Dogs - by C Mallon

About the Book

"A singular, devastating debut novel, Dogs traces the fallout of one catastrophic night in the lives of five high school wrestlers, asking what can survive in the blast radius of latent trauma and violence"--

Book Synopsis

"One of the most intense--and often enjoyable--reading experiences I've had this year. I will surely be inhaling whatever C. Mallon writes next." --Isaac Fitzgerald, The New York Times Book Review

A singular, devastating debut novel, Dogs traces the fallout of one catastrophic night in the lives of five high school wrestlers, asking what can survive in the blast radius of latent trauma and violence.

As night falls on the city of Carbon, Hal and his friends are cruising the backroads in their terrible car. From the wrestling gym to the gas station, from his mom's kitchen to the mall parking lot, Hal bears quiet witness to the beauty and the horror he perceives in the slow, lonely world of his hometown.

Withdrawn and reticent, Hal is haunted by the specter of violence. Safety and comfort are hard won in Carbon, a town dogged by stories of desperation and brutality, and his own home is a dark vault of troubled and unspoken memory. Hal's greatest peace is found in the company of his dearest friend, Cody John, whose true compassion offers him a window to a better life.

Over the course of a single night, a catastrophic chain of events is set into motion. Its devastating conclusion will explode the fragile balance that once kept the boys together. Unflinching, resolute, and beautifully rendered, Dogs is a stunning exploration of trauma, real love, and the limit of our ability to reach one another.

Review Quotes

One of Our Culture Mag's Best Books of 2025

"Every page of this tight-fist-of-a-novel is filled with similar, sneaky, staccato brilliance ... Dogs walks right up to the line of becoming a horror story in its ending -- hell, I'd argue it crosses that line and becomes one. But isn't a novel a searing success if it accomplishes what it set out to do, no matter how uncomfortable the person holding its pages becomes? I am so glad I took the time to consume and be consumed by Dogs, one of the most intense -- and often enjoyable -- reading experiences I've had this year. I will surely be inhaling whatever C. Mallon writes next."
--Isaac Fitzgerald, The New York Times Book Review

"[A] debut about a group of high school wrestlers and one very bad night in a bleak American town. The book's clipped, violent, sometimes comic tone can be redolent of Denis Johnson and Cormac McCarthy..."
--The Washington Post

"As propulsive and dynamic as a well-oiled machine ... it's brilliant and bodily, pulsing with life and extinguishing it just as quickly ... Dogs is a staggering, nauseating display of talent -- a hundred arrows into the heart all at once."
--Our Culture Mag

"[A] raw and brilliant debut...Mallon's moody and sinewy prose is the main event. This one hits hard."
--Publishers Weekly, starred review

"A novel of almost depthless darkness and a show of significant talent."
--Kirkus

"It is one of the best debut novels of the year."
--Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

"C. Mallon's work is equal parts scouring and clarifying, the kind of writing that exposes the wounds in order to irrigate them. Her characters are constitutionally unable to overlook the dirt and mess and pain of the world, yet haunted by the instinct that everything might have been some other way--on another planet, maybe, or in another life. Impairment, here, is a form of passion; transgression, a form of sanctitude."
--Kevin Brockmeier, author of The Brief History of the Dead

"A tour de force, both heartful and heartbreaking, C. Mallon's Dogs is a raw, beautiful excavation of the wounds blown open by the betrayal of life's most sacred relationships."
--Daniel Magariel, author of One of the Boys

About the Author

C. Mallon is a graduate of the Iowa Writer's Workshop and resides in the midwestern United States.