The blurb is a really bad match to the book, sounds boring and gives away some of the more subtle elements of the story. For example, I would never describe Reg as ‘agoraphobic’, his character has so much more depth and it isn’t something you really work out until part way in.

In the Brexit madness this is a perfect/terrifying read - never have I read something so funny, so moving, so entertaining and so politically spot on. Much of the humour comes from the dog - you might miss some of this if you have never loved a mad mongrel, or understand the human/dog bond. Started as a funny holiday read, ended as a philosophical apocalyptic BNP nightmare. I laughed out loud on trains, relentlessly read bits aloud to people and cried at the end.

Really love all of Adrian's books and this was no exception - a great story, told beautifully, would highly recommend!

I didn't know what to expect but this story set in a near future scenario is seen through the eyes of a dog. It's a thought provoking tour of a broken society with a canine twist.
If anyone remembered the Disney film Incredible Journey the. You may be drawn in by this. I enjoyed it as a page turner-definitely worth a read to put your life in perspective.

The Last Dog on Earth is the latest novel from Adrian J. Walker, author of the bestselling The End of the World Running Club. In this latest offering Walker remains within the same genre to present a dystopian bombed-out London where, as the novel opens, he introduces us to the agoraphobic, former electrician Reginald and his trusty canine companion, Lineker.

Every dog has its day... And for Lineker, a happy go lucky mongrel from Peckham, the day the world ends is his: finally a chance to prove to his owner just how loyal he can be. Reg, an agoraphobic writer with an obsession for nineties football, plans to wait out the impending doom in his second floor flat, hiding himself away from the riots outside. But when an abandoned orphan shows up in the stairwell of their building, Reg and Lineker must brave the outside in order to save not only the child, but themselves...

First, the positives, of which there are many. I enjoyed the way this story was told, especially the way it utilised a dual narrative. The second voice we encounter is the human, Reginald, who recounts his experiences through a journal. But the first, and by far the best voice, is that of Lineker. It is this narrative that sets the novel apart from anything else is the genre. Walker puts Linker’s thoughts onto the page in a way that we can understand and I would imagine he had as much fun writing it as we the reader have reading it. Lineker’s narrative is often gross, and often humorous and this poetry-writing, expletive-spouting canine loves nothing more than the fouler smells emitted from his owner: the wind, the morning breath being particular favourites. He is a beast full of boundless energy and let’s face it - dogs do many things we humans class as disgusting (smell each others bottoms, roll in manure, lick their own testes etc), and to have this written down in a way a human can comprehend resulted in my laughing and cringing in equal measure. Ultimately it allowed me to feel the bond with Lineker I believe I would also have felt in real life. Oh, and Lineker hates squirrels. He hates squirrels so much he drops the c-bomb liberally and inventively when they make an appearance in the story.

To enjoy a story this dark you have to like some of the characters involved and thankfully Lineker and Reginald (and those we encouner later in the story) really worked for me. Reginald was an everyman that all will recognize, a decent man who has been left damaged by life, a man who has found a way of coping with this trauma by cutting himself off from society and seeking solace in routine. He dislikes human contact and his writing and his canine friend are everything to him. One element I really found impressed me about Walker’s last book, The Running Club at the End of the World was how realistically the male lead was portrayed and I experienced the exact same here: I knew a Reginald, we all know a Reginald. I also enjoy this author because I get his references. Geoff Capes anyone? Younger readers may need to look him up but I understood when Reginald said “and I am no Geoff Capes, believe me” instantly and it made me laugh. So I am happy to admit that my age, and these references, played an important part in increasing my reading enjoyment.

The first part of The Last Dog on Earth introduces us to man and dog while vividly showing us a disturbingly realistic bombed-out London in the not-so-distant year of 2021. Once this introduction is over we encounter the abandoned orphan Aisha and from here book begins to pick ever greater speed as her plight pulls Reginald kicking and struggling from out of his comfort zone. We then travel the waste land London has become, finding both decency and inhumanity as they try to get the girl home. There is not as much horror here as you may find in other books in the genre like, say, The Road, and the horrific elements that do exist in this book draw upon human history for inspiration, with Hitler’s rise to power and the concentration camps that formed part of his ‘master plan’ used to strong effect. A warning from the past you might say.

I’ve read all the great dystopia and post-apocalyptic fiction I could lay hands on but found that this particular well had begun to run dry. So I am always on the lookout for new titles (The Dog Stars by Peter Heller being an excellent recent discovery) and I would definitely add Walker’s books to my list of recommended titles.

The Last Dog on Earth is a book I would recommend highly as it is at turns funny, disturbing, moving and thought-provoking. Walker is an excellent author who creates great characters and in Lineker he has excelled himself. A dark yet life-affirming book ideal for those who enjoy reading within the post-apocalyptic/dystopian genre.

And finally, I also like these types of books because they hold up a mirror for us to look into in. I’ll end this review with a damning vision of humanity through the eyes of a dog:

“You slaughter the forests with giant saws. You throttle the sea with plastic. You drown the sky with soot. You kill everything in your path. And why? Not to survive - you've already nailed that one - oh no, you kill to give yourself little luxuries like skin scrubs, painkillers and boxes to chatter on. You - you kill for no other reason than comfort and curiosity. You kill so your eyes don't sting when you wash your hair.”

Totally different to anything I’ve ever read before but it was fantastic. I especially liked the chapters that were the dog (Linekar). The story was well told and flowed nicely through to its conclusion. Five stars

This is a post apocalyptic story (or more of a romp if you will) about a man named Reg and his dog Linker...yes as in the football player because our Reg loves football but more than that he loves the 1990's world cup!

Reg and Linker meet lots of characters a long the way and we get a look into Reg's past!

I did enjoy this book but did have some issues with the writing style but that may just be my preference.

Hmm, bit of a tough one, I don’t really know why it took me so long to finish it, because it’s not a particularly long book?

The topics are both hopeful (a man who embarks on a journey with his dog, to help a child he doesn’t want anything to do with at first, with their relationship developing along the way) and bleak (a maybe not so unbelievable future, unfortunately, considering the current state of affairs in the world, with political parties rising to power and starting to test people to see if they’re ‘of the right type’, rounding up people and putting them in camps ensue…). Probably not the kind of thing I’ve wanted to read recently, which may explain in part the lull I was in regarding this novel, but the latter theme is interesting nonetheless!

So. Great moments throughout the book. Having both Reg’s and Linekeer’s narratives side to side. The dog’s musings about life, what it means to be a dog, how he perceives the world (the smell of fear or grief of happiness, etc.), how he sees us humans and is both awed yet unable to comprehend us. The dire landscape of London, or rather what’s left of it, after a series of attacks coupled with the raise to power of the ‘Purple’ political party. Reg’s progress, from agoraphobic to forced out of his cocoon to actually choosing to stay out, and why he retreated so from the world.

However, I still never really connected with the characters in general. At times they’d have reactions that made me pause and wonder how they had survived so long in such a city, because let’s be honest, ‘fight or flight’ is OK, but ‘stay where I am, paralysed with fear, while bullets fly around me’ is not exactly conducive to long-term survival. I also wished we had had more of the bigger picture, instead of snippets about what happened to the world/London. (I know that wasn’t the focus, the point was the characters and their developing relationships, but it still bothered me.)

Although I do tend to agree with Lineker regarding how people who acknowledge how shitty they are, are the ones who may become the kindest, whereas the monsters keep thinking of themselves as being better, and never question themselves. It… makes sense.

Conclusion: As mentioned, possibly it wasn’t the right moment for me to read this book. I didn’t really enjoy it in spite of finding good, interesting points in it. But I don’t even really know why. I’d say, clearly a matter of ‘in the eye of the beholder’ here, rather than plenty of faults on the novel’s part.

Every dog has its day…

And for Lineker, a happy go lucky mongrel from Peckham, the day the world ends is his: finally a chance to prove to his owner just how loyal he can be.

Reg, an agoraphobic writer with an obsession for nineties football, plans to wait out the impending doom in his second floor flat, hiding himself away from the riots outside.

But when an abandoned orphan shows up in the stairwell of their building, Reg and Lineker must brave the outside in order to save not only the child, but themselves…

In a weird moment of book related synchronicity, I finished one book that has a dog as a character only to immediately start another that also features a dog front and centre. The Last Dog on Earth, the latest from Adrian J Walker, is exactly what it promises to be; the tale of one man, his dog and the end of the world.

Lineker is most loyal mutt you are ever likely to meet. He will do anything for his human companion, Reg. He implicitly trusts the man he shares his life with. In fact, I’d go further, he idolises Reg. Lineker thinks humans are so consistently amazing in everything that we do, so how can Reg be anything other than perfect? It turns out dogs are far cleverer than we give them credit for. In their own unique way, our four legged friends are a philosophical bunch. They understand most things; their brains are like sponges when it comes to input.

The sad truth of the matter is that Reg is a bit of a mess. The world outside his tiny flat has gone to hell, but he is almost entirely oblivious. A personal trauma has left him all but broken and he copes with this by choosing to be alone. He wants nothing more than to avoid all human contact. As long as it is just Lineker and him, Reg is ok. I always find myself fascinated when an author captures those minute details that define a character. Even the simplest gesture or turn of phrase can speak volumes. Reg is very precise and his dismay whenever that precision is questioned or ignored feels palpable. It is just another well realised example of the coping mechanisms he has developed in order to survive.

At the heart of The Last Dog on Earth is the dynamic that exists between Lineker and Reg. The story is told from each of their perspectives as alternate chapters feature their point of view. We get to see how both interpret events differently. Lineker is all boundless enthusiasm and excitement (he is a dog after all) while Reg is introspective almost paranoid. I particularly love the way the character of Lineker comes across. I know we’ll never know exactly how our pets think, and I fully appreciate that we anthropomorphise their actions, but there is a part of me that hopes the way Lineker thinks is exactly what goes through the minds of all dogs.

As regular readers of The Eloquent Page are now well aware, I have a special place in my heart when it comes to the end of the world. Rather than focusing on a huge apocalyptic event, The Last Dog in the World looks at societal collapse due to the rise of the political extremism. What with the current state of affairs in the UK and elsewhere, it makes some of the content feel eerily plausible. Snippets of the unpleasant rhetoric spouted by the story’s villains sounds like it could be coming right out the mouths of our politicians. I never expected a book about one man and his dog to be quite so topical.

Scattered throughout the narrative there are genuinely emotive moments. Reg and Lineker both slowly change as they leave the safety of their quiet little life. I’m always impressed when fiction manages to be so affecting. Reg’s history is also explored, and the reasons he is the way he is are ultimately revealed. You get a real sense of what makes this forlorn shadow of a man tick. In all honesty, faced with the things he has had to face, I don’t imagine I would have fared any better. Sometimes we can be so damaged by the outside world the only option, when it comes to self- preservation, is to retreat from everything and everyone. The only lifeline Reg has in his life is his dog. Watching how he desperately clings to that single connection is riveting.

The Last Dog on Earth caught me completely unaware. I had no expectations going in as I’ve not read any of Adrian J Walker’s other work*. I was impressed. The story was great, the characters are memorable and there is plenty of insight into the nature of humanity and how we view ourselves and others.

It turns out there aren’t that many soundtracks that feature dogs that aren’t anything other than jolly and upbeat. The Last Dog on Earth isn’t always upbeat and jolly. I felt it would be doing it a disservice picking one of those. There was really only one album that fit all my criteria to accompany this book. The soundtrack to the movie version of Cujo by Charles Bernstein. Lineker isn’t a rabid St Bernard, but let’s just say he does have his moments.

The Last Dog on Earth is published by Del Rey and is available now. Highly recommended

*A quick internet search reveals there is a book called The End of the World Running Club. That sounds intriguing, I like both those things. I might have to give that a go.

https://lynns-books.com/2017/10/02/the-last-dog-on-earth-by-adrian-j-walker/#comments
The Last Dog on Earth was one of those books that I wasn’t really sure about, don’t ask me why, but I went into it with doubts and thought that possibly the run of really good books that I’ve been experiencing lately may well come to an end. How very wrong I was. This book was an engrossing and entertaining read. Told in alternating chapters in the voice of Reginald Hardy and his dog Lineker this is a book that had me gripped, not to mention I nearly cracked a rib laughing at certain elements, and, I turned into that really annoying reader who insists on reading out to their other half certain tidbits or sentences that they found really amusing – even though there is no context whatsoever to the poor beleaguered listener. Still, it happens and I’m sure I’m not the only one who has this annoying habit and I like to think that I’m spreading the joy a little in such moments.

Before I even start this review I have to hand it to the author for a perfectly executed story. He drew me in with his witty opening chapters told from a dog’s POV. Lineker had me laughing out loud, and before I knew it I was hooked and wanting more – and that’s when the author turned up the serious dial.

This is a tale set in London. A very different London from the one we know now it’s streets have been devastated by war. Gradually we learn the back story and it’s a story of politics gone mad with hatred resulting in a desperate world where many people are deemed to no longer ‘belong’. A brutal and unforgiving authority now rules the streets forcing the remaining survivors to take some form of ‘test’ to prove whether or not they’re suitable or not – failure to pass the test usually ends in more than just tears. I won’t deny the world depicted here is far from pretty and what makes it undoubtedly worse is that horrible fear that maybe this could happen.

At the start of the story we make the acquaintance of Lineker. Be warned that Lineker’s language can be somewhat colourful and may not be to everyone’s liking. That being said he’s a very entertaining canine and his honesty in relation to his own behaviour and that of his fellow dogs is amusing in the extreme. Lineker definitely won me over, I loved the elements of his story and the changes he experienced during the course of this tale as his own beliefs were tested.

Reginald is also a very interesting character to read. Reg has withdrawn into himself, with good reason as we discover whilst reading this book. He has a certain phobia that makes him avoid people and so whilst the world around him is spiralling into chaos Reg seems to be coping – he has his own apartment, he has food, he has his boundaries that he doesn’t cross and he has man’s best friend, Lineker, to keep him company. Basically Reg’s own condition has resulted in an almost forced denial of just how bad things have become around him. It’s like he’s sat with his fingers plugged in his ears singing ‘lalalalalala’ at the top of his voice in order to avoid what’s really going on beyond his own four walls and the front door. That is until a young girl turns up outside his apartment in need of help. Reg is determined to ignore this young orphan as she lies perishing outside his door until the voice inside his head eventually convinces him to do the right thing – and his world swiftly turns on it’s head. Don’t get me wrong now, it takes Reg a long time to come around and in the meantime he can be extremely cowardly, he almost makes you cringe. His actions will have you shaking your head and wanting to slap him. He’s flawed. There it is.

In a way I felt like this was a story of redemption and recovery, it’s bleak but not without hope and that’s an aspect that I really liked.

There’s not too much more I can say about the plot without spoiling it so I’ll simply say that I loved this and highly recommend it. I don’t know whether to call this dystopian or post apocalyptic but I do know that it’s a story with a lot of heart and soul. It has it’s moments that are predictable (tbh), there are definitely moments that stretch incredulity to new lengths – particularly in relation to how smart Lineker is – because damn that dog has some knowledge (that being said, how do we know our dogs aren’t really masterminds eh – they have us worked out nicely after all!), and the ending felt a tad rushed. But, basically, I don’t care because this book just worked for me on all sorts of levels. I will, without doubt, check out more books by this author and I hope I’ve convinced you to give this a shot – like I said, if bad language is a turn off then it might not be for you – although, as it’s the dog….

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publishers, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

Adrian Walker's debut novel 'The End of the World Running Club' was one of my favourite books of 2016 so I was delighted to get an early copy of his new title 'The Last Dog on Earth' for review via NetGalley.

The Last Dog on Earth is set in London in the not too distant future.

Its main characters are Lineker, the faithful and world-weary dog and former electrician Reginald. They live together in a nearly deserted London.



Throughout the book, there are various references to the events that led to London being attacked and then largely abandoned. However, the reader is deliberately kept guessing about the full picture.

With the wider story so mysterious, we're left to focus on the relationship between Lineker and Reginald. Reginald is another perfect 'anti-hero role', similar to Edgar from The End of the World Running Club, in that he has many flaws and several of his actions in the novel may actually cement your dislike of him entirely.

Lineker shares his thoughts and feelings with us directly throughout the book, and the plot jumps between sections told from the human's point of view and other's from the irascible Lineker.

The combination of Reginald and Lineker felt very original, and the universe that Walker creates in the book is both tragic and very believable.

Walker, via Lineker, has a lot to say (with much swearing) about humans and conflict and whilst the points were well made it did slow down the plot and overall enjoyability of the novel for me leaving to me rate it high 3.

Many thanks to Netgalley for providing this book for review in exchange for an honest review.

Agoraphobic Reg and his dog Linekar live in a flat in Peckham. They have a daily routine they stick to and on the rare occasion they leave the flat they do so only within certain areas.
Linekar would do anything for his Reg and like most dogs he adores his master.
“There he fucking is in all his fucking glory. What a body. What a man. What a fucking god.”
This adoration and dedication clearly doesn’t go two ways. Reg is only concerned about self-preservation and what is happening in his world. Even when the riots were happening all over London he still barely noticed.
There are clues that suggest Reg wasn’t always alone and that some sort of trauma occurred to make him wary of human contact. For example, when he talks about people leaving London he says, Their absence should dismay me but, in fact, it is only the absence of one which does.
One day, Reg and Linekar are out whilst Reg is looking for spare parts for his failing generator. When they arrive back at the flat Reg is caught between the soldiers and a rogue gang of people known as The Purples. The soldiers were transporting a group of young children and one of them accidently gets left behind.
Aisha hides out in the stairwell and tries to get Reg to let her into his flat but Reg is too scared because he doesn’t want to have to protect her. He knows he isn’t hero material and says so in this extract below.
“I am not a hero. Altruism does not exist. There are the things a man wants to do and there are the things he must do must be done because if he does not then the consequences linger. That is really all there is to altruism: the avoidance of bad feeling.”
Eventually Reg after some pretty reprehensible actions Reg realises he is going to have to help her although as the above extract shows the reasons why are still all about him.
The Last Dog On Earth was the second book I have read by Adrian Walker and whilst I loved The End Of The World Running Club I have only given this one 3.5 stars on my rating system.
There are three reasons why it has not achieved 5 stars. The first is that I found the chapters written from the perspective of Linekar were a bit disjointed and difficult to follow because they flitted from subject to subject. This was a minor concern though.
The second reason was that until Aisha was introduced I found the book a little slow to get started and I couldn’t relate to Reg before that.
The third reason was much more important for me and if it was the first book I had read by Adrian Walker then it would have been the end of me reading the book. This reason was the excessive use of the C word. I don’t mind a little bit of swearing in the right context but too much just makes me lose interest.
However, the saving grace of The Last Dog On Earth for me was the relationship between Aisha and Reg. It made me want to continue reading what turned out to be a thrilling book.

I loved this book. Whilst I enjoy apocalyptic fiction, when I first started reading this novel, I found the split dialogue a little disconcerting but it has a way of quickly drawing you in and in fact I read it in two sittings.

It is a survival story on many different levels. Do give it a go I'm sure you will enjoy it as much as I did

Firstly, a warning – if you don’t like reading extreme swearing, including the c-word, then this one may not be for you. That said, while this is generally a word that immediately has me shutting up the book and flinging it across the room, it occurs when we are in Lineker’s pov, when it seems to be entirely appropriate.

I think that the depiction of this dog is a tour de force particularly in the early stages when he is full of beans and boisterous. Having been a dog owner, I felt that Walker completely got inside the skin of an animal who mostly decodes the world through his nose. I also love the bursts of energy and impulsiveness Walker manages to evoke. By contrast, later on in the novel, when everything gets a whole lot darker, there is an effective shift in the viewpoint when Lineker stops being such a volatile bundle of joy.

As for Reginald – Walker has already demonstrated that he is effective at writing a flawed ordinary bloke, struggling to cope in a modern world. While Reginald is a very different character, there is an underlying likeability that stands him in good stead. Despite a particularly shocking episode that had me shaking my head in disbelief, I did stick with him and care about what happens to him, which is crucial to the overall success of this book.

Both Reginald and Lineker go on a journey, both literal and figurative as the awfulness around them finally intrudes. Both man and dog are tested and I was very relieved that this book didn’t puddle down into any kind of sentimentality.

The ending is entirely satisfactory and makes sense, though it did feel a tad rushed. However, I am not knocking off any points. Lineker is an amazing character who will stay with me for a long time to come and this book is recommended for anyone who enjoys something different, despite – and even because of – the hardcore language.

While I obtained the arc of The Last Dog on Earth from the publisher via NetGalley, this has in no way influenced my unbiased review.
10/10

Do you ever request a book on Netgalley and then weeks later wonder why? That’s what I did with this book. I don’t like dogs and I hate football so what possessed me to request a book about a dog called Lineker and his 90s-Football-Mad owner is beyond me.

But guess what? This book was brilliant! Maybe a higher power was at work there.

The Last Dog on Earth is set in the near future, after London has been desecrated by a war. A lot of people died and the rest moved away from the hostile city leaving Reg, a recluse and his dog Lineker practically alone in Peckham. Reg can’t imagine moving. He hates change and doesn’t see any need to leave. The fact that everyone else has left is just a bonus.

Lineker loves Reg more than anything. His aim in life is to make Reg happy, but he definitely misses all his old friends on Peckham Rye.

The Last Dog on Earth is written from Lineker’s perspective and mainly in diary format from Reg’s. I think it worked perfectly. Lineker has a penchant for rhyming slang and loves a good rant. I thought he was hilarious. And it really reads like the mind of a dog; I thought it was a genius stroke by Walker. Even a self-confessed dog-hater (OK that’s a bit strong but sue me, I’m cat lady all the way) like me instantly fell in love with him.

"You’ve always been a busy lot, you Sapiens. Climbing, foraging […], crossing oceans. Waging wars. Looking up. Looking down. But thinking – that’s what you do the most. You gaze up and drift away and none of us can guess where you go. F***ing Einsteins the lot of you. Take away all that thought and replace it with smell. Yeah, that’s the nearest I can get to describing how it is to be a dog.”

There is so much good stuff in this book, I want to throw a million quotes at you. The story really takes the reader on an immersive journey and actually the events themselves are pretty horrific but the humour lifts it immensely. It’s a book that makes you think, and that’s what surprised me the most I think.
What I probably should mention is the language. Lineker is a Class A potty mouth, and pretty vulgar at times. I loved it, but some readers might have issues with it. In fact, the only thing I can criticise about this book is that I wanted more narration by Lineker. As the story went on we get Reg’s POV a lot more and that slowed down the pace of the book for me. But I still couldn’t put it down.

Overall, TLDOE is a pretty bleak look at humanity, and a timely, poignant tale considering the world’s current political climate, but it’s extremely entertaining too. I laughed so much!

Oh to be a dog…

“Then there are the more confusing smells; the ones that are hard to categorise. Like fox. If I get wind of a fox I don’t know whether I want to cuddle it, f*** it or pull out its guts and eat them in front of it. It’s extremely confusing for me.”
 
“Now and again, once in a blue moon, maybe once or twice in your life, you will meet somebody who makes you wonder, seriously, how bad a life sentence would be. […] You want to take every nerve in their body, every fibre, every atom, and collect them together into a nice neat box so that none of them can escape, and then you want to piss all over them. […] That’s cats that is.”

TLDOE gets ALL THE UNICORNS because there wasn’t anything I disliked about it! I’d love to know what Lineker would make of Unicorns…

I was really excited to read this as I loved The End of the World Running Club, but I really didn't enjoy this at all. There were so many great ideas but the lead character wasn't particularly likeable and was quite flat until right at the end. And Lineker? Why the need for such foul language? The way he was written just irritated me from the off.
I just couldn't maintain an interest, I kept putting it down and finding other things to do.
I'll still recommend it to people who like the genre, but with a definite "not for me" slant.

This was such a fun book with a lot more depth than I anticipated. It tells the story of Lineker, a mongrel and his owner, Reg as they navigate through a bombed out London in 2021. Firstly, the character of Lineker is just genius writing. The author has really imbued him with emotional gravity and a truly outstanding voice that develops and matures throughout the novel. There are some really interesting aspects introduced regarding how a dog interacts with the world that I found really original and would honestly have liked more of the story to be told from his point of view (the viewpoint shifts between Reg and Lineker). The plot is compelling and told with a real warmth that I liked a lot. Reg is a bit of a difficult character, but the author ensures that his oddities don't subsume his personality too much, which I found a very skillful bit of craft. There are some really poignant episodes and some great one liners and overall, it was a really enjoyable book. Be aware, it has quite a lot of swearing, but it worked for me.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Well this was certainly original.I like dystopian type books and thought as I have read quite a few of them a new idea would be difficult to come up with.Enter Lineker the dog who shares his take on the new world, you can't get much more original than that.He had plenty to say, much of it with pretty colourful language , you could say he is a bit of a character.I have 4 rescue dogs and I bet their language could be equally fruity if they could speak so I wasn't put off by that.His human companion Reg was a bit overshadowed by his dog, Reg was a solitary guy will issues he had to deal with ,and the story was told from both points of view.This was an interesting take and I did enjoy it.It kept me invested in the story until the end of the book ,no spoilers but well worth a read I think.thanks to netgalley and the publishers for an ARC in return for an honest review.

Lineker and his master, Reginald (he really doesn’t like being called Reg, although he often is), live in a deserted tower block in London after some not quite specified disaster. This suits them as Reginald is anxious about leaving his flat and, even before London became a deserted wasteland, he does everything he can to avoid any kind of physical contact with other people. However, when a starving, silent and persistent child shows up on their doorstep – and refuses to leave – their lives change. They have to leave the safety of the flat and try to cross the city to get the child to a refugee camp. They meet allies and enemies – the latter generally being the purple-clad followers of a charmingly plausible politician whose inflammatory views set the destruction in progress – and discover that no-one can get through it all on their own.

I liked Reginald, a fragile, fallible but, in the end, downright decent man. He has his issues – an inability to be touched rooted in a terrible personal tragedy – but, when it comes down to it he overcomes them to protect those he feels responsible for. The child is fearful, fierce and, essentially, hugely resilient – you can see why both Lineker and his master come to love her – and other, minor, characters (human and canine) are well described. But Lineker himself, well, he really was the character which made the whole story come alive for me. He is pure dog. He adores his master, especially his various smells, and thinks deeply on many subjects (and also about smells, food and squirrels – he really hates squirrels…). His language is earthy, but this seems pretty dog-like to me. He uses words we would consider to be bad swear words but they are the ones connected to bodily functions and sex – what else to we expect a dog to be interested in? I’ve read a lot of post-apocalyptic novels (as I’m sure I may have mentioned previously) but this one stands out. Partly because the apocalypse itself is unusual – an eerily realistic political disaster rather than a plague/zombie attack/nuclear war/environmental crisis – but largely because Lineker is one of the oddest, if most engagingand joyful, heroes I’ve come across in the genre.

The Last Dog on Earth by Adrian J. Walker starts off in the voice of Lineker --the dog-- and the tempo and voice and narration are just as upbeat and ebullient as you'd suspect a joyful labrador to be. Unfortunately, this dog is pretty much house bound with his agoraphobic (and people phobic) master Reginald who has become utterly antisocial due to personal tragedy at the same time as England (and the world?) and all its political and social systems have collapsed.

The narrative takes place through the two voices of Lineker and Reginald who take turns narrating their sides of the story. The conflict they need to deal with is that brought on by the world as they hunt down a home for a 7-year-old girl who comes to their door.

Emotionally, this is a gruelling piece of work and Walker take no prisoners in his sustained literary pursuit of pushing through the worst of society and humanity.

The writing and the theme are excellent. I was very glad to have read it and it was by no means a trivial task to do so.
There were some obvious parallels with concentration camps, and there was a none-too-subtle setup of the book as an answer to how people end up commiting such atrocities. Then there was a bit of an homage to Tolkien at one point with the cloaked figure in a bar being a saviour etc. I won't spoil the story, I just thought the bar scene was a bit of a wink to readers of this type of 'journey' novel.
Ultimately Walker examines the idea of nature and what we can all become with enough pressure and circumstance. The idea is applied to both Reginald and Lineker and I am still not sure which was the toughest to read.

The Last Dog on Earth is published on 7 September, 2017 and is the first of a two-book deal Walker has signed up to with Del Rey.

I loved The End of the World Running Club by Adrian Walker and couldn't wait to read his latest. I was not disappointed!! A fantastic story told from the viewpoint of Lineker (a very sweary, loveable mongrel) and his owner Reginald. Lineker was a joy to read; his commentary on life and the "two plates" was hilarious yet insightful. Reginald also amused me and broke my heart a little every time something else was revealed about his past.

Set in the not too distant future we see what can happen when political influence goes too far and how quickly the world could fall apart in the wrong hands,

I laughed and cried in equal measures reading this book and look forward to the next!