The Midnight Plan of the Repo Man and T's first book comments!

TITLES:The Midnight Dog of the Repo Man (novella) and The Midnight Plan of the Repo Man
AUTHOR: W. Bruce Cameron
PUBLISHER: Forge Books
PUBLISHING DATE: September 20, 2014 and October 28, 2014 (out now)

FROM GOODREADS:
Midnight Dog - This short story introduces former college football star turned repo man Ruddy McCann, star of W. Bruce Cameron’s new novel The Midnight Plan of the Repo Man, and tells how Ruddy met his best friend Jake, a lazy but lovable basset hound, during a repo gone wrong.

Full of laugh-out-loud humor and thrilling adventure, The Midnight Dog of the Repo Man is a page-turning, delightful short story by the author of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling A Dog’s Purpose, A Dog’s Journey, and The Dogs of Christmas that shows us that unconditional love is just a tail wag away and can happen upon us when we least expect it.

Midnight Plan: 
Ruddy McCann, former college football star, has experienced a seismic drop in popularity; he is now Kalkaska, Michigan’s full-time repo man and part-time bar bouncer. His best friend is his low-energy Basset hound Jake, with whom he shares a simple life of stealing cars.

Simple, that is, until Ruddy starts hearing a voice in his head.

The voice introduces himself as Alan Lottner, a dead realtor. Ruddy isn’t sure if Alan is real, or if he’s losing his mind. To complicate matters, it turns out Katie, the girl he’s fallen for, is Alan’s daughter.

When Alan demands Ruddy find his murderers, Ruddy decides a voice in your head seeking vengeance is best ignored.  When Alan also demands he clean up his act, and apartment, Ruddy tells him to back off, but where can a voice in your head go?

With a sweet romance, a murder mystery, a lazy but loyal dog and a town full of cabin-fevered characters you can’t help but love, New York Times bestselling novelist W. Bruce Cameron’s The Midnight Plan of the Repo Man is yet another laugh-out-loud, keep-you-up-late, irresistible read. 

MY THOUGHTS:


You don't have to read the novella first, but it is such a nice lead-in to how Jake came to be in Ruddy's life and it provides a great introduction to Ruddy.  If anything, it actually makes you more excited to start the book.

There were so many things I loved about this book, I really don't know where to start. First of all, the story was great. Ruddy is a down on his luck repo man and part-time bouncer at the family bar. Murphy's Law could use Ruddy as a poster child. Throughout the book, he gets into all kinds of predicaments, including waking one day with the voice of Alan, a man who died 8 years ago, in his head. This books is mainly about solving Alan's murder, and Ruddy spends a large part of the book wondering if he is going to lose his mind, but there are enough side stories going on which make it hard to put the book down.

Next, I loved the characters. Ruddy is so darn likable and even though you are led to believe he has done some wrong things in his past, you can't imagine any of them were done intentionally. He adopted his best friend Jake after finding him in the trunk of one of his repos. A man who loves dogs - way to my heart! Ruddy has a soft spot for his sister Becky, who also drives him crazy, and several other zany characters show up from time to time in the book. However, that is not to say that Ruddy isn't at time irritating himself, and at times I wished someone would just smack him in his head. This doesn't make the book any less enjoyable, it just makes it more real. Cameron created a wonderful world in which these people live, work and interact. I could actually see myself being friends with these people, which may say something about me, but who wouldn't want to get to know a couple constantly trying to get rich quick, an immature guy named Kermit and a goose named Doris.

I own several of Cameron's works and have never read them - I know as dog stories they have to be sad at some point and I have to gear myself up for that. I am so glad I grabbed this book when I saw it at the library. I can see it joining my collection on my bookshelves soon. The very end of the book hinted at another story involving Ruddy, Jake and the rest of the crazy clan and I for one can't wait.

RATING: 5 PAWS

 BOOKER T'S RATING: 4 PAWS

Let me tell you a short story.  When I first came to live at the farm, I lived with my older brother Cooper who is now gone.  He used to have a girlfriend who lived down the street - a Basset named Sadie.  Because of this, I loved Jake.  Cooper would buy Sadie presents and we would visit her on walks and she was as brokenhearted when he left us as our family.  Jake is a great dog.  He is a wonderful character in the book.  Ruddy saved Jake from a stupid owner and quickly made him his best friend.  Jake gets to go on car rides, sleep all day, and even rests in bed (just like me and Cassius).  There is only one issue I can find with Jake and that is that he doesn't like walks.  I can't imagine - I love them and so does Cassius.  I know Jake is a tad older but in my dog opinion, that is not normal.  That is the only reason Jake only received 4 paws instead of 5 paws from me.