Customer Reviews

Top Dog

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

"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.

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.

"Top Dog" is the story of William Bogart "Bogey" Ingersol, a morally-challenged businessman, who wakes up as a large dog running through a forest. He soon learns he's stumbled into a cliche fantasy world, during the final battle between Good and Evil. It's fun to have a person who doesn't automatically reject Evil, and Bogey's adjustment to his new body puts an interesting spin on the story. There is also a moral message: Good is good, Evil is evil, big business and lawyers are often on the side of Evil, and riches aren't really worth much if you're not Good. This is not earthshaking news.

Fun though "Top Dog" is, it's nothing very special. The basic story has been done hundreds of times, often much better. Caroll's fantasy world, though realistic enough to be grubby (thank goodness!), never becomes fully real; whole towns can burn, and we don't care, because the inhabitants seem like plot devices, not people. The Fair Lands remain a sketchy backdrop for the characters -- Bogey, a bumbling inventor, an angel, an evil wizard, and the devil -- who are themselves thinly disguised cliches. (Note: the only significant female character in "Top Dog" is Bogey's rich, spoiled wife, seen in flashbacks to Bogey's life in our world.)

The moral issues are drawn in a very simplistic, black-or-white manner. While the question of why god allows evil is raised, it is never satisfactorily addressed; Caroll sidesteps it with a climactic battle and Bogey's personal moral reformation. And that reformation...despite his constant talk of costs and benefits over morals, I never quite believed Bogey would join Evil. Since he makes such an issue of choosing sides, I hoped that either he would be more of a stinker, or that Caroll would show Evil as the seductive, adaptive, terrifying force it really is. No such luck, unfortunately; it becomes a bad cartoon.

Basically, "Top Dog" is a minor, though amusing, variation on a very standard plot. It's not bad, not by a long shot, but it could have been a lot better.

The metamorphosis from Al Dunlap to Gandhi requires the hero to visit Fantasy-World, not in his human body but as a dog which turns out to be a great advantage in his mission to lead the good boys to a victory against the bad guys, headed by the devil who prefers to impersonate Marilyn Monroe or Elvis (even Adolf Hitler!) instead of taking care of his troops. How original.

It takes regular bottom-line managers not more than a common heart attack to learn that money/power isn't everything. It seems to me that this book is written for "the rest of us" who always yearn for a confirmation that being poor has its charm.

Bad story, well told.

TOP DOG is one of those books I keep buying for myself (because I give it to people who never heard of it) and for others. It's one of the most creative and entertaining books I've ever read. In fact, it can be read as pure entertainment so it's easy to overlook how deftly the writing and plotting are done. It's a fantasy, sort of, but if you're not a big fan of fantasy, don't worry; neither am I. It's much more than that. It's a fantasy only in that certain fantastical elements are used to tell the story. No swords and sorcery... well, some sorcery, but it's really a story about the nature of Good and Evil and the constant battle between Them, and how one not-so-good guy gets roped into having to make a choice.

I discovered another book by this author, INHUMAN BEINGS, on a remainder shelf, read it, loved it and the writing, and went to find anything else he had written. Sadly, there are only 3; INHUMAN BEINGS, TOP DOG, and its sequel DOG EAT DOG, a sequel. In all of them the writing and plotting are wonderful, and the author's ideas and his blending of the normal and the uncanny are remarkable. All of the books also have a generous helping of humor.

I highly recommend any of these books.

If you're tired of fantasy books written for kids and adults (like Harry Potter), I think you'll like this. This book is really different and fun, and is great for a light, refreshing summer read.

A Person from our universe transported to fantasy world. Sounds a bit familiar, right? Well, this is one of these books - with a twist. The twist? Our hero, Bill Ingersol isn't an average person - he's a wall street shark - who's still not sure whether to go with the good guys or the bad guys. And he's also been turned to a dog - no human can understand what he's trying to say. This sounds intriguing, I'm certain - and indeed, the book delivers what's promised! The writing is witty and original, the hero is certainly not the classic hero type, and the book ends before you realize it, it's that good! Now I'm sorry I haven't bought the second book already.. have to wait till I get it! So - go get "Top Dog", you're going to love it!

Although I found the premise of this book promising -- a human wakes up as a dog in a fantasy world -- I couldn't even finish it. The writing style was one of my least favorite, being terse with virtually no descriptions, and little emotion. The main character was unlikeable, shallow and predictable. From the beginning I was rather irritated as the behaviour of the animals, take the wolves for example, was not not realistic. It was frustrating as the book had such great potential, but didn't quite get there.

After reading (and very much enjoying) this author's book "Inhuman Beings", I had to go out and find more of his writings. This story, the prequel to his current "Dog Eat Dog", had me smiling and reading with a sense of glee. The story may be one we've heard before, but never quite told with the hero (anti-hero?) having such a unique perspective. And Jerry Jay Carroll is one of the most entertaining storytellers to come along in the past few years.