Lost Dog

Loved this book, thank you for writing it Kate Spicer - please write more.

Kate wants to change her daily routine of casual drink and drug use whilst writing the odd article for numerous lifestyle magazines. She lives with her partner Charlie in a fashionable part of London (but not so fashionable flat) and their relationship could be best described as tolerable. Into her life comes Wolfy a cross lurcher with shaggy dog features loveable and needy, the perfect companion for Kate to turn all her affections "what an unequalled joy it was to love and be loved with no conditions, even by a dumb animal" One day whilst leaving Wolfy in the watchful hands of her brother, Wolfy it would appear, decides he has no further need for his affectionate yet annoying(my opinion) owner and does a runner. The remainder of this "shaggy dog story involves Kate's 9 day search for her loveable pooch and the will she or wont she find him dilemma that ensues. There are some good characters introduced along the way most notable being the midnight runner (likes to train at night when the streets are empty) and Anna Twinney (the founder of reach out to horses...and it would also appear dogs) who for a price will make some "out of this world" contact with the missing pooch the hope being that Wolfy can be found. The excitement builds, the emotions are running high as the reader and Kate stumble from false sighting to false sighting...will she ever find him? You will need to read the story to find out. A pleasant enjoyable read with some tidy life observations...."Love isn't just neurotransmitters, is it? It's not just dependency. It is our route to something beautiful, mysterious and transcendent. Without it, life is a hollow set of functions and, frankly, pointless"....Many thanks to the good people at netgalley for a gratis copy in return for an honest review and that is what I have written.

Nothing in the Amazon reviews prepared me for the long of prologue in which the then 46-year-old London freelance journalist Kate Spicer, in this autobiographical account of events in 2015, describes her cocaine-fuelled life-style which, as I am utterly square myself, really disgusted me. What on earth, I thought, does this honest but repellent prologue have to do with what the subtitle of the book tells us is a love story between her and a dog? Only just before the end of the prologue does she meet a friend who has a beautiful dog and she decides to get one herself.She and her partner Charlie acquire a lurcher they call Wolfy. Kate took “peternity leave” and quickly bonded with Wolfy. She is utterly besotted by him and by everything he does. Her life is transformed. She says that she has turned from being a drug addict to being a dog addict. She socializes with other dog-lovers. She and Charlie were more amused than angry whenever Wolfy snaffled food not meant for him or chewed up the occasional garment.Charlie and Kate were invited to a wedding in Surrey, and parked out Wolfy with Kate’s brother, Will, in North London. And from there Wolfy ran away.Kate is totally devastated, and Charlie suffers, too. They try everything: put up posters, roam the North London neighbourhood, knowing Wolfy would never find his way back to Notting Hill. Most of the people they talk to are sympathetic; some suggest Wolfy may have ended up with Travellers; some make cruel jokes about Korean restaurants. Kate goes on Facebook and on Twitter, and the tweets about Wolfy go viral. She even consults psychics, who assure her that Wolfy is alive. Several of the phone calls she received say a dog like the one on the poster has been seen in areas which she then fruitlessly visits – until, on the ninth day after Wolfy had disappeared, one of the messages is from someone who says he has the dog – and he really had.All this is told in enormous detail, day by day, and with rather an excessive amount of repetition of Kate’s intense emotions. She is surely unlikely to have kept a diary during those stressful days (she was also doing a little bit of journalistic work at the time), so she either has a quite fantastic memory or she has made some of this up. At any rate, it is all very convincing.In addition to the story of Wolfy, there are the ups and occasional downs with Charlie; and there is in the novel a good deal about Kate’s acquaintances in down-market Notting Dale (where she and Charlie live) and in the adjacent up-market Notting Hill, the latter of whom she clearly doesn’t like and describes with rather less wit than does Rachel Johnson in “Notting Hell” (see my Amazon review.)

i love dogs and live in terror that mine would go missing. this is a gripping account of one woman's search for her beloved dog.the first chapter however may put you off-it is nothing about dogs and more about drug taking and London life-but from then on it is lovely. so many of us will be able to identify with it.

I couldn't put this book down had to keep reading. Possibly not one for anyone who's never had a dog but so well crafted.

A journey from a cocaine habit to dog-loving as a replacement. A well-written account: interest-holding, open and honest. But perhaps it's a little too long drawn out at times. What an incredible display of cruelty and ignorance shown by the senders of texta and phone calls after the loss of the dog! Unfortunately for me who doesn't have it, a knowledge of the London area where the dog went missing is necessary to follow the search adequately.

So insightful, strengthens bond between us and our wonderful dogs - couldn't put it down!