Every pilot secretly dreams of the short-field takeoff that really matters, with people watching, skills on the line, jubilation upon success, crashing and burning upon failure. It's the takeoff pilots should say no to in real life, but this is fiction, so balls to the wall and let's see what happens. Let's also throw in some firearms, a loyal dog, a mysterious global pandemic, and it's kind of guaranteed to be a good time.
The Dog Stars is set in a post-apocalyptic world where most of the human population has died out and what's left of society has reverted to a kill or be killed mentality. Our hero (a pilot) and his friend (a weapons nut), have staked out a small airport as their home and are doing well for themselves, but one day a broken radio transmission during a patrol flight tempts our hero into the unknown.
It's a quick, entertaining read, but not much beyond that. The plot gives opportunities to say something about human behavior and existence, but they're not taken. There's also the obvious chance to completely nerd out on the aviation and/or firearms front, but that's not taken either, understandably in the interest of selling the book to more than a handful of nerds. The tempo is a bit uneven. The punctuation style takes some getting used to, but it makes sense in the end. Regardless, any adventure story that stars a Cessna 182 is required reading for a pilot's certificate.
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