REVIEW: Disciple of the Dog by R. Scott Bakker

Disciple of the Dog by R. Scott Bakker
Publishing information: Hardback; 288 pages
Publisher: Forge: 23 November 2010
ISBN 10: 0765321904
ISBN 13: 9780765321909
Standalone
Copy: Out of Pocket
Reviewer: Tyson

Inside the Book: "And you wonder why I’m cynical. I’ve literally ‘seen it all before.’ The truth is we all have, every single one of us past the age of, say, twenty-five. The only difference is that I remember.”


No matter how hard he drinks, gambles, or womanizes, Disciple Manning simply cannot forget: not a word spoken, not an image glimpsed, not a pain suffered. Disciple Manning has total recall. Whatever he hears, he can remember with 100% accuracy. He can play it back in his head for an infinite number of times without a single change. This ability makes him a dangerously unorthodox private investigator.


When a New Jersey couple hires Manning to find their daughter, who joined a religious cult before vanishing in a small rust-belt town called Ruddick, he finds himself embroiled in a mystery that will pit his unnatural ability to remember against his desperate desire to forget."

Last year, I read Bakker's Prince of Nothing series which had me up and down while reading it. To this day I am still on the fence as to whether or not I should continue the second trilogy titled Aspect-Emperor. In an attempt to figure out whether I want to read it, I decided to give him another chance to win me over and purchased Disciple of the Dog. After all, a man who remembers everything sounds interesting.

Disciple or Diss Manning is an interesting character. He is very sarcastic and not exactly what I would call sophisticated as he has ex-strippers bounce in and out of his dilapadated office as temporary employees and lovers. Sometimes his internal monologue is witty and other times it is really annoying. I gave him ample opportunity to win me over and as I continued reading I found myself feeling dirtier as a result of my contact with him. Anybody that had an inkling of kindness or exhibited a pinch of goodness was immediately looked down upon and was smeared by either a few thoughts from the main characters or by some slight that a character felt left them open to critique. It wore me down. I hated Disciple Manning nearly halfway through the novel. The first few chapters I thought he was interesting and by the end of the novel I really did not like him. Even the majority supporting characters are rotten to the core. The couple that hires Disciple are tarnished. It was hard to find anyone with normal or outstanding morality.

The heart of Disciple of the Dog is a mystery. The book has a very noir feel to it; however, the setting in present day. Not an easy thing to do and Bakker does a great job of making it work. The set up is interesting and the delivery is impeccable. I think this is the highlight of the story. The book comes in at just under 300 pages and the story telling is very tight. As Diss learns more and more about the case the reader is able to slowly uncover the truth. I also think that Diss grows up a little but I still had no empathy for him by the end of the novel. I would like to tell you more but as I set out to write this review I had a hard time deciding what to write about for fear of giving something away so, I just decided to not say anything at all and avoid risking telling you anything that could ruin the mystery. I will say that there is room for a sequel as the ending is open-ended. If there were some light at the tunnel I could see myself reading the series, but I do not see this happening.

When I finished Disciple of the Dog I found a dark and gritty mystery that had no one I could relate to or even feel pity for. One of the problems I faced when I read his Prince of Nothing trilogy. There are no good characters, only various shades of grey and more often black. I have to have someone to root for and so far Bakker has yet to give me anyone that I can. It makes reading difficult when you cannot find anyone with redeeming qualities. While the mystery is well done and the characters interesting the story itself is just dark and made for an uncomfortable read. It is the reason for the low score. I am still on the fence about starting his new trilogy and leaning heavily towards staying away from it.

Plot 8
Characters 6
Style 7

Overall 5.5/10