Diamond Dogs

What a book! This story is so gripping and SO interesting, that it's almost impossible to set it down when you start reading. This book will grab you right from the beginning and will keep a toe-hold on you til you finish because it is such a different setting and story. It's hard enough to be a teenager and a senior in high school along with being the star football player. It's also not easy being the son of the town's sherrif, who incidently drinks too much and has an unpredictable, aggressive, and at times a violent personality. Neil also is growing up wondering where his mother is and why she left him with his father instead of taking him with her so he wouldn't have to live with such a combustile dad. This story has so much going for it and so many "little" storylines that tie together ever so amazingly. Just read this book and watch what happens when a group of teenagers attend a "beer party", drink way too much, say and do things to their friends that can't be taken back or reversed. I enjoyed this book eventhough it is a disturbing story, but it is one that will make the reader think.

"Diamond Dogs" refers to those elite who possess the talent and charisma to rise above the pack...and Alan Watt has captured perfectly the double-edged sword that such talent becomes, especially when you're 17-year-old Neil Garvin. His young life changes dramatically one fateful night as he drives home drunkenly from a friends party, and he strikes and kills a fellow student in his father's car. Not even his sheriff father can save him from the personal hell which he endures when he makes a series of bad choices. Although the story ends in triumphant redemption, this victory is bittersweet for both Neil and his tormented father. Both have abandonment issues that color their every decision, and by the final page, each deals with those in cataclysmic ways...resulting in one of the most powerfully triumphant stories to grace a page. Watt has captured Neil's tortured soul in an original voice, and aptly portrays the effects of two men's choices that go horribly wrong on a family that is already deteriorating beyond repair. Far from being depressing, "Diamond Dogs" is hopeful and poetic. A highly recommended read! Also recommended as companion books: "Good Times, Bad Times"--James Kirkwood"A Separate Peace"--John Knowles"The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys"--Chris Fuhrman

Powerfully written, deep but approachable, Diamond Dogs is a great read. The book's best quality is the first-person narrator. Seventeen-year-old Neil tells us the story in his own voice, but unlike other first-person teenage narrators, Alan Watt captures the thoughts, actions, fears and emotions of a young person extremely well. In so many other books the narrator seems like a kid written by an adult, either too wise or to naïve for his (or her) supposed years. As Neil tells us his story, Watt deftly moves from action to thoughts, from detail of the crime to the results of the action within the walls of his school, at home and in Neil's private world. Terrific teenage first-person narrative of a multi-layered story makes Diamond Dogs an important book.

Diamond Dogs is a wonderful work of fiction you can't put down from the moment you read the first page. Alan Watt has written an exciting, non-stop story centering around a hit and run accident and its subsequent cover-up. A wonderful suspenseful tale of a mixed-up but loving relationship between father and son. High School quarterback Neil Garvin, a much-worshipped high school football star narrates the story. It's thru his eyes that the whole story enfolds, and you quickly realize that teenagers today are much more mature than we give them credit for. It's over the course of the next three days following the accident that Neil's life is completely changed when his father, the sheriff, helps cover-up the accident. We become a participant in the events that follow, whether we like it or not, and we get drawn into the complexities of small-town life, and father and son bonding. Whether it takes you a few hours, a day, or 2 days, this is a book you won't forget. A very promising debut novel from this author. An easy read that will keep you very entertained. Bravo!!

Seventeen year old Neil (named for the singer Diamond) Garvin is the Carmen, Nevada high school golden boy. Neil, the son of the sheriff, is the very popular quarterback of the football team. However, inside, Neil suffers from the desertion of his mother when he was an infant and the cruelty of his so-called charming father, a closet abuser. Neil has learned abusive behavior from his dad, just ask his mates. At a party, Neil accidentally kills Ian Curtis. While investigating, his father realizes Neil did the crime and covers up his son's activities. The townsfolk begin a search for the missing Ian and the lad's mother asks her FBI brother for help. As the outsiders come closer to uncovering the truth, the war between father and son is on the brink of exploding. DIAMOND DOG is a well-written character study that portrays the abusive father, but provides a deep scrutiny into the impact of parental dysfunctional behavior on the child. The story line is fast-paced and loaded with emotion and tension, but requires some acceptance of the implausible happening, which surprisingly does not detract from this insightful look at negative nurturing. Although the novel is a police procedural in the widest definition of the sub-genre, Alan Watt's novel lights up the family drama fans with a fabulous debut book.Harriet Klausner