title: Even the Dogs: A Novel
author:  Jon McGregor 
description: This mercifully short third novel from McGregor (<i>If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things</i>) is told from the various perspectives of a loosely connected band of down-and-outers linked by Robert, a hopeless alcoholic whose wife has taken their daughter and left him alone in his flat, which has since become a gathering place for the members of McGregor's cast. Robert's death sets in motion the novel's eventsit would be misleading to call it a plotstarting with the police taking away his body. For the most part, we're with Danny, whose past gradually comes to light via an expletive-laced narration that verges on incoherence: his foster home upbringing; his relationship with Robert's daughter, Laura, whom Danny is trying to contact; and of course, his heroin addiction, which provides much of the novel's subject matter. In the process, we learn about the group that frequented Robert's flat, a motley crew who provide plenty of sordid stories. But the central mysteryhow did Robert die?goes nowhere, and the spliced-in set pieces that describe the stages Robert's body undergoes on its way to eventual cremation don't do any favors for this misfire. <i>(Feb.)</i> <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
zlib_text: even the dogs
  a novel
  jon mcgregor
  
  Copyright © 2010 by Jon McGregor
   
  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever
  without written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in
  critical articles or reviews. For information address Bloomsbury USA, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York,
  NY 10010.
   
  Published by Bloomsbury USA, New York
   
  All papers used by Bloomsbury USA are natural, recyclable products made from wood grown in
  well-managed forests. The manufacturing processes conform to the environmental regulations of the
  country of origin.
   
  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA HAS BEEN APPLIED
  FOR.
   
  eISBN: 978-1-60819-125-3
   
  First U.S. edition 2010
   
  1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
   
  Typeset by Hewer Text UK Ltd, Edinburgh
  
  to Alice
  
  Cut off from hope, we live on in desire.
  – Dante Alighieri, The Inferno
  
  Contents
  One
  Two
  Three
  Four
  Five
  Acknowledgments
  A Note on the Author
  
  one
  They break down the door at t