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Disciple of the Dog is R. Scott Bakker's second non-fantasy novel (after 2008's Neuropath). While most fantasy readers are probably still most familiar with the author for his Second Apocalypse series, venturing out of the fantasy genre for this noir-ish detective novel is an excellent idea because it's an entertaining and unique read that will keep you fascinated to the very end.

The novel's two main attractions are its protagonist, Disciple ("Diss") Manning, and its prose. As for the first, Disciple is a foul-mouthed, highly cynical, down-on-his-luck private detective with a unique ability: he is unable to forget anything he's heard. Regardless (or thanks to) this gift (or curse), he is a grim, misanthropic serial womanizer who'd rather be brutally honest and say "oh well" later than compromise now. While cynical, jaded private eyes aren't anything new, R. Scott Bakker takes things to an entirely new level here. Let's just say that if you don't enjoy books with unlikable main characters, Disciple of the Dog isn't for you.

However, Disciple's attitude leads directly to the second big strength of this novel: the prose. Disciple of the Dog sounds as if it's narrated by the late, great George Carlin at his sharpest and darkest. Disciple's observations are often incisive, very funny and painfully true. While the novel has a solid missing person/whodunnit plot, the true pleasure of reading it is the fact that there's a quotable line on every page. Diss's unique ability also leads to an interesting narrative device: he can "play back" conversations in his mind. As the plot develops, some of those earlier conversations take on new meanings or reveal additional details.

As for the plot: two distraught parents hire Disciple to look for their missing daughter, Jennifer Bonjour. Complicating the case is the fact that "Dead Jennifer" (as Diss affectionately calls her) was a member of a bizarre charismatic cult called the Framers, who believe that what we perceive as reality is actually an illusion, and that we live five billion years in our own future. Diss teams up with a journalist (after he tries to seduce her, of course) to investigate the cult and the circumstances of Jennifer's disappearance.

In the end, Disciple of the Dog is more interesting as a look into the life and mind of Diss Manning than as an actual murder mystery, but the novel's plot does have a few surprising twists that'll keep you guessing until the very end. Thanks to Diss Manning's dark but often funny tone, this book is simply a blast from start to finish. If you're in the mood for a noir-ish detective novel with a fascinating, highly cynical main character, grab a copy of Disciple of the Dog.

If Philip Marlowe were to roam the back streets of today's cities, he might bear at least a slight resemblance to Disciple Manning, the protagonist of R. Scott Bakker's mystery novel, Disciple of the Dog. They're both tough-talking tough guys with a special affinity for the dark recesses of society. Manning is a troubled ex-soldier -- he fought in Iraq in the first Gulf War -- with a ceaseless hunger for pot and sex. He is, of course, fiendishly handsome, but he still manages to alienate women with his crude and usually unwelcome honesty.

However, Manning's most notable distinguishing feature is his memory, which sets him apart from Philip Marlowe and, apparently, the rest of the human race as well. It's been the subject of university lab tests for many years: he cannot forget ANYTHING. Now, this is not your run-of-the-mill eidetic memory, which is fundamentally visual. In fact, his memory of the written word doesn't seem to be the equal of his memory of the conversations and confrontations he's had in the course of three decades of a topsy-turvy life. He remembers everything ever said to him by anybody. Everything. Everybody. And not just the words, but the expressions, the body language, the intonation, and the context, including everyone else in the picture.

Disciple Manning is not a happy man. In fact, from time to time he despairs of humanity, having what he believes to be a far more accurate picture of human behavior than just about anyone else, and as a result has slit his wrists on several occasions. Somehow, though, he manages to pull through.

In Disciple of the Dog, Manning is hired by the wealthy parents of a 21-year-old woman who has disappeared from the cult headquarters where she's been living for two years. The scene is a small town in rural Pennsylvania, a former industrial center now shrunk to a fraction of its previous size. In the course of investigating the cult, a small operation led by a former UC Berkeley professor of . . . guess what? cults . . . Manning encounters another unusual organization that has set down roots in the same town. It's a neo-Nazi "church" led by a clique of ex-cons from the Aryan Brotherhood, and it appears to own the town. Manning rockets between believing that first one, then the other of these evil-seeming organizations is responsible for the young woman's disappearance and, he firmly believes, her death.

Bakker's writing style is lively, to say the least. The tale is told in Manning's interior voice, which is rich with imagery, profane, and endlessly engaging. The story is intricately plotted, though that's difficult for the reader to see until Manning reveals key points in retrospect as he sorts through his memories. The book is full of surprises. It's a lot of fun.
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Interesting book , the english of Bakker is not really easy for a person like me because english is not my native tongue , I didn't understand all the grossy jokes of Disciple but I really liked the guy . Yes , he is self-centered , I felt like he was a little mytho but he is intrigued , I'd like to know more about his time in the army , why he went to jail and about his suicide attempts . Under all his talkings you feel man that is not well
I liked when Diss met Xenonphon Baars , the guy who leads the cult , and you feel Bakker is interested about religion and cults .
Interesting book , that I would have appreciated perhaps better translated but I will read the second one because Disciple Manning is such an intriguing character !

Twenty-one-year-old Jennifer Bonjour, a member of a religious cult, the Framers, has disappeared. Hired by her parents to locate her, PI Disciple Manning travels to the small, industrially defunct town of Ruddick, Pennsylvania. He befriends Molly Modano, a budding reporter for the "Pittsburg Post-Gazette." Together, they canvass the town, questioning the citizens about Jennifer's disappearance. The Framers, they learn, believe the world will soon end. Scarier still, they stumble upon the white supremacist Church of the Third Resurrection, which believes Jesus Christ already came once in the form of Adolph Hitler. After citizens begin discovering dismembered body parts, Disciple and Molly find themselves in grave danger.

I found "Disciple of the Dog" to be an extremely bizarre mystery, which is no surprise since author R. Scott Bakker is famous for his fantasy novels. The intriguing mystery of Jennifer Bonjour's disappearance compelled me to keep reading despite the fact that I initially disliked the novel's hero, Disciple Manning, with a passion. Written in the first person, "Disciple of the Dog" is narrated by Disciple who has been told by one of many psychoanalysts that it is good therapy to write down one's thoughts. In telling his story, Disciple uses a tremendous amount of cursing and sexually explicit language. Imagine the worse A-hole you have ever known in your life and multiply him ten times and you have Disciple Manning. His constant whining and complaining about his illness and his bragging of his sexual conquests grated on my nerves.

Haven't you ever been close to someone, a friend, relative or a co-worker, who has a severe handicap or terminal illness and all they ever do is moan and grumble about how bad the world is? This is Disciple. I suppose he curses and engages in sex in order to relieve the stress of having Hyperthymestic Syndrome (a.k.a. Autobiographical memory), which is the ability to remember everything you've ever done. It is a real phenomenon and causes much depression for those who have this gift/curse. Disciple can remember how many cigarettes he's smoked (99,933), how many different women he's slept with (558) and how many times he's been called a sexist pig (69). He keeps reminding the reader about his rugged good looks, describing himself as a cross between Brad Pitt and the Devil. More like a cross between the obnoxious comedian Andrew Dice Clay and the Devil. Not only does he constantly womanize, but he drinks too much alcohol and smokes weed.

What I hate the most about Disciple is his judgmental attitude. He mentally (and sometimes verbally) criticizes everyone he meets. He makes up stories about strangers without really knowing who they are. It is as though he assumes the worst of all those around him. He is definitely a cynic. Interestingly enough, the word "cynic" comes from the ancient Greek word for "dog." Disciple is definitely a dog. His life revolves around being a nasty dog. I don't think he's a disciple who is still following and learning to be dog-like, I think he's already a master at being a dog. Now, I'm the one who is sounding judgmental; therefore, let me apologize and say that Disciple can be very humorous, in a vulgar manner. When asked if he liked "American Idol" winner Kelly Clarkson, he responded that she made him want to light some candles, draw a steaming bath and shave a part of his personal anatomy that men aren't suppose to have. I howled with laughter while reading this novel and eating breakfast at Chick-Fil-A. Furthermore, Disciple does seem to genuinely care about his fellow man. He is quick to rescue Molly when she is in trouble.

The struggling, nearly abandoned, secluded town of Ruddick, Pennsylvania provides a gloomy, desolate atmosphere for a disappearance that initially seemed routine. However, throw into the plot two religious cults whose fanatical leaders are definitely insane and the mystery becomes more intriguing. The plot takes a gory turn when severed body parts begin appearing all over town. The national media immediately descends upon Ruddick like a swarm of locusts. The person, or persons, responsible for Jennifer's disappearance remains a mystery until the shocking ending. There are innumerable suspects which include the leaders of both cults, several strange townspeople, the sheriff, and even Jennifer's father, Jonathan Bonjour. This probably stems from Disciple's paranoia which is a byproduct of his chronic cynicism. Unfortunately, Disciple never solves the mystery on his own. Rather, it resolves itself, though in a rather gory fashion.

Throughout the novel, there is always the discussion of what is reality. The Framers claim that we don't live in the real world. To be honest, Christianity claims that our world is temporal and the genuine, everlasting one will follow. Perhaps most religions believe this. According to Disciple, who doesn`t believe in God, reality is based upon perception. People are too quick to jump to conclusions. For example, a man who pulls a gun in a convenience store is automatically assumed to be a robber. However, if he wears a badge, he could be a cop. If there is a Brinks van parked out front, he could be a security guard. If there are cameras, he could be an actor. Or he could be a robber pretending to be a security guard. Reality changes as our perception of circumstances/events changes. (Some of Disciple's lengthy discussions flew right over my head.) His version of reality is slightly skewed by the fact that he cannot forgive because he cannot forget. At night, past events constantly play over and over in his head like an endless film. Obviously, his brain's inability to dump memories can be frustrating. I grew to admire Disciple more when I realized the torment he must endure because of his Hyperthymestic Syndrome.

I won't be able to forget R. Scott Bakker`s "Disciple of the Dog" for a long time. It made me stand back and question my own beliefs. Not my religious beliefs (I stand firmly on those) but my beliefs on how I treat other people. Like Disciple, I sometimes find it difficult to forgive people because I find it difficult to forget the terrible things they've done to me. As humans, we tend to focus on the bad rather than the good. In the future, I will focus more on the good, because I don't want to be like Disciple. Because of his foul mouth and amoral lifestyle, I can't recommend "Disciple of the Dog" to my mystery-reading friends who are mostly females. If I had male friends who idolized womanizing, vulgar, alcoholic, pot-smoking heroes, then I would STRONGLY recommend it to them. Would I read a sequel? Probably. Reading about Disciple Manning is like being tempted to slow down and stare at a car wreck. In a sequel, I'd like to see Disciple overcome his Hyperthymestic Syndrome by focusing on events in the present. Perhaps he'll settle down and marry his secretary Kimberley who moonlights as a stripper.


Joseph B. Hoyos

"And you wonder why I'm cynical. I've literally `seen it all before.' The truth is we all have, every single one of us past the age of, say, twenty-five. The only difference is that I remember."

Disciple Manning has a gift-or is it a curse? He is incapable of forgetting anything he has ever seen, heard or felt. He remembers it all with instant-replay-clarity, pulling conversations from the recesses of his mind at whim, dissecting them, uncovering nuances he may have missed when he experienced them live. As a private investigator, this might seem like a useful tool, and indeed it helps him traverse the twisted landscape that is his latest case. But the dark side of this particular neurological condition is that Manning has become more than cynical, he's become an unfeeling prick, mere degrees short of a bona fide sociopath. And while this seems to be a popular characteristic of some protagonists nowadays, few are as sarcastically funny or interesting as Disciple Manning.

A beautiful, twenty-something daughter of well-to-do parents has gone missing in a rural town. Once home to twenty thousand industrious citizens, Ruddick is now a shadow of its former self, inhabited by various religious crazies-scary crazy ... read and find out-not the least of which is a bizarre cult that believes the world is about to end. Manning runs the gambit of possible suspects, through twists and turns at times hilarious or harrowing, but which never seem heavy-handed.

Despite Disciple Manning's despicable character traits, he is very definitely endearing in an I-wish-I-could-be-that-crass-and-get-away-with-it way and has several shining hero moments sprinkled throughout the novel. His internal monologue-in the tradition of the hardboiled crime fiction of Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain and Jim Thompson, Disciple of the Dog is written in first person-is full of insightful, witty commentary on everything from the human condition to sex to fart jokes. You know, real life.

Anyone who's ever read other Bakker novels will certainly recognize his writing style. Bakker has a way of turning a phrase in a very literary sense while remaining faithful to the genre in which he is writing. (Something this reader finds incredibly refreshing.) Disciple of the Dog is probably his most accessible novel, at least to the average reader. It's not nearly as steeped in philosophy as his fantasy series-The Prince of Nothing and The Aspect-Emperor-or in psychology and science like his first thriller, Neuropath, but it's still provocative and reflective, worthy of a spot on the bookshelf of anyone who enjoys original fiction. (And just to be clear, The Prince of Nothing and The Aspect-Emperor series are excellent. Pure. Genius.)

Newark, New Jersey private investigator Disciple Manning has the uncanny ability to remember everything he hears or sees exactly like an instant replay. When he says he seen it all or heard it all, he can play back the tape in his head.

Worried about their twenty-one years old daughter, Jonathan and Amanda Bonjour hire Manning to find the missing Jennifer, who joined the New Age cult Framers founded by former Berkley university Professor Xenophon Baars. Amanda left the nursing school she attended and presumably resides within the Framers' "Compound"; that is if she still lives, which Manning doubts. Manning drives to the converted Pennsylvania farm Compound to learn the fate of Amanda. Instead he finds out that Baars believes the world is coming to an end shortly. His obsessed followers blindly do what he tells them to do in preparation for the end of days.

Readers will either love or hate Disciple who is a sort of younger and gross version of The Old Man (played by Victor Wong) in the Golden Child. Thus, he is definitely different as a hero and not just because he has the uncanny total recall skill; farting and nose picking in public is part of his repertoire as a cynic who not only sees and hears it all he remembers it all. The fate of Amanda is engaging and twisting, and Baars fascinating in a Reverend Jim Jones of Guyana way. However, this plot is owned by the king of gas who can smell up a paragraph with one release.

Harriet Klausner

Or to paraphase my headline, too much of a bad thing. It was just too vulgar for me. Yes, I see and hear people every day who talk like this. It is reality. But I don't read fiction because I want more reality--I want something better. I found nobody in this book to care about, not even the very pretty missing person.
A some of the the aphorisms quoted in the other reviews were cute, like a Philosopy 101 instructor trying to get a good grade on his student reviews. But not particularly insightful or creative.

So I just finished reading my copy of Disciple. I doubt I can add anything more helpful than what was already written in the first customer review. If you are 'on the fence' about purchasing it, perhaps because you felt let down by Neuropath (I wasn't), then let me assure you its worth it. I probably have less than six months since a reading of Berne's 'Games People Play', and perhaps a year and a half since I last read anything dealing with NLP (where I got my introduction to 'frames') so it was pretty neat having that stuff in my head as I read this book. Also, a few years ago a co-worker introduced me to an Italian metal-band called Lacuna Coil, so I didn't have to look up what lacuna meant either. Moving right along, if you think you would be entertained by a low-rent guy part James Bond and part Gregory House, then you are gonna love this book. The only reason I gave it four stars is because the reveal at the end didn't really have the same impact as, say, the reveal at the end of 'The Name of the Rose.' The other character of note would have to be Xenophon Baars. I wish a little bit more had been done with him, but the book is only 286 pages, so... Xen was crazy, but as a fan of Bakker's other work I have always wondered what type of thinking might have given rise to a culture like the Inchoroi(aside from their carnal natures), and I think maybe I might have received a glimpse with some of Xenophon's early statements. Looking over what I have already written, I just realized that I am rambling and probably not helping your purchasing decision. Sorry. Just get the book, you'll like it.