{read: end of the world} The Dog Stars by Peter Heller

I'm usually not one for post-apocalyptic novels, so I previewed the beginning of The Dog Stars first before putting it on my TBR. The language on the first page drew me in, and I was hooked.

This story of Hig (Big Hig, if you want two names), his dog (Jasper), and his neighbor (Bangley). Hig and Bangley survived the flu that killed Hig's wife and most of the rest of the country, and they live at a small, deserted airport. Hig owns a Cessna and he and his dog, Jasper, make reconnaissance runs. During one of these runs, he hears a radio transmission and wonders if there is someone else out there. The trouble is that if this transmission is real, the person is outside the point of no return, or the distance that Hig can travel and have enough fuel to return. Yet one day he decides to take the chance, knowing he may never come back.

The language is beautiful, the story is compelling, and Hig is a character that you'll root for from the first page. This is one of my favorite books of 2012.

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller (Knopf, 2012)
My rating: 5 stars