Customer Reviews

Dog Eat Dog

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4 star:		(3)
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Edward Bunker is the real deal when it comes to crime writers, having served hard time in the California penal system, and it shows in this bleak work. A trio of reform school friends are reunited many years later, when the leader is released after 12 years in jail. One is a Teamster thug/family man, the second is a junkie psychopath, and the leader is the brains and charisma. The tension builds, and the threat of violence is everywhere as they embark on a few scams together and dislike between the family man and junkie becomes more and more open. In a story like this, there is only possible outcome, so the bleak ending comes as no surprise. It's reminiscent of the movie "Heat", where the reader starts to like some of the criminals and then sees them topple for almost absurd reasons. One small caveat about this book is that Bunker is none too subtle in preaching his critique of the criminal justice system. Points that are made over and over through the character's mouths are: (1) They were bad kids, but the system made them into adult criminals; (2) There is no such thing as justice; (3) In the criminal world your best friend can turn on you at the drop of a hat; (4) The "3 strikes" law only serves to make career criminals more desperate when down tot he last strike. If you don't mind the proselytizing, this is a great, nasty, page-turner.

Edward Bunker's "Dog Eat Dog" may lack the sophisticated prose and style of a more seasoned crime writer, but its realism more than makes up for it. These men are real criminals with real evil in their hearts. They are not cartoonish buffoons like they would be in an Elmore Leonard novel. Bunker knows the hell of cocaine addiction, he knows the desperation that drives men to commit robbery, he knows the allure of the criminal life, he knows there is no true "honor" among thieves. This book is like a kick in the teeth. Unlike some cartoonish crime novels, "Dog Eat Dog" is not meant to entertain. It is an uncompromising portrayal of what it really is like to be a criminal, and how difficult (almost impossible) it is to distance yourself from the criminal lifestyle. It's not surprising that Bunker is a reformed ex-criminal. It's doubtful anyone else could have written such unflinching realism.

With Dog Eat Dog Edward Bunker shows us his talent for writing down-and-dirty, there are no keeping the punches in this shocking novel about three friends and ex-cons that come up with a plot to rip off other criminals. The book does side slightly with the criminals, but it does not glorify them as misunderstood good guys, it shows them as mean and evil at times, but also let us see that they are human, and that not all the bad that is inside them is of their own doing. Bunker might not master the language as well as seaseoned crime-fiction writers, but this adds to the authenticity of the book too, making it seem more "there", while it leads us towards the ending. The book is a character study too, and we see some truly terrible characters here, even a few without any "good" sides. It is a brutal and shocking book, and not for every one.

_Dog Eat Dog_ tracks three ex-felons who known each other since 'gladiator school' (reform school). Determined to finally land a serious score and - since they're under threat of California's 'three strikes' law anyhow - they decide upon a risky, violent course of action: to rip off drug dealers. After all, who will the dealers complain to?

Given the divergent set of personalities, this miniature crime family spins crazily out of control. And just when you're certain you know what will happen next, rest assured: you do not.

After reading this work, I read Bunker's autobiographical _Education of a Felon_ and discovered that many of the characters, schemes and plot twists are rooted in real people and true events. Anyone interested in Bunker should read _Education_ and Bunker's _No Beast So Fierce_ is also excellent (out of print in the U.S., but I believe available via amazon.co.uk).

Violent, realistic, shocking and often darkly hilarious, this is probably the single greatest work of crime-fiction ever written.

That ex-con Edward Bunker clearly has his following is indisputable, but leave me out of the "Dog Eat Dog" pack. I'll give credit to Bunker for some originality: rare is the novel that casts the bad guys as heroes. And if writing a novel with neither a plot nor an ending is original, then score points for that also. But setting that aside, one wonders exactly what the author was trying to accomplish as he chronicles the meanderings of three life-long criminals up and down the California coast.

Bunker's fractured odyssey starts out with teenagers Troy Cameron, Gerald "Mad Dog" McCain, and Charlie "Diesel" Carson in reform school, establishing roots in their chosen profession of crime. The story picks up again years later, a few days before Troy, the brains of the operation, is about to be paroled from San Quinton. Troy, unrepentant to the core, gathers the gang and shows his genius by coming up with the brilliant idea of - drum roll - robbing drug dealers! The reader is supposed to believe that this is some breakthrough in the history of vice - that we've all just emerged from caves and have never heard of drug lords, drug wars, street gangs, and the rest of the subterfuge that runs with the drug trade. Ever the mastermind, Troy determines a failsafe strategy - he'll track the target's movements ahead of time, thereby knowing exactly where and when to strike! Regrettably, Bunker renders dialogue as mind-numbing as the non-story, and can't seem to figure out whether he wants us to like, feel sorry for, or despise his three stooges of crime.

But even this could be passable were it not for Bunker's feeble attempt at making excuses for his thugs, who he casts as the victims - victims of parental neglect and jack-booted oppression under the guise of "three strike" laws - for in Bunker's world, the bad guys are misunderstood and the cops are sadists. Banal where it should have been brutal and simply silly instead of sobering, "Dog Eat Dog" feels like an answer to a question no body cared to ask. Skip this one and try Charlie Huston for bona fide grit tautly told.

After reading Edward Bunker's autobiography Education of a Felon, I was looking forward to reading his fiction books.

Dog Eat Dog is brilliant on so many levels. I read it straight through all at once, because I wanted to know what was going to happen next, and I couldn't put the book down.

After finishing the book, I tossed it into my Goodwill donation box, because I probably won't read it a second time, unlike his autobiography, which I've read so many times that the cover is falling off the book.

So why was I ultimately disappointed in this book, even though I would still recommend it? With the best anti-heroes, you're rooting for them even when they're the bad guys. As I was reading this novel, I kept thinking about the characters in Steinbeck's Tortilla Flat, who are similar to the characters in Dog Eat Dog in a few ways. As far as society, they're worthless. Drunks, drug addicts and criminals. Yet by the end of Tortilla Flat, the reader is totally on the side of the bums, even though they don't do anything except drink, steal and sleep with women. The characters are so compelling that you care what happens to them.

In the end, this novel disappoints because the reader never develops any kind of personal investment in the lives of the characters. It's still worth reading just because the writing is top-notch, and this makes an interesting companion read with Bunker's autobiography.

My all time favorite writer is William Faulkner. Very simply he had a way with words. Currently, only William Styron comes close. Sophie's Choice embeds itself on your psyche the same way The Sound and the Fury throws your emotions spinning down a steep hill. William Styron tells us that Edward Bunker, an ex-con, is the only one who can really make us understand what an ex-con experiences. Bunker does more than that. His "way with words" is remarkable. In five or ten years grad students will be attempting to explain the subtleties of Dog Eat Dog. For now, its a great read and a great story. Like any great fiction, be ready for the roller coaster ride

Three teenagers--Troy Cameron, Gerald McCain, and Charley Carson--meet in school and become life long friends, believing that nothing can stop them as long as they stick together. I can think of at least two novels with similar launching points, Celebrity and The Last Convertible, but neither can match the brutality and power of Edward Bunker's latest, Dog Eat Dog. You see, the school that brings this trio together is a California reform school. Troy is in the early days of his chosen career as a master thief, and Gerald and Charley, also known as "Diesel" and "Mad Dog", have chosen to follow him wherever he leads.

Years later, the three are still together, and, despite having spent most of their lives in prison, still looking for a big score. Troy, fresh out of San Quentin, approaches his buddies with what he thinks is a foolproof plan--from now on, their victims will be their fellow criminals. Dressed as policemen, they rip off a local drug dealer. Emboldened by their success, they enter into a deal with Chepe, a powerful crimelord, agreeing to kidnap the son of Mike Brennan, a smuggler who owes Chepe money. During the kidnapping attempt, Mad Dog lives up to his name and needlessly shoots and kills a man, who they later discover was Mike Brennan. Their plan in ruins, they return the child to his mother. Enraged, Chepe demands that Troy and Diesel kill Mad Dog. Faced with Chepe's displeasure, the two decide they must terminate their associate.

Fans of violent, hard-hitting crime novels will love Dog Eat Dog. Bunker, a former criminal who lived the way his characters do, writes from life experience in spare, but literate prose. As William Styron states in his introduction, Bunker deals with two themes: "...the wretched abandonment of our children..." and "...the perpetuation of violence and cruelty...". He portrays a brutal world, where loyalty is a matter of convenience and sudden death is a fact of life. If you were unnerved by Reservoir Dogs or Pulp Fiction, stay away from Dog Eat Dog. If you like realistic, gritty portrayals of urban reality, pick it up. But be ready--in Edward Bunker's world, there are no happy endings.

This is a gritty novel. This book is almost without parallel and unlike any other crime fiction that I have had the pleasure to read. Don't think about it, buy it and read it. This is the best author writing hard-core fiction alive. This is Chandler's protégée if you had to name one; only he is taking the side of the criminal here. This novel is hard, its like getting into a bar fight and being smacked around a few times.
I am not too much up on giving away the plots in my reviews, especially if I enjoyed the book. Let me just say that this novel is hard to start. I think that is because it is so unusual. It kind of reminded me of Motherless Brooklyn in that way. The characters do not allow for very much in the way of empathy with the reader. But the writing does suck you in after a few pages and then you are hooked on a hard ride.

Quentin Tarantino has said that Block is one of his many inspirations, and that is why I pick this novel up a few years ago. In fact I think Block was Mr. White or some color in his 'Reservoir Dog's' flick. So if you saw that film that is a good indicator as to what you will be confronted with here. Only instead of the restrictive nature surrounding a film (2 hours) Block takes his time and develops a character study any hard boiled writer should envy.

Edward Bunker shows some promise in this grim tale about three ex-felons surviving at the edge of CA society. The strengths are the plot and Bunker's understanding of his characters and their motivation. The weaknesses are mostly mechanical. The writer is not an accomplished or stylistic writer which makes for at times an uneven read. But, come to think of it, this is not altogether incongruous with the awkward lives that he depicts. The dialogue and characterizations are sometimes cliche but are probably more realistic than the reader might care to know. Looking forward to what progress this writer might make over the years.