Hell Hound

This book was much more than it was marketed to be. You look at the cover and read the synopsis and think it will read much like "Cujo" by Stephen King. But it doesn't, I wouldn't say the horror aspect of it is even an animal attack. It's more psychological. Carl is genuinely one of the creepiest MCs I've ever read. Baxter is so well written too, giving personality to a dog while also making him very much a dog is a feat that I'll applaud. For a 150-page novel, the character arcs were impressively high as well, both Carl and Baxter change so much over the course of the novel. Do they make each other worse? It's an interesting question to consider. I think that Carl was already going to be disturbed but Baxter just awakened the certain disturbed he ended up being. Baxter himself had a moral compass that wasn't in any way malicious, which is why I ended up sympathizing with him which I assume was intended by Greenhall. His moral compass is mostly masculine traits and he puts a lot of value specifically on things like fearlessness, freedom, and independence.

All in all, a fascinating novel with characters that aren't super likable but are definitely likable to read.