‘Hell Hound’ – Ken Greenhale (Valancourt Books)

Page Count: 156 Pages

The original plan was for this post to be all about Richard Strachan’s ‘Blightslayer’ and that held true right up until I got home last night and thought I’d read a few pages of ‘Hell Hound’ before I went out and cast my vote. Very soon, a ‘few pages’ became the ‘whole book and I won’t lie, I was lucky that I still had time to make it to the polling station afterwards but anyway…

As good as it is, ‘Blightslayer’ is going to have to wait a little bit. I am all about ‘Hell Hound’ right now. Let me tell you about it, quick thoughts for a very slim read...

‘What are the possibilities of my strength? That is a thought I have never had before. What if some morning as the old woman stood at the head of the staircase she were suddenly to feel a weight thrusting against the back of her legs? What if she were to lunge forward, grasping at the air, striking her thin skull against the edge of a stair? What would become of me if she were found unmoving at the bottom of the stairway?’

Such are the thoughts of Baxter, a sociopathic bull terrier on the hunt for the perfect master, as he contemplates the demise of his first victim…

‘Hell Hound’ is one creepy book. You wouldn’t expect a dog to be as calculating as Baxter (not with what he is prepared to do in order to get what he wants) and at the start, that felt like a pretty big hurdle to clear but Greenhale does just that and made it look pretty easy from where I was sat. Baxter knows what he wants and an understandable lack of human ethics leads him to take it with no qualms at all. And it’s not just the execution of those deeds that sticks in your mind, it’s the planning that’s really creepy. Baxter is happy to wait until just the right moment and you’re left in no doubt what he is capable of, something that various owners remain blissfully ignorant of. And I should warn people, you don’t see Baxter kill the baby but Greenhale lets you know exactly how it happened.

While there is a case to be made about Baxter’s upbringing leading him to do what he does, and see himself in a certain way, there isn’t really a lot of time to ponder that; not when Baxter has an agenda to follow. The fun very much lies in watching him go about his business or just watching him sit there, like a ticking time bomb.

If that was all ‘Hell Hound’ was then you’d have nothing to complain about but Greenhale takes things up another notch by setting Baxter, a dog that’s disturbingly human, against Carl, his human owner who has some vicious animal traits. Watching these two slowly size each other up, and then redefining their relationship accordingly, really sets your nerves on edge as Greenhale draws out the tension. You can see the final confrontation coming but Greenhale keeps it at arm’s length, not letting you have until just the right moment. And then if that wasn’t enough, well… Sometimes you don’t need a sequel, just let the reader fill in the gaps themselves with a foreboding epilogue.

I’m really glad that I finally got round to reading ‘Hell Hound’ (it had languished unread for far too long). It’s a really unsettling read that may not stop me from getting a dog (one day…) but will definitely ensure that I’m checking that it’s not behind me when I’m at the top of a flight of stairs...