I love this book. A deeply disturbing and terrifyingly realistic vision of our near future. But, at the same time, laugh out loud funny. The characterisation is excellent and you really care about the main characters, human and canine, immediately. It's gripping and dark, fast-paced but dwells enough on the little things. This will be a book that I urge people to read and might be my Christmas bulk-buy.

The last dog on earth
Adrian J Walker

4 stars


The first part of book I was totally immersed in, often a little bewildered when I looked up from the story to find myself sitting in my own garden!
However once they were captured I started speed reading and skipping bits (maybe my own preferences…always try not to focus on unpleasant bits…even skipped battle scenes in Lord of the Rings).
Saddened by dystopian vision but even more saddened by human behaviour…some good, some bad but mostly the middle ground just following the easiest path.

As a dog owner I was fascinated by Lineker’s chapters and eventually found his voice to be more compelling than Reginald’s. All in all a fascinating story.

I really enjoyed this dystopian tale which is told from the perspective of both Reg and his dog. Original, moving, quirky and wonderful.

Delightful! Having a dog as one of the voices telling the story of the happenings in a apocalyptic London is very refreshing. What a clever way to comment on the madness that drives human beings to do both horrible and brave things. The human in the narrative is not a natural hero - far from it - but his inner thoughts and actions are great to illustrate why us normal people tend to stick to minding our own business. And why we sometimes just stand up to do the right thing, often accidentally. I liked it.

I loved The End of the World Running Club by Adrian Walker and couldn't wait to read his latest. I was not disappointed!! A fantastic story told from the viewpoint of Lineker (a very sweary, loveable mongrel) and his owner Reginald. Lineker was a joy to read; his commentary on life and the "two plates" was hilarious yet insightful. Reginald also amused me and broke my heart a little every time something else was revealed about his past.

Set in the not too distant future we see what can happen when political influence goes too far and how quickly the world could fall apart in the wrong hands,

I laughed and cried in equal measures reading this book and look forward to the next!

The Last Dog on Earth by Adrian J. Walker starts off in the voice of Lineker --the dog-- and the tempo and voice and narration are just as upbeat and ebullient as you'd suspect a joyful labrador to be. Unfortunately, this dog is pretty much house bound with his agoraphobic (and people phobic) master Reginald who has become utterly antisocial due to personal tragedy at the same time as England (and the world?) and all its political and social systems have collapsed.

The narrative takes place through the two voices of Lineker and Reginald who take turns narrating their sides of the story. The conflict they need to deal with is that brought on by the world as they hunt down a home for a 7-year-old girl who comes to their door.

Emotionally, this is a gruelling piece of work and Walker take no prisoners in his sustained literary pursuit of pushing through the worst of society and humanity.

The writing and the theme are excellent. I was very glad to have read it and it was by no means a trivial task to do so.
There were some obvious parallels with concentration camps, and there was a none-too-subtle setup of the book as an answer to how people end up commiting such atrocities. Then there was a bit of an homage to Tolkien at one point with the cloaked figure in a bar being a saviour etc. I won't spoil the story, I just thought the bar scene was a bit of a wink to readers of this type of 'journey' novel.
Ultimately Walker examines the idea of nature and what we can all become with enough pressure and circumstance. The idea is applied to both Reginald and Lineker and I am still not sure which was the toughest to read.

The Last Dog on Earth is published on 7 September, 2017 and is the first of a two-book deal Walker has signed up to with Del Rey.

Lineker and his master, Reginald (he really doesn’t like being called Reg, although he often is), live in a deserted tower block in London after some not quite specified disaster. This suits them as Reginald is anxious about leaving his flat and, even before London became a deserted wasteland, he does everything he can to avoid any kind of physical contact with other people. However, when a starving, silent and persistent child shows up on their doorstep – and refuses to leave – their lives change. They have to leave the safety of the flat and try to cross the city to get the child to a refugee camp. They meet allies and enemies – the latter generally being the purple-clad followers of a charmingly plausible politician whose inflammatory views set the destruction in progress – and discover that no-one can get through it all on their own.

I liked Reginald, a fragile, fallible but, in the end, downright decent man. He has his issues – an inability to be touched rooted in a terrible personal tragedy – but, when it comes down to it he overcomes them to protect those he feels responsible for. The child is fearful, fierce and, essentially, hugely resilient – you can see why both Lineker and his master come to love her – and other, minor, characters (human and canine) are well described. But Lineker himself, well, he really was the character which made the whole story come alive for me. He is pure dog. He adores his master, especially his various smells, and thinks deeply on many subjects (and also about smells, food and squirrels – he really hates squirrels…). His language is earthy, but this seems pretty dog-like to me. He uses words we would consider to be bad swear words but they are the ones connected to bodily functions and sex – what else to we expect a dog to be interested in? I’ve read a lot of post-apocalyptic novels (as I’m sure I may have mentioned previously) but this one stands out. Partly because the apocalypse itself is unusual – an eerily realistic political disaster rather than a plague/zombie attack/nuclear war/environmental crisis – but largely because Lineker is one of the oddest, if most engagingand joyful, heroes I’ve come across in the genre.

Well this was certainly original.I like dystopian type books and thought as I have read quite a few of them a new idea would be difficult to come up with.Enter Lineker the dog who shares his take on the new world, you can't get much more original than that.He had plenty to say, much of it with pretty colourful language , you could say he is a bit of a character.I have 4 rescue dogs and I bet their language could be equally fruity if they could speak so I wasn't put off by that.His human companion Reg was a bit overshadowed by his dog, Reg was a solitary guy will issues he had to deal with ,and the story was told from both points of view.This was an interesting take and I did enjoy it.It kept me invested in the story until the end of the book ,no spoilers but well worth a read I think.thanks to netgalley and the publishers for an ARC in return for an honest review.

This was such a fun book with a lot more depth than I anticipated. It tells the story of Lineker, a mongrel and his owner, Reg as they navigate through a bombed out London in 2021. Firstly, the character of Lineker is just genius writing. The author has really imbued him with emotional gravity and a truly outstanding voice that develops and matures throughout the novel. There are some really interesting aspects introduced regarding how a dog interacts with the world that I found really original and would honestly have liked more of the story to be told from his point of view (the viewpoint shifts between Reg and Lineker). The plot is compelling and told with a real warmth that I liked a lot. Reg is a bit of a difficult character, but the author ensures that his oddities don't subsume his personality too much, which I found a very skillful bit of craft. There are some really poignant episodes and some great one liners and overall, it was a really enjoyable book. Be aware, it has quite a lot of swearing, but it worked for me.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Firstly, a warning – if you don’t like reading extreme swearing, including the c-word, then this one may not be for you. That said, while this is generally a word that immediately has me shutting up the book and flinging it across the room, it occurs when we are in Lineker’s pov, when it seems to be entirely appropriate.

I think that the depiction of this dog is a tour de force particularly in the early stages when he is full of beans and boisterous. Having been a dog owner, I felt that Walker completely got inside the skin of an animal who mostly decodes the world through his nose. I also love the bursts of energy and impulsiveness Walker manages to evoke. By contrast, later on in the novel, when everything gets a whole lot darker, there is an effective shift in the viewpoint when Lineker stops being such a volatile bundle of joy.

As for Reginald – Walker has already demonstrated that he is effective at writing a flawed ordinary bloke, struggling to cope in a modern world. While Reginald is a very different character, there is an underlying likeability that stands him in good stead. Despite a particularly shocking episode that had me shaking my head in disbelief, I did stick with him and care about what happens to him, which is crucial to the overall success of this book.

Both Reginald and Lineker go on a journey, both literal and figurative as the awfulness around them finally intrudes. Both man and dog are tested and I was very relieved that this book didn’t puddle down into any kind of sentimentality.

The ending is entirely satisfactory and makes sense, though it did feel a tad rushed. However, I am not knocking off any points. Lineker is an amazing character who will stay with me for a long time to come and this book is recommended for anyone who enjoys something different, despite – and even because of – the hardcore language.

While I obtained the arc of The Last Dog on Earth from the publisher via NetGalley, this has in no way influenced my unbiased review.
10/10

I loved this book. Whilst I enjoy apocalyptic fiction, when I first started reading this novel, I found the split dialogue a little disconcerting but it has a way of quickly drawing you in and in fact I read it in two sittings.

It is a survival story on many different levels. Do give it a go I'm sure you will enjoy it as much as I did