Stray Dogs [Paperback]

John Ridley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 11, 2003

"It's the heat that makes you crazy. I don't know what it is, but it works that way for man and animal alike. I've seen some peculiar things on a hot day too. I've seen a scorpion sting itself to death. It just keeps drivin' its tail into its body again and again. A little killer killing itself. And what a man'll do on a hot day. A man could get his self killed just for rubbing shoulders with another. . . ."

A loner, a drifter, a gambler--John Stewart asks little of life. But when his '64 Mustang busts a radiator hose in the middle of the empty Nevada desert, he prays to God, Buddha, L. Ron. And rolls into the tiny town of Sierra. Where he finds . . . nothing. A gas station whose former owner is lying low in the cemetery. A strip of barren, dust-blown store fronts. A truck stop cafe with more flies than customers.

Stewart wants out. Sucker-punched in a rigged poker game, he's got to get to Vegas to settle a debt. Or else.

Then in walks Grace, a seductive knockout who can read fortunes in faces. In the next twenty-four hours, Stewart becomes ensnared in a web of dirty double-crosses, cold propositions, and desperate souls--deadly ground where murder is just one gasp away.

A stunning, fast-paced novel, Stray Dogs unfolds with unrelenting tension, memorable characters, and shocking twists of plot. John Ridley has created a hypnotic story that is pure noir, from its first page until its shattering climax.


From the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

A busted radiator hose strands a drifter in a spooky Nevada town in this first novel from a Hollywood denizen. Soon to be an Oliver Stone movie starring Nick Nolte.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

When John Stewart's "'sixty-four-and-a-half" Mustang convertible breaks down in Sierra, Nevada, in the heart of the desert, on the hottest day of the year, all hell breaks loose. In hock up to his ears, Stewart has come up with the cash to settle with a Vegas shyster--the only thing is, he is stuck in this hellhole of a town where everyone seems mad and that he can't seem to get out of. To complicate matters, he gets mixed up with the bored wife of a rich real estate man who wants her husband dead; a cocky, hot-tempered, jealous local boy who thinks Stewart is hitting on his girl; and a convenience store robbery. To top things off, the mob is coming for him. You get the picture. This nasty piece of work probably owes more to films like Blood Simple and Red Rock West than to James M. Cain and Jim Thompson. Benjamin Segedin --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: One World/Ballantine; Uncorrected proof. edition (November 11, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345413466
• ISBN-13: 978-0345413468
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,313,327 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You should be more careful...., July 11, 2000

By 

"williedynamite" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stray Dogs (Hardcover)

John Ridley's Stray dogs is one of those short, hardboiled books reminescent of a dime store novel from the 30's. It's one of those novels that you either will love or hate. I happened to love it. The chapters and long on cynicism and short on description and detail. Ridley's writing is very compact and brief. It feels at times like you are reading a script because of all of the one word descriptions. It's no coincidence that Ridley wrote the script to the movie which is almost exactly like the book. The story is rather simple it's about a drifter whose car breaks down on the outskirts of a dustbowl town named Sierra and what happes to him in the 24 hrs after. A good read but nothing life altering. John Ridley is a good writer with a distinct voice. If you are looking for a entertaining read check it out.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A masterful style and a gripping noir tale!, June 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Stray Dogs (Hardcover)

This is an absolutely excellent debut for Mr. Ridley! I'm surprised people didn't like this book. Sure, it's quite profane and vulgar--and personally I'm not a fan of profanity--but you can't help but notice how it flowed with the feel of the book. Ridley's profound descriptions forced you into experiencing every rotten, painful, annoying, surreal misadventure that John Stewart (the protagonist) had to endure! Sure, the hero was a sleaze, a lowdown swindling loser--but we still got his sympathy, simply because of all the crap he had to go through! We don't want anyone to endure that! I particularly liked the hero--I'd rather have Ridley do more with this character, but then again I've yet to read "Love Is A Racket." But Stray Dogs' hapless antihero Stewart was a loser whose near lack of conscience made him likeable--a luckless hustling gambler who uses people--but doesn't kill. It was like he was some kind of Jerry Springer, the only "normal" guy in the book! I could go on and on about this book--and later probably will, but I highly recommend this seamy little noir yarn! I can't say I didn't like the ending, though, since it worked so well with the story, but still. You'll see once you read it. GET THE BOOK (unless you're highly offended by profanity; the language is beyond coarse!)

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More than the average thriller., June 18, 2002

By 

Robert P. Beveridge "xterminal" (Lakewood, OH) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stray Dogs (Hardcover)

John Ridley, Stray Dogs (Ballantine, 1997)

Stray Dogs is the epitome of the needless book. There is nothing to be learned from it, no deep meaning involved, no moral to the story. A guy on his way to pay off some loansharks he's into has a breakdown on the outskirts of a very strange little town in Nevada. While waiting for his car to be repaired, he finds himself in a unique situation (for him, anyway): he meets a beautiful young woman, then meets her husband. Each wants to hire him to kill the other. Nothing much to it, really.

So why is Stray Dogs, then, such a fine piece of work? It is mostly because John Ridley knows how to keep the pages turning without ever dropping into genre fiction; there's no real genre this book would fit into anyway. It has elements of hardboiled detective fiction, a dash of the action thriller here and there, and it's loaded with the weirdness one expects from many "postmodern" European authors, but it never settles down. It just keeps moving along as fast as it can. As well, Ridley knows when to quit. Stray Dogs is a very short novel, and its brevity adds to the punch it packs. The ending may be a little too pat for some readers, but it does have a poetic justice-style twist to it that will allow the majority to at least get a cynical smile out of it. Good stuff. *** ½