Overview
“One Good Dog is a wonderful novel: a moving, tender, and brilliantly crafted story about two fighters—one a man, one a dog— hoping to leave the fight behind, who ultimately find their salvation in each other. Susan Wilson’s clear and unflinching style is perfectly suited for her story that strips away the trappings and toys we all hide behind, and exposes our essential need to give and accept love in order to thrive.”—Garth Stein, New York Times bestselling author of The Art of Racing in the Rain Adam March is a self-made “Master of the Universe.” He has it all: the beautiful wife, the high-powered job, the glittering circle of friends. But there is a price to be paid for all these trappings, and the pressure is mounting—until the day Adam makes a fatal mistake. His assistant leaves him a message with three words: your sister called. What no one knows is that Adam’s sister has been missing for decades. That she represents the excruciatingly painful past he has left behind. And that her absence has secretly tormented him all these years. When his assistant brushes off his request for an explanation in favor of her more pressing personal call, Adam loses it. And all hell breaks loose.
Adam is escorted from the building. He loses his job. He loses his wife. He loses the life he’s worked so hard to achieve. He doesn’t believe it is possible to sink any lower when he is assigned to work in a soup kitchen as a form of community service. But unbeknownst to Adam, this is where his life will intersect with Chance.
Chance is a mixed breed Pit Bull. He’s been born and raised to fight and seldom leaves the dirty basement where he is kept between fights. But Chance is not a victim or a monster. It is Chance’s unique spirit that helps him escape and puts him in the path of Adam.
What transpires is the story of one man, one dog, and how they save each other—in ways they never could have expected.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
Fans of Marley and Me will find a new dog to cheer for in Wilson's (Beauty) insightful heart-tugger about Adam March, a Boston man recovering from the shame of a foolish crime, and Chance, a scrappy pit bull mix trying to escape the illegal dogfight circuit. Adam, 46, is a ruthless self-made millionaire married to an icy socialite living a picture-perfect existence that includes a teen princess daughter. Then he loses his job for slapping his assistant, Sophie, full across the face after she gives him a message that reads: “Your sister called.” Forty years ago, Adam's sister, Veronica, ran away leaving Adam with their widowed dad, who subsequently placed Adam into foster care. For his violent act, Adam is sentenced to perform community service at a homeless men's shelter where the adorable Chance teaches Adam about survival and what matters. Chance tells his story in his own words, which makes his mistreatment and return to the fighting pit powerfully disturbing. Combined with Wilson's unflinching portrayal of Adam's struggle to overcome his past, Old Yeller's got nothing on this very good man and his dog story. (Mar.)Library Journal
Readers of Wilson's other novels, mainly women's romantic fiction romances in the vein of Kristin Hannah (e.g., Cameo Lake), are in for a big surprise. Adam March is a rising star in the corporate world when he explodes and slaps his female assistant. His fall from a great height leaves him doing community service at a homeless shelter, with no job, no income, and almost no money after a divorce. Doing a favor for the shelter's head, he takes on a rescued pit bull that had once been used in dog fights. The last thing Adam wants is a dog, but Chance helps Adam learn what is truly important, and Adam rescues Chance from the brutally short life of a fighter. VERDICT Narrated in two voices, Adam's and Chance's, this work will remind readers of Garth Stein's The Art of Racing in the Rain and should appeal to dog lovers and fans of Spencer Quinn's Dog on It. It evokes both laughter and tears, but the ending assures you that humans and dogs are capable of redemption.—Susan T. Hayes, Chattahoochee Valley Libs., Columbus, GA\Kirkus Reviews
Wilson (Summer Harbor, 2003, etc.) goes straight for the emotional jugular with a tale of two battle-scarred survivors, one human, one canine, learning mutual need and trust. Man and dog rehabilitate themselves and each other in his shrewdly engineered tale of twin catastrophes and redemption. Adam March's fall from grace is self-made, the inevitable collapse of a Don Draper-esque life built on the rocky foundations of concealed origins. Destabilized by the thought that his estranged sister, last seen 40 years ago, has re-entered his high-powered, high-maintenance existence, Adam loses self-control and commits "a self-immolating act of breathtaking nihilism"-he slaps his personal assistant. Instantly he jeopardizes everything: marriage, job, wealth and social standing. Recast as a nobody, sentenced to community service in a homeless shelter while attending anger-management therapy, Adam must learn some humility. Chance is a pit bull mix born into brutality and bred to fight. Man and dog don't exactly bond when Adam accidentally reprieves Chance from the pound (he was looking for the missing pet of a distraught homeless-shelter denizen), but over time their relationship warms up, encouraged by an attractive local pet-shop owner. A third-person account of Adam's story alternates with Chance's dog's-eye perspective as each character touches bottom and is redeemed by his counterpart in the other species. The story closes in a rush of reconciliation, a sob or two, and wiser, happier humans and canines all round. An irresistible, if one-dimensional, cocktail of salvation and sentiment. First printing of 100,000From the Publisher
"Those who ate up Marley and Me will want to check out Wilson's novel, which follows a disgraced millionaire who finds a friend in a scruffy pit bull."--EntertainmentWeekly.com
“…a love story between man and dog…you’ll cry at the end.”—USA Today
“One Good Dog belongs on the top of everyone’s reading list.”—Telegraph Herald (Dubuque, IA)
"Nowhere can we see the potential for our own redemption more clearly than in the eyes of our dog. Susan Wilson illustrates this truth poignantly and beautifully in this story of second chances."—Tami Hoag, New York Times #1 bestselling author of Secrets to the Grave
"Fans of Marley and Me will find a new dog to cheer for in Wilson's (Beauty ) insightful heart-tugger...Chance tells his story in his own words, which makes his mistreatment and return to the fighting pit powerfully disturbing. Combined with Wilson's unflinching portrayal of Adam's struggle to overcome his past, Old Yeller 's got nothing on this very good man and his dog story."--Publishers Weekly
"[One Good Dog] is a finely wrought story of second chances and also of the power of the human/canine bond, the amazing and myriad ways in which dogs can touch and make better people’s lives. As Chance himself so aptly puts it, 'What else could I have done? I’m only canine, I had to help'.”--Bark Magazine
"[One Good Dog] evokes both laughter and tears, but the ending assures you that humans and dogs are capable of redemption."--Library Journal
“Susan Wilson's evocative and deeply moving novel reminds us that even the most unlikely human can also find redemption, sometimes, with a little help from a canine friend." -- Melissa Jo Peltier, New York Times bestselling co-author of Cesar’s Way
“One Good Dog equals one great book!”---Rita Mae Brown, New York Times bestselling author of The Purrfect Murder
“One Good Dog will make you cry, will make you laugh, will make you feel things more than you thought possible---and it will make you believe in second chances.”--Augusten Burroughs, New York Times bestselling author of Running with Scissors and A Wolf at the Table
“One Good Dog is a wonderful novel of healing and redemption.”--Spencer Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of Dog on It
“Anybody who has ever loved a dog---or been ‘a pack of two,’ as Chance so aptly puts it ---will love One Good Dog. . . . I hope Susan Wilson sits and stays---forever.”--Lisa Scottoline, New York Times bestselling author of SAVE ME
“One Good Dog is a terrific book that held me from beginning to end!”--Iris Johansen, New York Times #1 bestselling author of EVE
“I was so moved by Susan Wilson’s writing: her understanding of the lost, in the language of the wild.”--Luanne Rice, New York Times bestselling author of The Deep Blue Sea For Beginners