Brodie is a very good dog. He loves his boy wholeheartedly and will defend him with his life. That’s actually exactly how Brodie suddenly finds himself in a dog’s version of heaven, a place with wide expanses of grass for endless running, rolling and playing with other happy dogs. This is a transitional world, the place where dogs chill after they have died in our world and before they are ready to go to the Forever place. But something’s not right here for Brodie. He’s not interested in moving on to Forever. He wants to go back to his boy.
Author Dan Gemeinhart vividly captures the physical sensations of a dog’s existence. Brody senses before he thinks; his narrative flows in visceral waves of experience. These sensory pleasures are no match for the emotional sturdiness of Brodie’s good heart. Although he has no memory of his own death, he knows that he left his boy in a dangerous situation. Despite being warned that Brodie could lose his soul forever if he returns to our earthly world, Brodie takes the plunge—accompanied by an affable pit bull and appropriately snarky cat—and discovers that there are new dangers he must face while navigating the world in a ghost body. Other ghostly, yet evil animals are eager to devour their fresh souls. And Brodie has only pieces of memory to lead him back to his boy. In the end, this story is a beautifully rendered homage to the bond between lonely children and their devoted pets.
