Dashiel Waitflaker: Deer Hunter

by AmandaLyn Donogal

It's a 'Thelma and Louise meets Pulp Fiction' encounter when fugitive Dashiel Waitflaker hitches a ride with truck driving Bambi and her pink teacup poodle, Adolf. From the moment Dash climbs into the hot pink eighteen-wheeler, the battle lines are drawn. When Bambi alters Dash's appearance to help keep him out of jail, there is no doubt these two are headed from one disaster to another. After accidently hitting a weigh scale officer in the head, then hearing on the news the officer was found dead, the two share fugitive status. Certain that the mounties are in hot pursuit, their relationship takes a number of turns for the worse. The purchase of a winning scratch-and-win lottery ticket creates more mutual distrust between the two, solved only by a marriage performed by Bambi's hot cross-dressing friend. An escape from the honeymoon suite in a police SWAT van, the purchase of an ingrate talking pink cockatoo and the need for the Jaws of Life to rescue Bambi from a Tim Horton's Drive-Thru lane interfere with their plans to leave Canada.

224 pages, Paperback

First published April 26, 2011

About the author

In total contrast to her alter-ego, AmandaLyn faces life with at best an irreverent gusto. Canadian born, she would much rather be living in warmer climates where handsome men wear fewer clothes. She admits to motherhood, however it is highly unlikely her children would admit to their relationship to her.

Reviews

[Pl · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I got 'Dashiel Waitflaker: Deer Hunter' by Amandalyn Donagal, I only had time to read one chapter -- and when I looked up I was 5 chapters into the book. I loved it, took a short break, and finished it later that day. (The sequel is on my 'buy' list). Two characters couldn't be more disparate, (3 if you count the poodle, a suave and urbane caffeine addict).

Dashiel thinks he's irresistible to women due to his natural asset, and Bambi feels that no man can keep his mitts off her sumptuous form. Every sentence left me wondering whatthehell -- there is going to be blood on the highway and bits of one or the other spread across the Canadian countryside. I kept reading and grinning, wondering who was going to be the spreader and who would be the spreadee.

Unfortunately other problems interfered with Dash and Bambi, a.k.a. the irresistible force meeting the immovable object. Questions come up like: 'Can a pee test determine a murderer?'; 'Why does wet hair make a difference?' and 'If the poodle's name is Adolf, that has got to be a bad thing, right?' Great escapism consists of bouncing all over the territories and cussing til the air is blue. Love it :)

[Bobbi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was reading downstairs and my husband heard me laughing while he was upstairs. It was a hysterical read with equally hysterical characters that communicated hysterically. It reminded me of a Dave Berry escapade with absurdity around every corner. Cause and reaction running amok throughout southwestern Canada, and bathed in pink. It has life on the open road in a rig and chaos in a clown car at the drive-thru. There are reverent and irreverent people. Animals that seem to have more zen in their lives than any of the humans.

AmandaLyn's progression of events in this book could really happen, but I doubt that anyone would believe them without seeing it. What a crazy and delightful - and sometimes painful- ride. A very funny book.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book sounded like an interesting read so I decided to enter the first read giveaway and to my delight I was a winner! :) This book had me laughing at all of the situations the main characters had gotten themselves into. The language is colourful however it is a part of who the characters are.

[Stephen Park · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a hilariously funny, irrevent, a laugh a page tale of two unlikely traveling companions where fate takes over the antagonistic relationship that only Hell could create. The language, which can be considered rude and crude, befits the mouths from which it comes.

[David Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny damn book. The Bambina and co. rumble around like Monty Python on crack.

David Smith