The inspiration for Jasper?? a Blue Heeler mix?? who is an integral part of this novel.
Hig somehow survived the flu pandemic that killed everyone he knows. Now his wife is gone?? his friends are dead?? and he lives in the hangar of a small abandoned airport with his dog?? Jasper?? and a mercurial?? gun-toting misanthrope named Bangley.
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But when a random transmission beams through the radio of his 1956 Cessna?? the voice ignites a hope deep inside him that a better life exists outside their tightly controlled perimeter. Risking everything?? he flies past his point of no return and follows its static-broken trail?? only to find something that is both better and worse than anything he could ever hope for.
Amazon Best Books of the Month?? August 2012: Adventure writer Peter Heller??s The Dog Stars is a first novel set in Colorado after a superflu has culled most of humanity. A man named Hig lives in a former airport community?McMansions built along the edge of a runway?which he shares with his 1956 Cessna?? his dog?? and a slightly untrustworthy survivalist. He spends his days flying the perimeter?? looking out for intruders and thinking about the things he??s lost?his deceased wife?? the nearly extinct trout he loved to fish. When a distant beacon sparks in him the realization that something better might be out there?? it??s only a matter of time before he goes searching. Poetic?? thoughtful?? transformative?? this novel is a rare combination of the literary and highly readable. --Chris Schluep
Our Hero?? Hig?? lives at a little country airstrip which he shares with his beloved b