Until the Last Dog Dies

by John Robinson

Joe Box, a rough-hewn, wisecracking private eye is in for some big changes. He's just become a Christian, and not a moment too soon, either. Joe is facing the challenge of a lifetime. He's trying to track down and catch a seemingly inhuman killer, and this time it's gotten personal——the shooter's after guys Joe served with in Vietnam.

Genres: Fiction

381 pages, Paperback

First published March 25, 2004

About the author

John Robinson has been writing professionally for over a decade, with five novels commercially published. These include Until the Last Dog Dies, When Skylarks Fall, and To Skin a Cat, all through David C. Cook/RiverOak Publishing; Heading Home, Sheaf House Publishers; and The Radiance, Musa Publishing. John is also a member of the Authors Guild, and for three years was on faculty at a nationally ranked writers conference held near Santa Fe. There he taught tracks on plotting, theme, dialogue, and character development.

John has a background in broadcasting and journalism, and so he is very comfortable in dealing with all aspects of the media. He also has an active on-line presence, which includes moderating a large writers website, as well as enjoying a stint as a regular columnist on the blog, Author Culture. In addition, John is a member of such diverse sites as AbsoluteWrite, deCompose, and James Lileks’ blog, who is a popular columnist for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Finally, John is close friends with his mentor, writer James Scott Bell, author of the popular Plot and Structure, published by Writers Digest Books.

Reviews

[Iva]

I snagged this book for my Kindle because, frankly, it was free. The storyline sounded intriguing, but aside from that, I didn't know what I was getting myself into.

Joe Box is a born-again Christian who finds that his past is not only haunting him, but following him in an effort to destroy Box and the rest of the men in his platoon.

It has been said that this book is a "man's book". I would have to agree. While the language isn't raw (it's meant to be a Christian book), some of the scenes are pretty brutal.

While there are times when dialogue and language is choppy, overall, it is a solid read. Like most stories, it cleans up perfectly. For someone who likes happy ending, that's not entirely a bad thing.

[Bruce Judisch]

Guy’s book. Good guy’s book, but definitely a guy’s book.

In Until the Last Dog Dies, John Robinson does a terrific job of rolling out a great PI tale in true Mike Hammer fashion. The lingo, the interior monologues, the first-person view—he’s got it down to a T. But John is in no way a Mickey Spillane wannabe. John creates a unique character with a complex personality that keeps him two steps ahead of predictability.

Joe Box is a Vietnam vet, ex-cop, now private investigator, who’s wartime past is thrust back upon him in an extraordinarily terrifying way. In a search-and-destroy mission that goes horribly wrong, his infantry squad captures a traitorous sniper, Martin ten Eyck. Politically connected, the traitor is spirited away Stateside and tucked out of sight into a mental institution—presumably for life. That was thirty years ago. He’s out. Not long enough.

The “rehabilitated” patient is released and the horror begins. Now, each member of Joe’s old infantry squad is being fingered for death—not just any death, but death meted out in way each individual feared the most: stabbing, aircraft accident, electrocution—you name it. It’s up to Joe to find him and stop the killings. Only he doesn’t have to find the killer; it’s his turn for the killer to find him.

A new Christian, Joe is still sorting out his spiritual responsibilities, moral obligations and personal expectations immersed in a hard-bitten line of work and battling a history of traumatic episodes that multicolor his world view and self image. Helping him deal with all this is the lovely, witty and intelligent Angela, an intercessory prayer warrior at his church. But Angela helps him do more than overcome his own mental obstacles, she plays a crucial role in the battle against the spiritual forces driving ten Eyck.

In Until the Last Dog Dies, John Robinson takes us back to rural Kentucky where we relive Joe’s grass-roots boyhood haunts (pun intended). We trek the steamy paths of Vietnam with his unit on the trail of a rogue sniper, whose phantom-like ability elevates the nerve-shearing terror of jungle warfare. And we journey with Joe along the uneven road of discipleship, learning with him what it means to trust God and apply Biblical principle in the toughest emotional, mental and physical circumstances.

And everybody knows only guys are interested in stuff like that.

Oh, okay, so maybe not just a guy’s book. Read it and see whatcha think.

[Jason]

It is clean (no swearing, etc.) and I obtained it on my Kindle during a free promotion. Those are the only two good things I can say about this book. The subtitle is “A Joe Box Mystery,” but there is no mystery. Crime, yes, but not mystery. There is a semblance of a decent plot, but the dialogue is hokey and the characters are all one dimensional and the plot often gets sidetracked by stories about the hero’s cat or his “Granny.” There is also a recurring “conflict” with a particular police officer that has no basis or point. The protagonist—the aforementioned Joe Box—is a private detective with thirty years experience, but he has no appreciable skills other than being able to deliver a roundhouse kick to a 20-year-old goofball. His idea of tracking down the bad guy is to sit and wait for him in his office. Literally. Well, he did also go buy a second gun, which the gun store owner ends up giving him for unexplained reasons. But when the final battle occurs our hero decides to only bring one of the two guns. It doesn’t matter, though, because the cartoonish bad guy apparently cannot be beaten by mere bullets. The Christianity of the good guys is overt and prevalent throughout, but it is a charismatic Christianity lacking a clear presentation of the Gospel (despite acceptance of the Gospel being essential to survival in the plot) in favor of a Christianity able to sense the future and part the fire of a burning building. I cannot predict the future, but I do know that good Christian literature exists and this isn’t it.

[Kevin Bowser]

I did not realize that this book had a Christian message. I obtained it months ago from eReaderIQ and forgot about it. As I was selecting my next book to read, I came across it and thought I would give it a try. I was hooked from the very start.

The tie in to the Vietnam War is something that always interest those of us of that generation. I never saw "Sammy" coming. His identity was a great twist and made the plot even better.

This book proves once again that you don't need gratuitous profanity, sex or violence in order to have a good story.

There were quite a few kindle formatting issues with the ebook that I found in my version. But I assume that was fixed in subsequent versions uploaded to Amazon.

[Pegg]

I love Joe Box! Honestly, this is one character I can completely relate to. He's a Christian but he's not perfect and he doesn't get everything right, but his heart is in the right place and he struggles to keep it that way.

[Janice Dick]

I wasn't expecting to enjoy this book because of the title, but it turned out to be an amazing read. A bit gruesome here and there, but the nature of the main character, Joe Box, saved the day and added pacing to the story.

[Rizello]

I enjoyed the plot line of the issues attacking the men in his military unit. The characters were real, with flaws and ragged edges. The main character is also a straight-forward character.

You got the sense that the characters cared for each other. I hope to read more by this author.

[Pegg]

I loved this book! It's not a genre I read very often, but it is well written and the main character, Joe Box, is someone I really connected with.

[Richard]

I could not put the book down. I wonder if there is other Joe Box Mystery