Review by Library Journal Review
DEBUT In her fiction debut, animal behaviorist McConnell (The Other End of the Leash) introduces an animal behaviorist character named Maddie McGowan. In addition to working with dogs and their owners to solve behavior issues, Maddie also is training her border collie Jack to compete in sheepdog trials. At one of these competitions in rural Wisconsin, she witnesses a friend and mentor named George being shot and killed. While she initially thinks his death was a hunting accident, Maddie begins to question that assumption when strange, ominous things happen. When she takes in a badly injured, frightened German shepherd, Cisco, as a foster, her life becomes more complicated. There's something about Cisco that has a number of people interested, and it's clear that there's more to the mystery of how and what he is than she could guess. As Maddie digs into the mystery of Cisco, she realizes that his secrets tie in to George's fate. VERDICT There is a fair amount of table-setting of the work Maddie does and thus a slow build-up to the mystery, but readers who enjoy determined protagonists and those who are fans of dogs will find much to love here.--Jane Jorgenson
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A woman with a difficult past finds the peace she's longed for with a non-human partner. The residents of the Wisconsin farm where Dr. Maddie McGowan lives include a small band of sheep, a guard dog, and Jack, the border collie Maddie takes to sheepdog trials. After George, her mentor--a top handler and breeder of working border collies--is shot by a sniper at a trial in front of horrified spectators, Maddie's life spirals downward. Her thoughts return to her appalling marriage in New Mexico, where her rodeo-star husband mentally abused her while professing his undying love, until he left her for dead in a chest freezer. When she was found by a neighbor after a day and a half, her husband was arrested. Maddie changed her life by financing a college degree in animal behavior studies with the money from her divorce and starting a business working with troubled animals. The director of the nearby shelter where Maddie volunteers asks her help with Cisco, a malnourished shepherd who refuses to eat and is clearly dangerous. Chris, the shelter volunteer who found Cisco, is thrilled when Maddie agrees to take him because she thinks he might be a trained scent dog. Although she's crushed by George's murder, her work with Cisco and her support from her friend Grace and neighbor Vince keep her focused on solving the puzzle. Along the way, she picks the brain of George's business partner, Tom, who trains dogs for police work, and has a fling with Chris, who admits he was an addict and found Cisco in a drug warehouse. When Cisco is dognapped, Maddie, seeing a link to George's death, risks her life to discover the truth. A moving fiction debut that explores the deep connection between dogs and their human partners. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
