A few months ago, I purchased a copy of the 90 day novel by Alan Watt and gave it a go. But that's a different book review, and must wait until I've completed the day-by-day writing exercises.After spending a large amount of time following Watt's advice on writing, which seemed solid or I wouldn't have bought the 90 day novel, I decided I needed to read Diamond Dogs. Yes, I can be a bit backward. A normal person would purchase a book on writing after developing admiration for an author's work.It's been a while since I literally couldn't put a book down; Diamond Dogs meets that overused description. I read and read and didn't want to stop. At first I thought it was a short book, because the percentage-complete indicator on my Kindle climbed alarmingly fast. But Diamond Dogs is a full length novel.Now, here is something to think about. Diamond Dogs, the Kindle version I read, has a lot of typos. I'm not good at picking these things up when reading for pleasure, but there seems to be a problem with name capitalization. For example "It was a shock when grace Daly started screaming." Or when the protagonist's football coach keeps yelling at him, but the name is never capitalized. This happens so often I assume it must be intentional. I know its distracting.I found myself wondering if this smattering of lowercase names was a stylistic abuse of grammar I'd just never seen before. There are also some formatting issues, lines that go mid sentence into a new paragraph and whatnot.This isn't an indie book. It won France's 2004 Prix Printemps (best foreign novel).So there are typos. (I'm not bothered by typos, especially if the story is good. It's just annoying that indie authors get abused for this kind of thing, but traditionally published authors don't.)There is also a lot of what writing coaches call "telling," or so it seems on the surface. Yet, I couldn't stop reading. The "telling," much of it back story, is artfully done and mixed with visuals and action, so perhaps that is why it works so well. There's still a lot of telling. Read it and see.Diamond Dogs is a dark book. The protagonist is not likable. His father is worse. The Las Vegas segment gets a little too weird, but the story stumbles free of the blind alley just like the characters do and no serious harm is done. And some of the Las Vegas build up and pay off is crucial to the story.I'd recommend this book to friends.I wish there were more novels by Alan Watt. I'd read them.
Did you know that Diamond dogs is now a major motion picture. This book written by Alan watt contains everything from your mid- night romance too your favorite mysteries. In this book Neil, a 17 year old pro star football player with a partying problem finds himself in his father’s shoes even though he wont know it till the end of the book. Even though this book only spans over a four day period, it still is a “all night book”. This book is a great read, for all reading levels but not all reading ages. tThis books plot is very simple yet defined. Neil the main character knows how he got his name, his father the sheriff of Carmon a small town outside the big city of las Vegas who hates the FBI. Neil dad loves Neil Diamond, Neil describes him as lost and drowning but when he listens to Neil Diamond he seems to be pulled up but never pull out of his life’s hiding dream. One night after a football party with a little too much beer, Neil decides to drive home, even after a friends warning. On the way home he begins to play chicken with the lights. When all of a sudden he hit it, a boy, Ian Curtis. tWarning slight spoiler. After hitting the body, he decides what to do, at first he wants to leave the body there, but thought that his dad might be able to put two and two together, about the broken headlight and the body. So then he decides to bring it home and burry it. When he goes to look for a shovel he runs into his dad and receives a lecture and a sentence to his room. While waiting in his room, preparing to sneak back down his father comes up and ask him to come with him because he got a call about a missing boy. When they get to the house Neil freezes in total shock when he sees it’s the curtsies house. While questioning them Neil’s father ask him to get his notepad from the trunk. When he opens the trunk he looks for the note pad, and realizes the body was gone. tThis book is for any level reader but not any age level. While it does contain some vague language it, It also contains a brief sex scene. Alan Watt has written many books and other articles. I would suggest this book for many mature 15-20 year olds. This book will have the reader up all night trying to figure out how it ends.
Do You like book Diamond Dogs (2001)?
Another cheerful book about teens killing teens...this one from the perspective of a star athlete who drinks too much at a party and, while driving home, kills another kid. He panics, but is shocked when his dad actually covers for him, even hides the body. His father is amazingly brutal, not to mention an alcoholic. In the end, he nearly kills the kid, who (very pat) suddenly remembers where his mother is & why she hasn't ever come home for him. You end up feeling like this horrible kid may actually have a chance for a productive life after he's out of jail.
—Cat.
I honestly don't know where to start off with this book. For starters the whole plot of the book is over all very weak and seems to go into so many different directions that it hardly seems to be part of the same book anymore. The main character is Neil a football star who is the son of the town's sheriff. The character of Neil is ver unlikable from start to finish. He is a bully and to tell you the truth the book does an awful job trying to get you to feel any sympathy fo him. ~SPOILER~ So the main plot is of Neil being at some party and then picking on some kid just because poor Neil had a screwed up life. While at the pary he get trashed and decides to drive his drunk butt home. While on the way back he runs over someone on the road killing themin an instant and guess what it is the same kid he was picking on at the party. Not knowing what to do he decides to drive home to his house and leaves the body in the trunk. The next morning it is again. The rest of the book just deals with random crap that just keeps weakening the whole plot. I would only reccomend this book if you really don't have anything else to read. The good news is , it is in fact readible in my opinion so you won't be throwing the book down in disgust.
—Shanna
Diamond Dogs by Alan WattNeil Garvin appears to have it all; good looks, popularity, a girlfriend and the starting quarterback position on the high school football team. However he also has to live with his abusive father, the memory of his mother who left when he was three and a secret that will haunt him forever.I enjoyed this suspenseful novel even though I didn’t like the main character or his father, but I think that was part of the idea of the book. Neil’s past doesn’t excuse who he is or what he has done, but he does start to question things he may have just previously accepted.
—Jeff
