Top Dog [Paperback]

Jerry Jay Carroll (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1998

Alice in Wonderland meets Wall Street in Jerry Jay Carroll's brilliant and witty debut novel. A high-powered executive gets a real lesson in looking out for #1 when he wakes up as a dog. Gone are the stock reports, limos and cocktail parties. In their place are fairy-tale forests, magical creatures, and hideous monsters. It's a world where you're either good or evil. Our hero decides to explore both options before choosing...


* Carroll is a powerful new voice--acclaimed by heavyweights such as Richard North Patterson, Martin Cruz Smith, and Entertainment Weekly
* A stylish, funny combination of parable and moral tale...Imaginative, seductively written, and a pleasure to read.

--Richard North Patterson
* [Carroll's] tight, colorful prose proves zesty and absorbing. His plot has touches of that Tolkienesque irresistibility, that thing that keeps you up past bedtime turning pages.--San Francisco Chronicle
* His next novel, Security Concerns, will be an Ace trade paperback (7/98)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

William Bogart Ingersol (Bogey) is a cynical, unsentimental Wall Street insider whose major preoccupation is making deals and adding to his substantial wealth--or it was, before he found himself transported to the Fair Lands, trapped in a dog's body, and of interest to both sides in a war between Good and Evil. Bogey figures his priority is to get back home, get back into human form, and get on with his life: "When I have a problem, there's only one question I ask--how do I solve it? Goodness doesn't enter into it, unless there's some PR angle you need to watch." He needs to figure out who is likeliest to win and get him out of this mess. As he continues dealing with both sides, however, he begins having second thoughts.

This is an unabashed morality play in the form of a novel. It works because Jerry Jay Carroll makes Bogey such a recognizable modern Everyman, and because the representatives of Good and Evil are real characters, not just cutouts. Bogey's running internal commentary on the straightforward, Tolkienesque fantasy setting and characters surrounding him, and on his former life, also helps keep things from getting too preachy. --Nona Vero

From Kirkus Reviews

The Shaggy Dog meets J.R.R. Tolkien in this entertaining debut effort from San Francisco Chronicle reporter Carroll. The premise is wildly silly and metaphorically transparent, and has absolutely no right to succeed on any level, but Carroll--through a combination of reasonably swift pacing and gruffly funny internal monologues--pulls it off. It's like this: Bill ``Bogey'' Ingersol, a corporate-takeover maven with a killer instinct, has run afoul of the SEC; but before he can get sent to the clink, he's sucked into an alternate universe, where he discovers that he's been transformed into a very big dog. The Wall Street predator suddenly becomes a real one, snacking on whatever he can scare up in the forest, spending a fair chunk of the novel's early pages fleeing a passel of assorted otherworldly monsters. Everything looks vaguely Middle Ages, right down to the rustic peasant whom Ingersol eventually hooks up with. From a wicked wizard named Zalthazar, Ingersol learns that humans--Two Legs to the animal kingdom--were the victors in a struggle against the infinitely evil Mogwert, mainly because the Mogwert were inflexible in their battle tactics. Hence the arrival of Ingersol, claimed from the combative world of high finance to show the Mogwert how to triumph in the upcoming Final Battle with the Two Legs, who've become complacent in the ``Fair Lands.'' Ingersol, however, is completely repulsed by the dark plan and agrees to act as a double-agent for the humans, a mission that leads him to run-ins with some of the more alarming horrors of the universe. Interspersed with these high-jinks are Ingersol's recollections of his parallel life in New York, where his human form lies in a deep sleep. The Devil himself shows up eventually, and Ingersol finds himself awkwardly in charge of forces much darker than venture capitalism. A whole new chapter in the fantasy genre. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 330 pages
• Publisher: Ace (March 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441005136
• ISBN-13: 978-0441005130
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,737,339 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book, March 13, 1998

By 

Jon Huston "[e-mail]" (Keavy, Kentucky) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Top Dog (Paperback)

Starts off running (literally) and doesn't stop 'til the end. I wanted it to continue at the end (always a good sign). The "hero" is continuously challenged as to whether to follow good or evil, and responds in a sensible rather than altruistic fashion. The side story of him as a very intelligent dog trying to guide a "master" away from danger had unique differences from the standard dog tries to help master plot.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very amusing and intelligent satire., June 8, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Top Dog (Paperback)

"Top Dog" is an excellent example of what great fiction should be: creative, amusing, completely immersive, yet containing the seeds of some very serious ideas. It makes for some wonderful reading, and in the end, is actually quite thought provoking as well. Our hero, a wall-street raider with a razor mind and a weak set of ethics, wakes up to find himself incarnated as a huge shaggy dog. That's bad enough, but he's apparently been relocated to a new planet as well, complete with talking animals and storybook characters. Good news: he's a valued asset in this new home. Bad news: Satan is the one doing the valuing. In short order, our dog friend must learn his way around this magical world, which is enmeshed in a titanic battle between Good and Evil. Now, if only he could determine which would give him the best return on investment. A very intelligent, playful and ultimately serious read. I recommend it to anyone who is looking for something out of the ordinary this summer.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Really loved this book!, November 20, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Top Dog (Paperback)

This is a book that makes you step back and re-evaluate your priorities, while entertaining you at the same time. I enjoyed the mixture of fantasy and "real-world" settings, though the comparison made me wonder which world is in fact the more fantastic. For anyone who enjoys a little off-beat fantasy or even a morality tale, this is a worthwhile read.