The Rescue has multiple POV's and I think it was very different that one of them is the dog. That threw me off for sure. I really wan't a fan of it. Lots of action and criminals to chase. The overall story was very confusing.

A book about a rescue dog? How could I resist? In The Rescue, Bettina is a reporter who impulsively adopts a Mexican street dog while doing a story on a Tijuana animal shelter. But Felix, as she names him, isn’t just any old dog. He’s actually Joe, a former DEA drug-sniffing dog with a colorful past. As the book progresses, more and more people are interested in getting their hands on him.
The book tackles the love we develop for our pets, sometimes very quickly, but how it lasts over both years and separation. It also deals with how far we’ll go to protect those we love, be they two or four legged.
The book covers multiple POVs and time periods. One of those POVs is Felix’s, the dog. I can struggle with books where dogs are anthropomorphized. And I had mixed feelings here. It worked fine when Parker limited Felix’s understanding to a few words, expressions and emotions. When he tried to veer further afield, I had problems. It sometimes got a little clunky when Parker would contain plot points in Felix/Joe’s section and then clarify that the dog didn’t understand what was happening or being said.
The story is fast paced. There are criminals, double crosses, lots of folks that can’t be trusted. I was totally engaged because I couldn’t see any way this was going to end well. When it all came together, it worked for me.
I listened to this story and enjoyed Victoria Villarreal as the narrator.

WOW! Rarely does a book grab me from the first moment it starts until it ends, but this book surely did. I loved the narrator: her tones, her transition from English to Spanish, her volume, her empathy. 10+ stars for a job well done. The story is written about a "rescue", but who is rescuing who is the story? It is premised on a dog and his many owners, but the story is written so well that not only the dog is rescued so many times in the story, but also many people were rescued by this dog in many ways. I liked how the author wrote this story from so many perspectives. I can't wait to add this T. Jefferson Parker to my "can't wait until I read what's next." Thank you Macmillion Audio for giving me the chance to listen to this first and to T. Jefferson Parker for writing such a sweet story.

This is a weird one to review.
A large part of the book is through the POV of a street dog from mexico; which I loved!
It was actually the POV from the various humans in this street dog's life that were clunky and pulled emotion away from the story.
Joe/Felix is sweet, naive, adventurous and adorable!
I would still recommend this, mostly because I want someone to talk to about this.
Go read it and hit my DMs.
Much love to NetGalley and MacMillan audio for my ARCs.

Book Title: The Rescue
Author: T. Jefferson Parker
Narrator: Victoria Villarreal
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Genre: Mystery Thriller
Pub Date: April 25, 2023
My Rating: 4.2 Stars

I have only read two T. Jefferson Parker’s novels ~ "A Thousand Steps" and "Laguna Heat" and loved BOTH!

T. Jefferson Parker is an Orange Count California hometown guy! He lived in Tustin, (where I live) moved from LA when he was 5 years old and attended local schools as well as college. Then moved to nearby Laguna Beach and worked in Irvine. He now lives in Fallbrook in North San Diego County. Many of his stories are based in SoCal.

This story is told ‘Then’ and ‘Now’ from the POV of Bettina Blazak as well as from Joe.

Story starts with Joe a drug-sniffing dog, his master Dan and a team of drug hunters are in Tijuana Mexico. There is a bloody shootout and six team members are shot including Joe.
A young boy sees what has happened and how the dog is hurt and trying to escape from being shot again and hides under a car. The boy is able to secure the dog trust and the young rescuer carries him to the clinic.

In the meantime Bettina Blazak a young reporter for the local Laguna Beach paper ”The Coastal Eddy” is doing research about Street Dogs –they are dogs that don’t have an owner and are dirty, and might be injured. When captured they are treated and placed in a shelter for adoption.
Bettina visits a shelter in Tijuana, Mexico and falls in love with one little guy that had been shot. The workers at the shelter tell her that street dogs are often shot for sport. She decides to adopt him and names him Felix and takes him back to her home in Laguna Beach.

Story goes back to when Joe was a pup and the bond he had with young Teddy.
Teddy discovers that Joe has an amazing sense of smell and can find anything via a scent.
Teddy and his dad know this can be extremely helpful in finding a missing person etc.
They take him to a training facility where they are impressed and state they want to train Joe to be a DEA drug-sniffer.
Joe is great at his job but his handler is all business and Joe finds he just cannot please him. Joe decides to run away. Dan Strickland comes back into the picture. Dan once was a good guy, a good cop but soon learned there is a lot of money in drubs and knows that Joe can help make him rich.

Now the cartel, as well as Dan finds out that someone has adopted the injured Joe and they both want him.
The audiobook narrator Victoria Villarreal was great at performing all the characters.
Speaking of characters I found myself yelling at Bettina but she just would not listen and falls for Dan’s con!

Story is great but extra enjoyable with the Southern California connection.
I am not a fan of profanity and I am like Joe in that the nasty language makes me cringe ~However, I get that is part of being a nasty macho character!
As always I enjoyed reading the author’s ‘Acknowledgements’. In this case author, T. Jefferson Parker provides a list of other great dog stories.

Want to thank NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for April 25, 2023

4 stars

This is a unique mystery/moderate thriller/crime novel because it happens from the perspective of both humans and a very cool dog. It's important to know that a significant chunk happens from the dog's perspective. If this sounds a little too out there for you, this might not be the best option. But, if you are an animal lover and are curious to know how this goes, I recommend queuing this one. I was skeptical but ended up enjoying this very much.

Bettina is a reporter from Southern California, and when she heads south of the border, she encounters what many of us from this region are aware of: the tough situation that many dogs in the area face. One dog's backstory really strikes a chord with her, and she can't help but make him a Californian. Neither Bettina nor readers can anticipate the kind of baggage that this poor little fella brings along with him!

Highlights of this novel include that the woman m.c. is smart, the dog's perspective is really interesting (and very touching), and there are so many creeps around that the suspense is pretty solid throughout. At times, Bettina's reactions and choices are a little unrelatable, but her convictions are also what drive the plot, so this is understandable.

As noted, I came into this one with a bit of skepticism and am leaving it pleasantly surprised. I'm always rooting for dogs, and if you are too, you might find something extra special here.

The Rescue is a book that I really liked but it also really annoyed me. The reason it annoyed me is that this was a good book that I wanted to be great, and it could have been.

I tried to explain this story and it sounded extremely confusing. It’s definitely a little more complicated than I expected but I was never confused while going through the book. Bettina is a reporter who rescued a dog she named Felix. The dog has a crazy past that brings a Mexican drug cartel banging on Bettina's door.

What this book captured so well is a human's love for a dog. As soon as a dog enters your house you fall in love. It doesn't matter if you had the dog for a minute, a year, or a decade. The love is instant. That part of the story is beautiful.

The aspect of this book that kept it from being great was the characters. They all were very predictable and lacked depth. I wanted so much more from them, especially Bettina. Most of the time I did not really find Bettina likable, outside of being a dog lover.

Some chapters of this book are written from the dog's perspective. Those chapters are absolutely brilliant and expertly written. They make the book worth it.

I recommended this book to any dog lover out there.