Lobo- David Gordon Burke

It is rare that I struggle to put a book down, with Lobo I really let my life outside the book slip. I'm a slow reader- so my list of 'must do yesterday' got very long.
This is a well written book that oozes with the author's passion for his subject. The backdrop is the recent past of Monterrey, in Mexico, which like so many cities has deep divisions of class, income and expectation. The characters are deeply drawn, and well painted into the wide panorama over which I as the reader was made to feel I had an omnipresent view. The characters are as much the dogs as the people. Both species seem to almost mirror each other, except that the evil in the dogs is generally driven by man.
This is not a 'Four Paws into Adventure' (Claude Cénac), or another, often copied, 'The Incredible Journey' (Sheila Burnford) though the dog is the true star, and the quality of the story is as high. Lassie didn't live in Monterrey, in an often violent, all too real world, in which the real highs and lows of human character are displayed in all their vivid colours. Lassie couldn't have won many battles on Lobo's streets.
The copy I read had a smattering of typos, which is frustrating, but not because they spoil the read. They really don't. Rather, I'm frustrated, because DGB is such an excellent writer that achieving flawless just has to be so worthwhile. I love the rich descriptive style of writing that has so much to tell us about Mexico and its people whilst the plot steadily boils above.
I am a total fan of the first person narrative and so was totally absorbed by DGB's use of the form to write first person straight from the heads of nearly all his rich tapestry of characters. I particularly respect his writing because Burke has torn up the modern 'fashion' manual on writing in order to do his own thing. In the process he has produced a really good fact-based fiction book.
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