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)

Different

Ok yes it’s a virus. You know the basics without zombies. But it does have a cool dog, romance and a reluctant hero. The writing captures feelings and beautiful in a desperate time. Different in a good way. It’s not a 5 star story closer to 4 but very good

Reminds me of Covid days!!

Makes you think of the future and possible situations that could happen to you after a tragic world event. Nice story!!

Great book!

I love it. I would compare it to the Road novel. I highly recommend. If you like end of the world / survival novels this is for you.

As good as it gets!

While I do not go out of my way to purchase post-apocalyptic novels, I do read them on occasion. This book was totally amazing, and I plan on listening it again very soon. It has been a very unique experience.

The narrator was perfection in every way and deserves some sort of award for the great job he did of capturing the spirit of the main character and the others. His voices were superb and were consistent throughout the book.

The story was vivid and imaginative. I could picture everything as described by the main character in his simple, beautiful language. Peter Heller can really write! I did not want to miss a sentence of this story.

This book has it all! It brought me to tears and it made me chuckle out loud. It had many surprises with both excitement and quiet times, where the main character revealed his deepest felt inner thoughts. Additionally, it had a very satisfying ending, for which I was grateful.

Very highly recommended. I am going to search out more books by Peter Heller in the future.

Put This One In Your Cart!

A quiet and powerful story about survival, isolation, memories,and new relationships. This novel is both subtle, as well as violent, gripping, and suspenseful. There is a slice of life within the book that details the connection between a man and his dog that is very well done. This novel is not one that I would usually choose, but I trusted the reader reviews, and it paid off.

Five stars for the first half, zero for the second

This could have been such a good book. The setup of the post apocalyptic world, characters and challenges had me glued to the speakers. But then, the second half completely fell apart. It becomes a slow moving, angsty yarn that spends far too much time dwelling on sex scenes more awkward than high school dates. Like, seriously, three hours of buildup. Those sections could have been cut completely.

My suggestion: listen to part one and then fast forward to the second to last chapter.

Something missing...

... like a unique plot? You've heard the story - some plague/blood disease wipes out most of humanity, the remaining survivors struggle to survive, etc... But the disturbing part is that people don't generally help one another in this tale. He paints a portrait of humanity that is a little like that in McCarthy's "The Road", only there's no dying Earth. Wild life abounds, crops grow, so why all the fighting and hostility? Heller never really addresses this question. And why does the dog have to eat human flesh?? Many questions unanswered. There is some good writing but it is crowded out by all the gaps in logic.

Then the narrator who seems to be taking unnecessary pauses in the middle of sentences, in the middle of thoughts. Why? More unanswered questions.

I loved,loved,loved this book...wanted more

Any additional comments?

I hope this writer does a second book . The words was like poetry. It is a great listen and left me wanting more. Worth while buying BIG TIME. I can't wait to listen to it again in the near future.

Fun leap into the apocalypse

This book held my attention and put me right there at the airfield with the protagonist, though it did drag in a few spots and spawn a love interest that seemed to have no place in this kind of story other than to give this tale a bit of happy for those that need that sort of thing.
Other than that, it was a fun read.

How a poet survived the end of the world

This is not the kind of book I listen to. It is melancholy (yet happy) and even tempo-ed and has a grand total of 5 characters, including a dog. Yet, I raced through the entire 10 plus hours in about 3 days, riveted and eager to learn what happens next. A character study written in a poetic style about a couple of survivors many years after a flu wipes out nearly everybody left on the planet. Sole searching and introspective and still able to pull off a fascinating story arc. One of the best books I've listened to in a very long time.

Lovers of dogs, flying, Colorado and all introverts should read/listen to this story.