'Black Dogs'

Every now and then there is a book that you pick up, despite whether or not the the story line is considered deep or shallow, you can not manage to put it down until it is complete. In Jason Buhrmester’s first fiction novel, Black Dogs, the diverse personalities, mannerisms and intelligence, or the lack there of, of each person within the group of long time friends and how they play off of one another is what keeps you reading.

Within this world of fiction that Buhrmester has created within Baltimore, Maryland Patrick, Alex, Pete, and Keith all grew up together. Within their world they don’t live such a glamorous life. They spend their free time scamming and stealing from everyone and everywhere they think of. Patrick and Alex are the only two that completed high school, Pete works at the local record store and Keith makes his way through life working for a man that installs car stereos then steals them back for him after scouting out where the customer lives. They all have their own lives yet there is two things that keep them joined at the hip...they love running scams which they are seemingly good at and their love for music.

Patrick runs away to New York to work as a catering employee behind stage for different acts. He is leaving in his past a scam that went wrong that leaves a friend in jail and a trail of relationships ruined. He only returns to surprisingly attend Alex’s welcome home party from an eight month stint in County jail and to pull the gang back together for scam that will surpass every one they have ever pulled. He is only home a short time and Patrick is ready to let everyone in on his idea which he has been plotting for some time. With everyone, especially Alex, very skeptical about the whole plan that involves large sums of money and Led Zeppelin. Buhrmester creates such situations and robbers around the big plan of robbing one of the most popular bands of the time period that it almost seems real. The boys find themselves in one lie after another while trying to pull off the new scam. One lie lands them being mixed up with Backwoods Billy’s pawn shop and his Holy Ghosts Christian motorcycle gang, one place and persons that they don’t want to be aquatinted with. As time passes and Patrick is still at home you see him mending relationships, if you can call them that, every places that he visits and it continues the longer that he is home in Baltimore. We see that Patrick does everything in a certain order and for reasons that he only knows...and mending those relationships are no different.

There are hiccups along the way that don’t exactly make the boy’s lives any easier but why should it. The carry along in their lives not really thinking about what consequences their actions are going to carry and when they do, they don’t care about the possible outcome. Relationships get mended in a round about way that seem to work out for Patrick even though he knows that they might not last.    

You don’t have to be a music lover to read this book but if you are it sure wouldn’t hurt matters any. On that same note, you don’t have to know who Led Zeppelin is or have listened to the bands music to understand what level of popularity they are at. This fiction novel is written in a language that anyone can understand and enjoy. Buhrmester has created a world in Baltimore, Maryland that you are completely consumed with for all two hundred and forty-one pages.