Even the Dogs by Jon McGregor

Grim. Depressing. The story of a group of heroin addicts, alcoholics, psychopaths, and street people. The injection of heroin is described in disturbing detail. Not exactly Dickens' Drood in the opium den. Dickens softened the impact of Drood's drug use by including his characteristic virgin female and comic relief. There is no softening of anything in "Even the Dogs". Don't even wish for a happy ending. Nobody gets out of this one alive or recovered or even with any hope.

Which is not to say that the writing is not good. I think it is. The author does an excellent job of portraying the single-minded obsession of the addicts with acquiring their next fix, at whatever cost. I question the decision to turn this into a novel. There is quite a bit of repetition. Considering the distasteful subject matter I wonder why it wasn't shortened and presented as, for instance, the centerpiece of a short story collection, including other stories that could have buffered the hopelessness of "Even the Dogs". I can't see this selling many copies or being commercially successful as a novel.

One thing that the author does which is interesting is the inclusion of a "Greek Chorus" of dead addicts that comment on the action and scenes. That is the basic structure of the novel. One of the group has died alone in what we in the US would call a "crack house" and a small amount of backstory is woven into the narrative and commented on by the chorus as the body is discovered and autopsied.

So, I have to give it a good rating because of the fine writing, but I would not recommend this to any but the most hardened of readers.

Link to Amazon: Even the Dogs: A Novel