June 18, 2014

Dog detective


The Metro Dogs of Moscow
by Rachelle Delaney


JR is a Jack Russell terrier. His human, George, works in embassies around the world. Currently George is based at the Canadian Embassy in Moscow. While George loves the globetrotting life, he's not into excitement. He never lets JR off the leash. Inspired by seeing a stray dog steal a ring of sausages, JR sneaks out of his apartment to do a little exploring on his own. He soon meets up with the wily stray and some of his friends. Thus he's introduced to a new kind of freedom: amazing smells, tasty stuffed potatoes, and rides on the Moscow subway. But then JR's new friends mysteriously start to disappear. When an embassy dog goes missing as well, JR must use all his wits to solve the mystery of the missing dogs.

Delaney does a good job in capturing all the action from a dog's point-of-view. The exotic setting is well-described too. Although JR doesn't actually solve any clues -- he mainly roams the streets asking other stray dogs for help, and the solution comes about through a happy accident -- the big rescue, which occurs during a bizarre fashion show, is full of pulse-pounding excitement. 

Very entertaining.


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