The Dog Stars

By: Peter Heller

Narrated by: Mark Deakins

Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

A riveting, powerful novel about a pilot living in a world filled with loss - and what he is willing to risk to rediscover, against all odds, connection, love, and grace.

Hig survived the flu that killed everyone he knows. His wife is gone, his friends are dead, he lives in the hangar of a small abandoned airport with his dog, his only neighbor a gun-toting misanthrope. In his 1956 Cessna, Hig flies the perimeter of the airfield or sneaks off to the mountains to fish and to pretend that things are the way they used to be. But when a random transmission somehow beams through his radio, the voice ignites a hope deep inside him that a better life - something like his old life - exists beyond the airport.

Risking everything, he flies past his point of no return - not enough fuel to get him home - following the trail of the static-broken voice on the radio. But what he encounters and what he must face - in the people he meets, and in himself - is both better and worse than anything he could have hoped for.

Narrated by a man who is part warrior and part dreamer, a hunter with a great shot and a heart that refuses to harden, The Dog Stars is both savagely funny and achingly sad, a breathtaking story about what it means to be human.

©2012 Peter Heller (P)2012 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Richly evocative yet streamlined journal entries propel the high-stakes plot while simultaneously illuminating Hig's nuanced states of mind as isolation and constant vigilance exact their toll, along with his sorrow for the dying world.... Heller's surprising and irresistible blend of suspense, romance, social insight, and humor creates a cunning form of cognitive dissonance neatly pegged by Hig as an apocalyptic parody of Norman Rockwell...a novel, that is, of spiky pleasure and signal resonance." ( Booklist)

"In the tradition of postapocalyptic literary fiction such as Cormac McCarthy's The Road and Jim Crace's The Pesthouse, this hypervisceral first novel by adventure writer Heller ( Kook) takes place nine years after a superflu has killed off much of mankind.... With its evocative descriptions of hunting, fishing, and flying, this novel, perhaps the world's most poetic survival guide, reads as if Billy Collins had novelized one of George Romero's zombie flicks. From start to finish, Heller carries the reader aloft on graceful prose, intense action, and deeply felt emotion." ( Publishers Weekly)

"Leave it to Peter Heller to imagine a post-apocalyptic world that contains as much loveliness as it does devastation. His likable hero, Hig, flies around what was once Colorado in his 1956 Cessna, chasing all the same things we chase in these pre-annihilation days: love, friendship, the solace of the natural world, the chance to perform some small kindness, and a good dog for a co-pilot. The Dog Stars is a wholly compelling and deeply engaging debut." (Pam Houston, author of Contents May Have Shifted)

Really glad I gave this one a shot.

Great narrator. Believable characters. A bit of the "men writing women" trope but not gratuitous.

Devastatingly well written

I almost never review books (just a time thing) and have never written a review prior to finishing a book. That said, "The Dog Stars" merits breaking all the rules. I am a 61 year old woman with no interest in hunting, fishing or the great outdoors. But this book grabbed me in the first few minutes and never let go. There were none of the usual initial questions - Will I get used to this book? Like the narrator? Keep the characters straight? I am a fan of post apocalyptic fiction; this one delivers a new voice to that genre. The main character, Hig, doesn't muse too much over what happened to the bulk of humanity or why. He tries very hard to live in his new normal - with just enough of those niggling thoughts of his past to flesh out his personality. His main concern is survival, and while he concentrates on that his thoughts focus on what really matters in life, what brings joy, how to cope with loss and how to figure out what exactly he is doing and why.
The prose and dialogue are spot on. I find myself stopping the book and repeating a sentence or phrase to revel in its truth or beauty or meaning. I think this is my first book read by Mark Deakins. The subtle emotions and emphasis he puts on Heller's words add an incalculable depth to this work. This is an absolutely beautiful book - multilayered and complex and a joy to listen to.

Incredible story and performance

This book had all kinds of glowing reviews - I can see why - it is fabulous story and performed perfectly.

Thoughtful & Provocative

First read of this genre. Was doubtful, but reviews spurred me on to try it. I loved it ... didn't want it to end! The narrator was awesome as well. A great pandemic read, lol.

Well worth the expenditure of a credit!!

A masterfully written, wonderfully narrated, and delightfully entertaining book. Who knew that the end of mankind could be expressed so poetically. Bravo!!!!

All-around great great great!

I just finished it so it'll take some time to clear my head but, I had to start somewhere to get the review going... thank you to the author, narrator, and whoever else was behind this story. It got me through almost an entire drive across California with my dog in the back seat along for the ride. Wonderful.

Good story - no Zombies, blood, guts, or gore

What made the experience of listening to The Dog Stars the most enjoyable?

I'm not sure why post-apocalyptic novels are interesting to me - and a lot of other people. I don't follow the Zombie craze and frankly don't understand the fascination with it. I like stories of survival and the psychology of societal breakdown and rebuild. Heller's book chronicles the path of Hig, a survivor of a population-thinning flu pandemic who gets around in a 1956 Cessna single engine prop airplane and lives, for much of the novel, at Erie airport in Colorado. Erie's one of the airports I practice landings at, and the stuff he sees out the window of the Cessna are the same things I see flying here today. There is no gore, little violence, just some soul-searching by a man who has lost nearly everything dear to him. He still has flying, and that saves him in ways a pilot can relate to.

a must-listen

This novel is like a symphony. The language flows like a melody, alternately slowing and speeding as is appropriate for the narrative. It simultaneously is and isn't about living in the apocalypse -- it's about trauma and emptiness and the search for something that you don't know what it is until you find it. The story itself isn't as interesting or exciting or gritty as some other post-apocalyptic novels, but to be perfectly honest, I did not care (because as I said, that's not really what it's about). This novel is a journey through the psyche and can speak to your soul, if you let it.

Lots of reflection

The story is interesting and the language is well chosen. The sex is more detailed than necessary but the rest of the book is enjoyable.

The creativity of describing a very often written about scenario. Armageddon of the earth but with a new twist

One of my favorite books. No dislikes. Great characters and setting. 5 stars from me.