I hate to be in the minority but I really did not enjoy Dogs. All I knew going into it was that “Dogs traces the fallout of one catastrophic night in the lives of five high school wrestlers.” Every little moment set me on edge waiting for the night to turn “catastrophic.” From running a stop sign, to just the act of smoking a cigarette in a car that seemed like it was written to explode. But the night also seemed like a typical one for these kids.

I was fine with all of this and the writing style, until I came upon a sentence that started “Laminar flow set to foam on the tarmac…” This really annoyed since it was being poetic and cinematic for the sake of it and is clearly just the wrong use of laminar flow (I am a fluid dynamic physicist).

I really don’t understand why authors use words they don’t understand the meaning of. This sentence was emblematic of the book as a whole. He could have still been poetic and written something along the lines of, “Runoff foamed on the tarmac, sloughed down through the storm drain, and breached the low creek bed.” Why use terms you don’t know the meaning of?

I love this style, but it felt forced due to misuse of words, such as when he compared the flavor of a drink to both saltwater and heavy cream. Well which is it?! Those taste nothing alike!!

The “catastrophic” event finally happened at 73% of the way in, and I couldn’t have cared less.

I am sorry that this was not my cup of tea. I also did not mind that the dialogue was never technically spoken, but the constant “he said” or this person “said” got frustrating. Isn’t there another word for “said?” Maybe “uttered” or “exclaimed?” Anything?

Thank you to C. Mallon, NetGalley, Scribner, and Simon & Schuster for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

emotional from start to finish and filled with some really effective writing. would definitely recommend. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. I loved this book and the different characters. It was a relatable coming of age type story that was easy to follow. The themes of trauma and love were definitely clear in the plot and for an LGBTQIA category read, this is one of my absolute favorites. I really loved the characters and felt like I knew them in real life. I didn’t want this book to end.

This was a heavy novel. Hal is a very perceptive young man, but he’s burdened by the weight of a trauma that give his character a certain duality. As readers, we’re privy to Hal’s thoughts and he clearly has this tender soul, he responds to the most pitiful people and the gentlest of gestures. Yet, on the outside, he is indifferent, or worse —violent. He’s a very difficult protagonist to like at times, but this facet of his character serves the story well. Each character (except for Cody John, perhaps) is portrayed in such a wretched way, either victimized by the world or written with a hint of darkness yet imbued with humanity. Mallon has this incredible way of working the poetic out of the ordinary and out of those who aren’t afforded beauty.

Dogs is a short, but tense and relentless work. Most of the novel cooks at a simmer before erupting into a full boil with a shocking final act that brings devastating clarity to the narrative. The text, littered with short, punchy sentences, is easy to read, but Dogs isn’t the sort of book you breeze through. Each sentence, every page seems composed to evoke a reaction in an effective and immediate way. Very Hemingway meets Yanagihara. This book definitely leaves a lasting impression

This is a short and simple novel. I must admit, I don’t like when the author refuses to use proper punctuation when it comes to dialogue. I need italics because otherwise I don’t know which character is saying what. I liked the overall story because it was so eerie and somber. I like depressing books, but I think the book lacked some depth and refinement. Interesting and heartfelt story but I needed more character development.

I stayed up on a work day to finish this book, which should be explanation enough of how much I liked it, but nonetheless going a tad more in depth about why was appreciated never hurt anyone.

The description intrigued me so much it was one of the first requests I sent and I was overjoyed to read the acceptance email in my inbox. I did not start it immediately because there were some books I got approved for previously and I am reading the galleys on a order-of-approval basis.

The unique writing style was the first element that hooked me, followed by the atmosphere, themes, setting, and finally the characters. The way trauma and masculinity intersect, and the raw emotions which transpired from the page compelled me to keep reading until the very end. The character felt real, especially in that "even if we can result unlikable, we matter" kind of way.

All in all, a five stars read.

Dogs is a tale about unresolved trauma and its intersection with masculinity, the way the two coalesce to create something far more massive and damaging than can be conceptualized, and how it’s takes others down with it. Our protagonist, Hal, is the perfect example of an unreliable narrator. The narration follows his uneasy stream-of-consciousness that feels stilted and unnatural, but not without reason. The way this book uses language is immersive and vivid and makes you hang onto every word from the first moment.

Unfortunately, the heaviness of the book is almost too much to bear. Similar books have received critiques about there too much unnecessary trauma. I can’t say I land on either side of the debate without more thought, but I will say that it was a bit much for me, personally. The book aims for you to feel bad after you’re finished reading, but the heavy-handed nature of the trauma in this book almost has the opposite effect. When it seems like every bad thing that can happen will happen, it starts to feel unrealistic.

Overall, I enjoyed this. The author is clearly very technically skilled, demonstrated by the vivid imagery and the foreshadowing and motifs that loop back around. The actual plot, in my opinion, could have been refined to feel more grounded. Trigger warnings are likely necessary.

Thank you to Scribner for the digital ARC. Portions of this review are also posted on Goodreads.

If you’re brave, if you’re curious … read this 208 page contemporary- LGBT - literary fiction novel.
I PROMISE you the BLURB is
‘nice’…..
The truth is this brilliant debut novel is a thousand times more “CATASTROPHIC” than promoted.

Everything — and Nothing — that I could say would be - or not be - spoiler …. as it’s sooo far out in left field …
One just needs to experience it —
IF BRAVE —
IF CURIOUS …..

I was definitely curious —
I also got a little sick (seriously: physically) > at one point. NOT the book’s fault — (but I’ll remember and associate the memory forever)
I was having a type of hypoglycemic-sugar - shaking bodily dysfunction of some kind. ( happens to me maybe once every few years — and it’s awful — all I can do is stuff my face with peanuts so fast -to ‘begin’ to calm down)

Okay … but back to “Dogs” by C. Mallon…..
….the novel takes place in one day — [I read it in two sittings]…with a group of High School kids on the wrestling team together.
Honestly… readers will need to remember to breathe!!!
It’s a ride-of-a novel … like NON OTHER …
I can try to compare it to a few other books — but it’s really in its own league.

The following excerpt is ‘mild’ compared to everything else there is to read ….
“I figured a lot of what kept any person in motion was strong coffee, cigarettes, donuts, and beer, gasoline, any clean shirt, and soda, and soap, and hot water. I figured we were only ever bent on the next good thing. I had a lot of habits to maintain. I had a lot of rituals to get my spine sitting right in my body. I was thinking too quick. My brain was hot plastic”.

“I wasn’t sure what to do with my body. I couldn’t quit twitching. I couldn’t quiet myself down” . . . I RELATED!!!

A dark, sad, brutal atmospherically written ‘one-of-a-kind’ novel!

Take a chance … there is very unsettling brilliance!
C. Mallon as a graduate at the Iowa’s Writers’ Workshop and a fellow of the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center
A new brilliant author has been born!!!!

To summarize in the vaguest ways possible, this book is about tragedies. We start with a group of five friends leaving wrestling practice and follow them through their rituals as they go about the rest of one tragic night.

This book is not going to be for everyone, I'm sure of it. Mostly, I was intrigued by the beautiful cover. But the way this book was written absolutely sucked me in and did not let me go until I had finished it. Literally i read it in one sitting. Extremely sparse formatting and blunt, cutting sentences kept me reading this one until i had been sucked into the story and the characters. Did i cry? yes, twice. not at the ending, but it was close. This was a beautiful and heavy and grief-stricken book, and I'll be thinking about it for a long, long time.

4/5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Scribner for sending me this e-ARC!

i had high hopes for this one but was left feeling a bit disappointed? throughout the entire story, i was really disconnected from hal and his group of friends, so it felt like i was partially paying attention to their story. the writing style is different and i actually enjoyed the uniqueness of it but everything else seemed really out of place and jumbled together, with the story's end seeming to have happened for dramatic effect.

The story starts with a regular enough Thursday night where our five friends leave wrestling practice, follow their group ritual of gas station hot dogs and chocolate milk, drive to our main character’s house for dinner, and get up to teenage antics before tragedy strikes. But tragedy lives in our main character long before any of that.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳. 𝘐𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵.

Being completely honest, I didn’t feel for Hal until halfway through the book when I understood him. I also have a train of thought with a memory recall that adds a ton of unnecessary feeling connecting stations, in the beginning it was sort of like “okay but where is this going and how does it play into the story?” but in a very purposeful way that makes a lot of sense as everything is revealed and the build up to everything going wrong starts to pile up on the mountain. It goes by so fast once everything starts to unravel, I wanted so deeply for things to work out for Hal and the tragedy to be something else. Anything else in the world if it meant he got more time with those who loved him. It couldn’t have gone any other way and it hurt but it was perfect.

Dogs is a title that will not sit easily with many, I don’t think it was ever meant to, but it will leave a lasting impression and be something that is thought about heavily and often. I can feel it.

Exhilarating, devastating, and beautiful.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity and C. Mallon for this masterpiece novel.

2.5 rounding up.

Thanks to NetGalley for the free E-ARC.

I think this had a lot of potential but ultimately I had a hard time connecting due to the writing style and format. It read like slam poetry.

Overall, this was incredibly dark and sad but lacked any emotional response from me.

*Dogs* is both a physical drop and a rising—two motions induced by the same ravenous rage, the same self-mutilating anguish. It’s the thud of collapse and the snap of recoil. And yet, like any hounded creature vibrating with the echo of its own snarl, the story’s core is a tender, brutalized thing.

Less a scrape through the wreckage of a single night than a sharp roll toward its splintering, *Dogs* doesn’t collide but thunders, sled-like, down a ridge: gradual, then inescapable. The language lands with a brutal punch. Staccato sentences. Sharp images that rip through the narrative veil, snagging a gaze already pulled by the pulse of words, disfiguring fixation.

Punctuation is a panting dog—the volley of text, uncut and spaceless, an unhinged jaw. Dialogue, shoved into the narrative body and skinned of its protective quotation marks, is a steaming breath against mashed knuckles. Repeated syntactical shapes form a masticated bone. The effect is dissociative and unforgiving. Brutal. Intoxicating.

Tension becomes a rabid thing, tearing into your gut, your lungs. When the devastation arrives, foretold in every soft jolt, every slide down the slope of *Dogs*’ violent frenzy, it’s both silencing and expected. Your reaction is a fragile, ruptured thing. You bleed.

The physicality of *Dogs,* the metaphor that fleshes itself out, shredded piece by piece, is only sharpened by the dimension of being it carves. The body can outlast the stripping of the self. Muscle can house nothing but spasm and torment. A teenage touch can trace desire or mark its final throb. You can maim and love. You can love and annihilate.

In the end, *Dogs* isn’t a story you simply read; it’s one you endure. It’s a relentless force, an unforgiving surge of language that tears through you, leaving something raw and unnerved in its wake. Every jagged sentence sinks deeper into your body, cutting out an aching place where love and violence intersect, and where survival becomes its own form of destruction. *Dogs* doesn’t let you go—it devours, gnawing at your insides long after the final page has been turned.

Dogs, by C. Mallon, consists of an odd and unlikable cast of characters. Mallon almost spits the words at the reader as they come with no dressing and are often blunt and horrible. I don't understand the title, it seems insulting to dogs. Granted, the dog here is one of the book's more likable creatures.What we are given to read is often unreadable, yet it is clear that this odd group is suffering. This suffering culminates in a horrific accident, where, oddly enough, the author now finds space to include some love among the horrors. Perhaps it had been there all along but just got lost in the character's meanderings and drugged state. Yet it was a welcome relief in what is a harsh book to endure.
Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.

Wow—this book was a gut punch after gut punch. Despite its shorter length, Dogs is packed with raw emotion, making every page feel heavy with meaning. The writing style and narration reminded me of The Catcher in the Rye, with Hal recounting the traumas of his small town in an almost detached, matter-of-fact way. From the blurb, I knew something devastating was coming, but I wasn’t fully prepared for the sheer levels of trauma the story unpacks. By the time I reached the ending, I was seriously considering scheduling a therapy session.

While the book is short, I found the pacing slow at first. The absence of chapters and quotation marks for dialogue took some adjustment, but it wasn’t a deal-breaker. Some of my favorite authors use similar stylistic choices, and it has never stopped me from loving their work.

That said, I have a few strong recommendations before diving in. First, if you need trigger warnings, check them—this book doesn’t hold back. Second, make sure you’re in the right mental space before reading. Dogs is not a happy book. There are no moments of reprieve, no silver linings. It is hauntingly beautiful, but it will devastate you. If you’re looking for a novel that will emotionally wreck you and linger in your thoughts long after the last page, Dogs is it.

I’ll be reflecting on this one for a long time.

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for the free eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I was left sitting in silence, with an overwhelming heaviness in my heart after finishing this book. I couldn’t quite figure out the words to express how I felt. Dogs is only 200 pages, but will stay with me for a while. It’s haunting and absolutely devastating The writing is raw and poetic. A standout feature of this novel. It captures the fragmented and lyrical nature of the character’s thoughts. It paints their emotional turmoil so vividly, you can truly feel every moment of their struggles. Each sentence draws you deeper into their minds and hearts.

This story offers no easy answers or comforting solutions. Instead, you find yourself with broken characters, weighed down by their confusion, pain, and inability to escape themselves. This book is full of pain, desperation, and an isolating sadness that can pull you into some dark places. There’s no catharsis and no moments of redemption that make you feel better. Instead, it’s a quiet relentless sadness. Even the love that’s present is fractured and difficult to recognize.

The beauty of this novel is not just the story, but how it unfolds. The way the author creates an atmosphere using tension filled and stark language is captivating. My one complaint is that some moments felt unfinished or too brief, so they felt a bit out of place. Despite that however, this book is still an unforgettable experience.

This is book is not for everyone. It’s heavy, emotionally draining, and deeply unsettling at times. Some might find the bleak world overwhelming, because there are very few resolutions. It’s the kind of story that sticks with you, in a somewhat uncomfortable and bittersweet way. Ultimately, I felt like this book relayed the quiet devastation of life we sometimes face. It’s a haunting experience and not something I will forget anytime soon.

Thank you NetGalley and Scribner for the ARC!

this book chewed me up and spit me OUT jesus h. I had no idea what to expect going into this one but it sure wasn't THAT.

'dogs' checked so many boxes for me, basically my dream book tbh, but I kinda get the sense that it might not be for everyone, esp because the writing was very stylized and lyrical and sometimes a lot to take in, a book I had to really give my undivided attention to, which was hard sometimes considering the subject matter. definitely bordered on being trauma-p*rn-ish because holy moly, this book was SAD. and so gd poignant and touching and heart-wrenching.

I loved the gritty kinda gross and utterly tragic setting, I loved the characters, their tender moments and complex histories and dynamics and humanness. I loved every single description, I loved the world through Hal's eyes, the observer, the witness, the deep sadness of him, especially as the story went on. I loved the tension building, the knowing that something was going to go wrong and waiting for it, so frickin good. this is a book that will haunt me for a while, I almost wanna go back and re-read it even though I just finished it today (I know that I won't because I don't think I could handle it). I simultaneously couldn't put it down + never wanted it to end.

if you like reading weird little devastations of books, I truly can't recommend this one more. will absolutely read anything else C Mallon puts out.

Complete devastation of a book. What initially ropes you in with a sensory story of the emotional instability of youth eventually evolves into a complex, extremely dark tale of loss, abandonment, and betrayal. One of the most impactful books I have ever read, but likely not one I could ever see myself reading again.

Prior to the evening that would change his life forever, Hal was already seemingly coming away at the seams. In the throes of high school, bonded with his friends on the wrestling team, he has still always felt like an outsider, and many of his peers have felt the same about him. He has a past with emotional instability and outbursts, but by all accounts he has a relatively normal life with his mother and father, his dog Tough Guy, and his best friend Cody James. This book largely takes place over the course of an evening where Hal and his friends spend time together and get into trouble, but with frequent detours into Hal's past and his numerous anecdotes about his peers they encounter through the night. The evening builds to a horrific event that affects everyone in the book in deeply tragic ways.

Wow what a book, this is one of the greats that you just have to sit with for days to reflect upon. The complete emotional devastation and self sabotaging Hal endures, and inflicts, was unyielding. From about the half way point on, the story spirals like a car crash you can't look away from, and the aftermath doesn't let up for a moment. Beyond the writing style of no paragraph breaks, short choppy, descriptive sentences, and a clinical voice, what stood out the most with this book was the sensory writing. It did such a good job painting the world and conveying the emotional state that I often found myself nostalgic for things that I have never before experienced.

Despite one narrative misstep that I personally felt was so jarringly included, it completely disrupted the flow of the story, this was otherwise a masterpiece that I hope finds wide acclaim.

I’m not even really sure where to begin. This book is absolutely gut wrenching and it broke my heart about a million times. I think I loved it? I might still be too close to the material to form a coherent thought about my feelings regarding the story itself. I honestly don’t think i should say anything about that anyway, it’s something you really should read for yourself.

But what I can say is that the writing is absolutely beautiful, I fell right into it from the very first page. I knew right away that I was in expert hands and that the author knew exactly what they were doing. I especially loved the ways we learned about each character through Hal’s eyes. The way he sees the world is so unique and with such a strong sense of empathy that he has absolutely no idea what to do with. Hal’s observations of the small habits and details of his friends and the world around him made everything feel so real and visceral.

An example of this attention to detail that hit me particularly strongly for some reason was Hal’s observation of one of his friend’s (Dylan’s) habit of hitting his nails. I was struck by his noting not only that Dylan bit his nails, but how severely he did it. It was a small detail, but it showed the depth of his awareness of those around him. Everything was illustrated vividly, and the prose felt poetic without being pretentious. There was an artfulness to the way the sentences were crafted, getting the author’s voice without the cost of losing the narrator’s. It was a masterful balance and made for a great reading experience. I fully intend to read any future work from this author.

My only issue with the style of the writing, and the reason I didn’t give this book 5 stars, was the formatting. There were no paragraph breaks except between the major scenes, and no grammatical indications of dialogue, which made the text visually difficult to read. It did feel like a distinct and intentional stylistic choice that made sense to reflect the mind state and thought process of the narrator, and it was very effective in that regard, but, from an accessibility standpoint, it was a little less than ideal.

I should also say, without getting into the details of the story, that this book is not for the faint of heart. When you sit down to read this you need to be ready to cry, it will be inevitable.

This story is going to stick with me for a long time, I’m certain that I will be thinking about it for years to come, and I look forward to reading any future titles from this author!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc. All thoughts are my own.