Best book I've read in a very long time. I will definitely read more by this author.I highly recommend reading this book!

This was such a joy to read! Each character was so relatable and complex, I really want them to exist in real life. The themes of love, family, loss, and healing were written with such warmth and caring. Throw in a road trip and wonderful relationships with dogs and strangers, this book made me want to give those around me a hug! I definitely recommend this book!

Wonderful story that you will enjoy.
A touching story of working through loss, dealing with past memories, and moving forward after being stalled in the grief. Gary and Meg’s daughter died when her child, Troy, was an infant. Troy is now twenty-two and on his own but his grandfather has not been able to move forward. Instead, he has immersed himself in baseball. With Gary’s total focus being on baseball and especially on the minor league team in his area, Meg soon feels that there is nothing left for her and moves to Florida with her sister leaving Gary and their dog Moses behind. Now three years later Meg is requesting that Gary bring Moses to Florida for one last visit. And so, the trip begins with Gary, Troy and Moses with side trips to see Troy’s old girlfriend, breakdowns and hitchhikers adding to the warmth and appeal of the story. Through it all, Moses adds his observations, not in some strange way that has the reader really having to suspend reality, but simply observations of when and what makes the people around him happy, moody, or sad that he manifests through tail wagging, happy barks and howls when faced with sadness and tensions he can’t understand. Everyone has secrets. Everyone is trying to figure out how to live their lives and what they want their life to look like going forward but only Moses seems to be able to reduce things to their simplest form, this brings joy, that brings sadness. A very engrossing read as you watch the growth, understanding, and acceptance in each character.

Fiction with a touch of romance;
Baseball, family, dog, and a team bus. Beautifully composed story of a journey, and reflective of life, marriage, decisions, sadness, joy, guilt, loss, mourning, forgiveness and redemption.
Life throws you curve balls, sometimes coming fast and sometimes without watching, you can drift apart, and distance from the ones you love the most.
Beautifully drawn portrait of a man who loses what matters most to him on the road of life. As he reflects on his present, he can't seem to break free from the things he does that have broken his family. Dog is a wonderful character, loved him, the Bus, and of course the journey. The chance he has to visit with his wife and take their dog to see her, was an incredible story of life and love.
Well worth the read.

This is a touching, emotional story about a broken family coming together after years of estrangement. The story is a great mix of plot-driven and character-driven elements. It really immerses you in the characters within a road-trip context. I enjoyed the setting of 20 or so years in the past. It’s like a little snapshot in time. I enjoyed my time in this story. It explores the different ways of expressing grief and emphasizes that it is the relationships in our life that are our most important priority. The inclusion of a dog’s perspective was a great addition to these themes. We can learn so much from the animals in our life.

I really wanted to love this book and have really enjoyed most of Jason Wright's other books, but I found this one to be very poorly written.

I read many good reviews about "Even the Dog Knows", a good book with a great title and cover, but unfortunately it just wasn't for me.

The first chapter was nice, I appreciated the story beginning with some sort of flashback to the youth of Gary and Meg and how they met, but the rest of the book didn't convince me.
First of all, I'm not familiar with the time and place of the story. I am a young European and I know nothing of the US in the 80s/90s (?), so I had a hard time picturing what it would have looked like since there were few descriptions.
Second, the characters didn't resonate with me. A grumpy old man obsessed with baseball? An old woman bored with her life? There was much here to make me appreciate them or their personalities...
The story didn't make me want to follow along with the characters on their trip to Florida, so I stopped about midday through.

*I received a free copy and this is my honest opinion*

I loved this. It was poignant and fun, full of heart and love and grief. Every character was likeable, even when they weren't. I truly enjoyed reading this, a lot more than I initially expected!

I think the reunion was just so... impactful. The confessions and the callbacks and everything pulled it all together.

The only negative I really have is that I don't think the last chapter was particularly necessary - I would have been fine without the small time jump. But obviously that's not enough of a detail to completely ruin how genuinely enjoyable this book was to read and experience.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an ARC for this book!

This is a wonderful book and not just because one of the main characters is a dog.

Anyone lucky enough to have had a black lab as a companion will recognize Moses as a kindred spirit to their own silly and loveable pet. The author also realistically portrays the bond between Moses and his humans as well as the importance of bacon.

The love Gary, Meg, Troy and Grace have for Moses is crucial to reestablishing the connections they once had with each other. It's a beautiful story with great pacing and colorful characters.

I really enjoyed reading about the bus and the journey all the people went on with a very good boy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Shadow Mountain Publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

#EvenTheDogKnows #NetGalley

This book was a different one and a little hard to read at times. Gary and Meg Gorron, have been grieving, the loss of their daughter Mallerie for many years. Gary's life revolves around nothing but baseball. Megan decides she has had enough, she heads to Florida with her sister. Three years later, Gary heads to Florida on his baseball bus, with his grandson Troy and Moses the dog. They pick up stragglers along the way. Moses, notices the little things along the way, because yes, even the dog knows.

This was such a charming sweet book. It had me and tears. Dog lovers will love this story of love and forgiving. I have read other books by this author that they were great books also.

REVIEW - *SPOILER ALERT*
I wanted to love this book. I really did! The storyline sounded great but much of the story was a real downer. It was thick with grief. All of the characters were experiencing grief in a different way. I had hoped the storyline would take a turn for happiness. It did, but only after the first 95% of the book that focused on loss, devastation and regrets. I thought the dog would play a bigger role in the book. I enjoyed the chapters from the dog’s point of view but they were few and far between. Overall, I found this book to be such a drag, I almost put it down. The happy ending came but it came much too late into the storyline. Perhaps someone who is grieving would connect to the characters and appreciate the book more.

This eARC was gifted to me by @shadowmountainpub in exchange for an honest review.
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Meg is alone in Florida. Gary is alone in Virginia. They are married, but have been estranged for three years. When Gary is invited to bring their dog, Moses to see her one last time he packs up his Baseball team van with his grown son and heads down to Florida. What then happens is a sweet line of events that are charming, loving, heartbreaking, and inspiring. Overall a really sweet story. It was unique to hear the dog's voice in this one as he watched what was going on around him. There was a lot of history with this family that needed to be worked out and it was a beautiful trip to watch it all play out. I always appreciate a clean read as well.

Thanks to NetGalley and Shadow Mountain for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Good stuff. This is not high art, nor is it meant to be, but it is a nice story, well-told. Wright is prolific, so he know his way around a story. It looks like he's a decent bet if you like his style of writing and this type of tale.

I appreciate the free ARC for review!!

On the surface this is a book about lost souls and the old dog who loves them all. It's much deeper than that, however, and I found myself pausing to think periodically as I read. By sheer serendipity, given the role baseball plays in the story, I was finishing the book just as the last game of 2021's World Series played out. It perhaps gave me a greater insight to not just the players on the screen before me but those in the book. When you lose yourself, even in something so seemingly benign as a baseball game, you can lose not just your own identity but the touch with reality that binds us together.

Gary has not only lost his way but tied himself so tightly to baseball that he finds himself alone when those about him realize they need more out of life than baseball stats and an ol' baseball bus he has bought. His wife, Meg, has moved out. Now, in Florida, she is ill and uses the excuse of wanting to see their old dog Moses one last time to bring Gary to her and give them a chance to find each other and start over. Moses is old but observant and just wants his people to be happy and together, well, that and some bacon. Grandson Troy, who plays minor league baseball, somehow convinces Gary to not only make the trip but goes along for the ride. In the process, several other lives are touched, both human and canine, for the better.

This book has all the "feels". I found myself, in one of moments when my mind sought to make sense of how Gary and Meg grew apart, thinking of the tragedy that shaped them all, but also how we as humans seek to right ourselves, particularly as we age. Of course, the addition of a wonderful, loving old dog only added to the feels, especially as my own dog cuddled at my side. Totally oblivious to both the baseball game playing out on my screen and the role of baseball in the book, she offered pure, uncomplicated love. Unfortunately, life isn't that simply for us humans as Gary, Meg, and their circle of family and friends illustrate. The plot is simple, a road trip to Florida, but their actions, reactions, and how others play into the whole is quite complicated. Except for with Moses. He's a dog and he's love. As voiced by Grace, Troy's girlfriend, well, maybe, Mose is the glue that holds them all together. He's the one that pulls them together, too, when they are broken, despite the barriers humans put up. A thoughtful, intriguing read that I recommend highly.

Thank you #NetGallery and #ShadowMountainPublishing for the ARC.

What a beautiful story, As someone who loves dogs and has a life long love for them. I thought this story was heartachingly beautiful.
Premise
Meg Gorton finds herself alone and lonely in Florida. Three years earlier, she had packed what she could fit into her sister’s car, told her estranged husband, Gary, where he could find her, and asked him to take care of Moses, their beloved black Labrador. For years, she’d tried to talk Gary into moving away from Woodstock, Virginia. They both needed a fresh start after the loss of their only daughter many years ago. Even after raising their grandson, Troy, it was clear that if Meg wanted a new beginning, she would have to do it alone. Now, with some looming health issues, Meg has a plan to finally bring Gary to Gulf Breeze.

Gary wasn’t able to move on the same way Meg did. Haunted by the tragedy of his daughter’s death, and painfully aware of his guilt because he feels partly responsible, he is stuck in his life. He still owns and drives the bus for their hometown minor league baseball team. And he still thinks about the day his wife drove away. At least he still has Moses, who is always willing to listen when Gary talks about his regrets and all the things he should have done differently.

Meg contacts Gary with a surprise request: she wants him to bring Moses to visit her one last time before the old dog passes on. Gary is reluctant to go, but Troy thinks it’s an excellent idea. They could even travel together in Gary’s bus. Along the way, Gary takes a detour to visit Troy’s ex-girlfriend, Grace—the woman who Gary and Meg always believed was the one for Troy. Gary might not know how to fix things with his wife, but he knows he doesn’t want Troy to make the same mistakes he did.

Although Moses is just a dog, he’s very observant: Gary hasn’t been the same since Meg left, Troy is hiding something, and Grace’s fingers smell like bacon. It doesn’t take long for Moses to learn they are going on a road trip to see Meg. He misses her and regularly senses Gary’s loneliness. He knows he’s an old dog and that his time is near, but he also knows there are still important things he needs to do.

Even the Dog Knows is a novel that will take readers on a thousand-mile journey to find forgiveness, understanding, healing, and the meaning of true and lasting love.

It was so lovely how much dogs bring people together and how they could sense things. It was a gorgeously entertained story and a true pleasure to read. I would recommend it to dog lovers anywhere or anyone thatat has a special place in their heart for an animal.

Even the Dog Knows has multiple appeal factors for adult and crossover readers involving family, expectations, disappointments, sorry, careers, dogs, and hints of happily ever after. Jason F. Wright providers readers with a thoughtful, honest novel about family life. Multiple plot lines surround the main story of Gary and his grandson, Troy who are driving a baseball team bus from Virginia to Florida to reconnect with Meg, who is Gary's wife and Troy's grandmother who raised Troy since his mother's death. Along the road they reunited with Grace, Troy's high school girlfriend, and meet up with Mark, a traveler who is visiting all the places his diseased wife wanted to visit. The dogs, Moses and Beverage, add tenderness to the story. A popular book for readers who enjoy road trips and reconnecting.

A sweet story. Meg left her husband 3 years ago, and has asked him to come visit with their old dog. She wants to see them both before it’s too late. Gary finally agrees, but takes their grandson, who they raised, and his old girlfriend along. Meeting Mark and his dog along the way, plus those around Meg adds flavor. Skimmable at times, but basically enjoyed this one. Would recommend.

This is a story about Gary, his injured baseball player grandson, Troy, and the elderly family dog, Moses, taking a road trip from Virginia to Florida to see Gary's estranged wife. Along the way in Gary's old bus, they meet interesting people and Gary convinces Troy to reroute their way to talk to Grace his lost love, who joins them. Meg had left Gary after many years of marriage to join her twin sister in a retirement community in Florida and has not been well and wants to bring her family back together. This story is also about people at crossroads in their lives and about grief and how the loss of one person can affect so many people in so many ways. Sweet Moses is the lodestar who keeps several of the human characters together. There are a couple of incidents that stretch reality, but if you believe in second chances, go along for the ride. My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for a honest review.