.com "Every June 15th out at North Precinct, 'A' relief and graveyard shift started killing dogs. The police brass and local politicians only smiled if they were asked about it, shook their heads, and said it was just another one of those old myths about the precinct. The cops at North Precinct called them 'Night Dogs,' feral dogs, wild and half-wild, who roamed the districts after dark. Their ancestors had been pets, beaten and abandoned by their owners to breed and give birth on the streets." That's the stately, carefully weighted language and metaphor that begins what James Crumley (The Last Good Kiss) calls "the best cop novel I have ever read." Of course, the "night dogs" are not only the roaming canines but also the people from the rougher neighborhoods of Portland, Oregon--most particularly the police who work out of North Precinct. Seen through the eyes of a patrolman named Hanson, a Vietnam vet who thought he had seen the worst the world had to offer over there but is proved wrong every day, the story at first seems episodic, unconnected. But gradually all the threads of anger and pain come together to create an unforgettable picture of urban angst. Author Kent Anderson, who was a Vietnam vet and a Portland policeman in the 1970s, says that some readers might find his book disturbing or offensive: "The truth sometimes affects people that way." Then he adds a chilling footnote: "Things are much worse now than they were in 1975."From Library JournalIt is 1975, and Vietnam veteran Hanson, the hero of Anderson's first novel, Sympathy for the Devil (1987), is a street cop in Portland, Oregon. Through a series of increasingly disorienting episodes, he dispenses rough justice and doubtful order in the toughest and most degraded parts of the city. The stresses in post-Vietnam American society and Hanson's difficulty in resolving his experiences in combat lead him through some disturbing rites, as for instance the annual North Precinct feral dog hunt, in which officers compete to run over strays with their patrol cars. Drugs, guns, sex, and all the usual attractions of youth call to Hanson; eventually, the death of a close friend and mentor impels him to make his peace with life. Anderson's vision is undeniably powerful, but the relentless violence and dark atmosphere will put off the squeamish. Recommended for large public libraries. [First published in 1996 in a limited edition by Dennis McMillan Publications, this novel is being given a full national distribution by Bantam.?Ed.]?Edwin B. Burgess, U.S. Army Combined Arms Research Lib., Fort Leavenworth, Kan.-?Edwin B. Burgess, U.S. Army Combined Arms Research Lib., Fort Leavenworth, Kan.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.From Kirkus sFirst published by a small press in 1996, Night Dogs, thanks to the vigor of its prose and its unvarnished view of police life, aroused considerable interest but disappeared almost immediately into rare-book dealers' catalogues. Bantam is relaunching the book, and the effort seems worthwhile. Anderson, the author as well of the novel Sympathy for the Devil (1987), stands apart from the crowd of police procedural writers largely because of the clarity of his view of police life, in which loyalty and a sense of being embattled, under siege, create a special, often self-destructive kind of isolation. Anderson's protagonist, Hanson (also featured in Sympathy, a novel set in Vietnam during the war), is a profane, violent, somewhat bigoted patrolman in a violent, down-at-heels Portland, Oregon, neighborhood, drawn into an investigation that seems to lead uncomfortably close to home. The mysteries here are unsurprising--what counts is Anderson's portrait of an angry, self- destructive, yet basically decent man, increasingly at war both with society and his own identity. Strong stuff, well worth reprinting. -- Copyright 1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. how can i download pdf books for free Night Dogs
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. A powerful story about a complex manBy TChrisKent Anderson was a Special Forces sergeant during the Vietnam War, an experience that informed his first novel, Sympathy for the Devil. When he returned to civilian life, he took a job as a police officer. That experience is reflected his second book, Night Dogs. The novel tracks a short period in the life of a Vietnam veteran who works as a police officer in the North Precinct of Portland, Oregon.I am not usually a fan of books about police officers, as they tend to be simplistic: they either glorify the job and make the officers appear more heroic than they generally are in real life, or they demonize all cops, painting them as corrupt or (at best) incompetent. I was therefore surprised by how much I enjoyed Anderson's novel. It isn't a thriller, isn't a conventional police novel with a well-structured plot that results in the cop catching the bad guy. Instead, the novel tells the story of a life--the life of a badly damaged man (damaged in large part by his service in the Special Forces) who happens to be a cop, a profession that gives him the opportunity to vent his anger and to unleash his violent impulses. Far from portraying the cop as a superhero, Anderson created a character who is capable of being a jerk, a racist, an ego-driven maniac, as well as a compassionate, funny, sensible human being. It is that complexity, that refusal to stereotype, that makes the character so interesting.The story meanders from incident to incident, but Night Dogs is less about what the cop does than how he manages to live with himself--and how, in the end, he will deal with his pain-filled life. The writing is sharp, vivid, intense, and incredibly powerful. The story is sometimes tragic, often darkly funny, and always brutally honest. This is one heck of a good novel.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Rings true, for manyBy thecat0369As true as Joe Wambaugh, but with the PPB feel. It would be nice to talk to Kent Anderson. We've certainly had may of the same experiences.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. ... that really gets what being a street cop is like.By JohnOne of the few books that really gets what being a street cop is like.