Thursday, November 12, 2015

Book Review -- "The Red Collar"

    As I said last week, I would not be able to post the book review until today, but I have a good book to post about.  Today's book is a novel written by the French author Jean Christophe Rufin.  Mr. Rufin is an award winning writer as well as one of the co-founders of Doctors Without Borders.
    In "The Red Collar"  there are three main human characters and a dog.  When the novel opens, a former war hero is being held prisoner for a crime which is unknown.  Outside the prison, the man's dog howls and barks almost continually.  A judge has arrived in order to figure out why the prisoner has committed the unknown crime.
    During the course of his investigation, the judge will discover a woman who has her own secrets and who can shed light on what may have motivated the prisoner to commit the crime that is under investigation.  All the while, the dog keeps barking.  However, the judge develops a relationship with and growing admiration for the loyalty of the dog.
     I greatly enjoyed this novel.  I found it to be very well-written and paced.  What I liked was that the author didn't reveal the crime the prisoner committed until well into the novel.  It keeps you guessing.  Also, I think the book has a great ending.  I hope to read some of the other novels this author has written in the future.
     When I can read a novel like this, it makes me remember why I became a writer in the first place and why I love writing so much.

No comments: