Through the tenderness of Mary from Hoover Animal Control and TLC from veterinarian Dr. Francis, our canine narrator was able to recover from life threatening injuries after being ejected from a moving car. The mutt, with floppy ears, seemed to have heard a voice in his hazy fog, “Roger That”. Why did Roger do that to him?

“...a bewildered dog with a cone on his head…[his] right forelimb looked more like a yellow cannon than a leg…I barked. I whined…I panted…”. Mary took him home and introduced him to her animal family including a pug named Shakespeare. Shakespeare, an incessant talker, was thrilled to have a big brother. Mary named the newbie, Leo.

As Leo healed, he questioned why he had no memories of being a puppy. Noticing a basket of glossy papers , he was intrigued by the lines and squiggles. “The squiggles meant something…transforming…within my mind…I went through the squiggles over and over, repeating the meanings, in my head…I loved letters. I loved words! And I loved reading!”

Using Mary's laptop with a bitten apple on the lid, Leo saw the word “Oogle” on the screen. “Oogle knew everything! Moving the arrow with his nose, Leo searched for “Roger”. He found Roger Federer, Roger Ebert and Roger Moore. There seemed to be a plethora of Rogers.

Oogle searches explained why Leo lost facts and memories of the past, leading to a diagnosis of retrograde amnesia. “The past cannot be changed, and while your future is determined in the present, the final fabric is anyone’s guess.” “Why should man have dominion over every creeping thing…since I am an animal, I creepth upon the earth…humans think they have the right to control me. To dominate me.” Leo and bestie Shakespeare decided to run away. Theirs was a quest for freedom but it would come with a cost…”morals are a luxury of the well fed.” A quest required a new moniker…Rousseau!

Rousseau and Shakespeare were escaping captivity, however, kindness of members of the animal kingdom and contact with humans were necessary components of a care-free lifestyle. They needed to learn survival skills including hunting and foraging. “If there was no Roger, then I lost all connection with my past.” Rousseau’s dialogue with both animals and humans would determine his future as well as that of Shakespeare.

Debut novelist Will Pass has taken this reader on a very creative, fascinating journey based upon his knowledge of animals as a former veterinarian and current medical writer. The read was both humorous as well as touching. Loved the drive-thru! I look forward to future writing from the pen of Will Pass! Highly recommended.

Thank you Thiessen Press and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

You can tell the author is a veterinarian. He knows a great deal about dogs and their behaviors, so it's only a small exaggeration to assume that dogs communicate not only with each other and other animals, but with selected humans. In this case, the narrating dog - named Leo, but eventually Rousseau - is a lot smarter than most humans and after a serious injury begins to remember who he really is. I did not expect this to be so suspenseful, but it is, and by the way a satire on human behavior. Recommended.

This book is an exciting, unusual, and daring experience for me, as it's my first ARC to review and my first book with an animal narrator. The story follows Leo, a.k.a. Rou, and a pug named Shakes as they embark on an adventure through unknown places, from the desert to the city of sins. I love how the story employs satire, making me giggle at parts and serving as a good palette cleanser for someone like me who enjoys mystery crime thrillers. The narrative focuses on the characters' experiences and encounters, making it occasionally gripping and reminiscent of watching an animated movie. However, some parts felt too long, leading to moments of boredom, and the plot felt familiar for an animal POV story. Overall, while a large chunk of the adventure bored me, I still appreciate the satire and slice-of-life elements the story offers.

This book was a crazy , quirky adventure ride right from the start of the book — where we follow a dog in his adventure for revenge for the human that tried to kill him and his own self- discovery of how he was so uniquely different from other dogs. This story has us from the suburbs to the wild dessert to down town Los Vegas ( at least that is what my mind assumed the city was ).

Since I am a dog/ animal lover I have always enjoyed anything with animal narrators — I am always narrating for my own dog too !
I was engaged with our main characters Leo/ Ru and Shakespeare on and off throughout the story — part 1 — living with Mary — was engaging and transitioning into part 2 — Part 2 in the dessert aspects were interesting and terrifying and I became more engaged again as that part of the story came to a close — Part 3 heading into the city to find the villain —I became more engaged in finding out Leo/ Ru`s origins and their travels to get into the city — but later in the story began to miss the fun banter between the dogs —but when I put it all together — I enjoyed the ride and would love just a slice of life update of Shakespeare and Leo/Ru in the future.

Thanks to Netgalley and Thiessen Press | willpassbooks.com for this ARC. This is my honest review.

Homeward Bound meets Remarkably Bright Creatures in this debut novel from Will Pass. In The Second-Smartest Dog that Ever Lived, we're right off to the races as our narrator collects a varied crew of companions in his quest! (iykyk) for revenge and self-discovery.

Animal narrators is not something I expected to be so drawn to this year, but here I am. This book is a nice escape from reality without getting too off-the-wall. I loved the voice of Leo/Rousseau, but most of all Shakespeare who was much more relatable to the dogs in my life and had me laughing out loud on at least a couple occasions. While the premise was certainly gripping, for me, the best parts of the book were the "mundane" parts of day-to-day life, versus the plot elements that were slightly more fantastical. This may have been the pacing of the book itself (I found Part II dragged on a bit long), or just a result of what I found more relatable and interesting.

A small pet peeve of mine which the author employed in several examples was using slightly altered names for things (e.g., PeopleBook, YooTube, a slight renaming of a Kardashian, etc.). Overall, a very intriguing premise and story. 3.5 stars, rounded down.

I'd like to thank NetGalley, Thiessen Press, and the author for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

LOVED THIS STORY SO MUCH. ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I READ THIS YEAR SO FAR. SUPER LOVELY AND AMAZING TO READ. I RECOMMEND EVERYONE TO READ THIS BOOK ASAP.