Reviewer: Terry
I received a review copy
Summary:
Boston police officer Cooper Harrison never thought he’d go back to his hometown, Harmony Farms. But when his faithful K-9 partner Argos is killed in the line of duty, Cooper, caught in a spiral of trauma and grief, has nowhere else to turn. Jobless and on the verge of divorce, he accepts a offer for the position of dog officer in Harmony Farms, leaving the life he spent twenty years building behind.
And so he finds himself back where he started. Where his father was once known as the town drunk and his brother outgrew juvenile delinquency to become a drug dealer. Where he grew up as ‘one of those’ Harrisons. Cooper does his job with deliberate detachment, refusing to get emotionally invested in another dog the way he had with Argos–until he finds himself rescuing a wounded and gun-shy yellow lab gone feral.
Cooper never thought he’d find himself going back in order to move forward, and yet Harmony Farms is the one place where Cooper must learn to forgive and, only then, heal. All with the help of a yellow dog.
Review:
I have rarely read a story written about a dog that I didn’t like, and The Dog Who Saved Me did not disappoint. Not one is it a wonderful story about dogs and one bruised and battered dog in particular. But it is also a story about a man swimming his way through years of pain and trouble to find a better way of life.
Cooper a K-9 cop suffering from a bust gone wrong in the worst way which leads him to agree to a year in his hometown as the local dog catcher; a year that allowed him to recover and grieve in ways that every person that suffers loss should be allowed. During his time home he unknowingly works through all his old wounds, troubles that have followed him since his youth and mends relationships.
The dog who parts a huge role in this book helps make this a story you can not help but fall in love with, but the story wouldn’t be complete without understanding and learning the roles that dogs play with broken people.
This was a beautifully written story in detail and emotion and was a treasure to read.
4.5 stars
