myself alternating between rereading passages in awe of the writing but also desperately wanting to look away. This book is not going to be for the most sensitive readers, but I found it to be a truly unique perspective that was not gratuitous in its dark subject matter.
Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for the opportunity to be an early reader of this title!
Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for the opportunity to be an early reader of this title!
August 7, 2025
Mini Book Review: Thank you Scribner for the complimentary copy of the book!
This book was rough to get through. I grabbed it as a pool book thinking oh it's under 200 pages and should be a breeze to read. Until I actually opened the book and realized quickly that there was no quotations, not many paragraph breaks, no chapters. So that was a major turn off.
The writing style was just not for me. I was waiting for this big thing to happen and things didn't start to get interesting until about 130-140 pages in. Only then I finally got invested in the story. I did really feel for Hal. His story was heartbreaking which makes this all more frustrating for me. I think I could've liked it and perhaps if the format was different my feelings would change? It really just made the whole thing challenging. I ended up skimming the last small chunk of it just to be done.
And the ending? I need someone who is much smarter than me to talk to me about the ending because I was left confused.
The best character was the dog Tough Guy.
This book was not for me but it may be for you.
This book was rough to get through. I grabbed it as a pool book thinking oh it's under 200 pages and should be a breeze to read. Until I actually opened the book and realized quickly that there was no quotations, not many paragraph breaks, no chapters. So that was a major turn off.
The writing style was just not for me. I was waiting for this big thing to happen and things didn't start to get interesting until about 130-140 pages in. Only then I finally got invested in the story. I did really feel for Hal. His story was heartbreaking which makes this all more frustrating for me. I think I could've liked it and perhaps if the format was different my feelings would change? It really just made the whole thing challenging. I ended up skimming the last small chunk of it just to be done.
And the ending? I need someone who is much smarter than me to talk to me about the ending because I was left confused.
The best character was the dog Tough Guy.
This book was not for me but it may be for you.
August 14, 2025
Whew, this was dark. The story dives deep into sensitive, heavy topics, but the prose is stunning…lyrical and haunting in equal measure. Over the course of one catastrophic night, secrets are unearthed and lives are shattered. Mallon captures how trauma reshapes us, warping friendships, families, and the very things we hold dear. At just 200 pages, it delivers a brutal, unforgettable punch.
!CHECK TWS!
!CHECK TWS!
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