The Dog Stars is a dystopian novel told in first person. The narrator is Hig, a pilot who—nine years after the end of civilization—still has an old Cessna up and running. He lives at an airport in Erie, Colorado with a man named Bangley. Together they survive by fighting off occasional attackers and maurauders; Hig uses the Cessna to "patrol the perimeter" and spot any approaching troublemakers ahead of time, and Bangley uses with his weaponry and sharp shooting skills to eliminate them. Hig and Bangley have a symbiotic relationship; they each depend on the other to stay safe.

Unlike Cormac McCarthy's The Road, here we know exactly what happened to the world and when. It began as a virus and moved quickly. The few survivors became protective of their home and supplies, and fearful of anyone who still might be carrying the blood disease. But Hig wants more that just to survive. He longs for humanity, for human connection. He wants more than just the seemingly cold business relationship he shares with Bangley. One day while flying, Hig hears a voice from a control tower. A few years pass and he can no longer resist the call and goes out in search of its origin. Is Hig just a dreamer who'll invite more trouble for himself and Bangley by looking for the person who made the call? Or is there a reward at the end to justify his risk?

The novel has heart, and unfolds at a pace that is both absorbing and satisfying, and we get to see it all through Hig's eyes. I really cared about the character of Hig, all that he had lost and the hopes that he still harbored. I got lost in the world Heller created, and wanted to see how it all turned out.

As much as I enjoyed this novel, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the writing style; some readers may find it off-putting. Like McCarthy, Heller relies on the gimmick of not using quotation marks to indicate dialogue. I found this to be distracting; since the story is told in first person, sometimes I had to go back and see if it was really dialogue or just Hig's internal monologue. The other style choice Heller uses is very short and incomplete sentences, such as this one:

“He is the only one now. The only sight. Which. Tomorrow I’ll. I don’t know.”

Heller did this to show Hig's scattered mindset in the beginning, his competing emotions and thoughts. Because of what happens in the second half of the book, these incomplete sentences are not used as much, or maybe by then I had gotten used to the style and/or was absorbed in the plot. But I felt like I had to give a warning to readers who might not like this style. Stick with it, though, the story is that good.