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Can one journalist keep her dog safe from the ghosts of his past?

Welcome, everyone!

First: A big thank you to Goodreads Giveaways for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

Considering the last handful of reviews I’ve written, and now this one, I’m starting to think I’m in some kind of slump..
The Rescue was a “wanted to love—did like—but mostly felt meh” sort of read for me.. but it does have the kind of potential I think a lot of readers will find appealing.

One very special dog. Drugs and money. Warring Cartels. A journalist with a heart of gold. Love. Betrayal. Heartbreak.
There’s something for everyone here.. maybe even you.

Enjoy!

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The Rescue by T. Jefferson Parker

Publication date: April 25, 2023
Pages: 331
Genre: Crime Thriller, Suspense
Standalone

Joe, a Mexican street dog, has a nose that can find anything.
Trained as a pup, he becomes one of the DEA’s most talented drug-sniffing dogs.. then he disappears.
Sold by his handler to a man called ‘The Roman,’ an ex-military type who uses Joe’s special nose to steal drugs and money from one of Mexico’s most dangerous cartels, a task he excels at. But when a job goes sideways and the two find themselves in the middle of a shootout, Joe bolts, afraid—and then injured—he’s quickly lost in chaos.

Rescued by a brave young boy, Joe’s taken to a veterinarian who is able to save his life.
When Bettina, a journalist doing a piece on the stray dogs of Tijuana and the animal shelter’s good work, hears Joe’s harrowing story, she can’t help but adopt him.

Unaware that Joe has enemies and friends alike looking to get their hands on him, Bettina becomes a target.
But they picked the wrong woman to mess with because she has no intention of handing over her dog.

Will Joe and Bettina get their happily ever after?

What a bittersweet, heartbreaking story where only the dog gets a happy ending.
Which, perhaps, is how it should be.

You can tell this author is an animal person. Joe is hands down the best part of the book and fortunately, while he’s had some sad, hard times in his short life, he always ends up surrounded by people that care for him.
The other characters? Less interesting. They’re written well and they’re not unlikable.. they just seemed contradictory and I feel like that prevented me from really connecting with any of them.

The romantic relationship between the two main characters was.. frustrating. It was too much like “insta-love” to be appealing, they lacked any real chemistry, and there was this unnecessary attempt at a love-triangle that just made it all awkward.

There were also several seemingly pointless areas in the storyline that didn’t fit and that made it hard to stay absorbed in the story.
But my biggest issue? I feel like it went nowhere. The book starts off with a bang, hooks you, and then proceeds to go nowhere. There’s all this potential that’s never actualized and it’s disappointing because I feel like this author has so much to offer.

The writing was good, engaging, and full of compassion for our four-legged friends.. all good things. It just wasn’t enough in the end.
I will be reading more from this author in the future and do encourage animal lovers and crime fiction fans to give this one a chance, you may enjoy it more than I did, but it won’t be for everyone.

And that’s that.
Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out today’s review, I hope it was.. informative.

Do you like books with/about animals? What’s your favorite one?

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