The Dog Stars, a novel by Peter Heller, is an intriguing post-apocalyptic story of survival and hope.
Hig, the main character, survives a flu pandemic that killed an estimated 99 percent of the population. Everyone he knew is dead including his pregnant wife. He lives in the hanger of an small abandoned airport in Colorado and shares the airport with his beloved dog, Jasper, and another survivor, tough gun-toting Bangley.
Hig spends much of his time flying his 1956 Cessna checking out the health of the land and spotting good hunting and fishing sites. Hig and his dog often go hunting and fishing and his catch, plus the vegetables he grows in his garden, keep them well fed. Bangley spends his days patrolling their area and devising ways to protect them from marauding intruders.
One day while flying Hig hears a faint radio transmission. The thought that there may be a better existence outside their tightly controlled perimeter lures him to take a chance on attempting to find the source of the call. With limited fuel, he flies past the point of no return. What he finds is beautiful, haunting and hopeful.
I very much enjoyed this novel. It took a little while to get used to Heller’s writing style, no quotation marks for dialog, for instance, but I was soon absorbed in the story of survival. I laughed at Heller’s frankness in describing the human condition. I admired his descriptions of fishing and hunting, and especially of flying. I found The Dog Stars a captivating, highly entertaining read.