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Coma Dog
Harold Debec was having a lousy year. His wife had left him for a young holistic healer, his son wasn't returning his calls and the NYC ad agency he helped found had fired him. Against all instincts, Harry moves to Hollywood to help promote the snake-bitten sequel to a talking dog movie. Enter a Hungarian junkie film director, a trio of dognappers and a movie exec named Holly Cloth.
251 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 9, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 7, 2013
David Murphy’s Coma Dog is a madcap ride through the crazy, cynical world of movie production. While Murphy juggles several characters who are equally important to the plot (and does so skillfully, but more on that below), Coma Dog is, at heart, the story of Harold Debec, a one-hit wonder ad exec who has been fired from the New York agency he essentially built. Divorced with a grown son and not much to tether him to the East Coast, Harold accepts an offer to join the promotion team for a troubled sequel to a talking dog movie. In Los Angeles, he finds romance, a junkie director, ambitious young studio career climbers (and wannabes), and Peppy, the diabetic dog, whose movie star status makes him the target of a kidnapping plot. Fasten your seatbelts, because you’re in for a wild ride.
If you’re the kind of person who likes a nice, straightforward, linear plot, then Coma Dog may not be for you, but I encourage you to dive in and exercise patience as Murphy interweaves seemingly disparate story lines into an engaging whole. Characters are introduced early in the plot that may leave an impatient reader wondering why they’re present in the novel, but Murphy gradually weaves the plot threads together, all the while creating a cast of fully-realized human beings whom you won’t be able to get out of your head. Plot and characterization come together masterfully in the climactic sequences, when everyone ends up at the same location and chaos (and, ultimately, redemption) ensues.
The novel also has many laugh-out-loud moments, many of which involve celebrity references. I don’t want to give away too much, so I’ll just mention “Senator Charlie Sheen” and leave it at that.
Mirroring its location and subject matter, Coma Dog clips along at a Hollywood movie pace, and I can envision the story as a screenplay, as the action moves from scene to scene involving different characters. And, as an animal lover, I wanted to reach into the novel and run off with Peppy—it’s another sign of strong characterization when the reader falls in love with a diabetic “talking” dog.
Anyone who enjoys getting a peek into the absurdity of Hollywood and the movie business is sure to love Coma Dog, and I look forward to reading more of Murphy’s work.
If you’re the kind of person who likes a nice, straightforward, linear plot, then Coma Dog may not be for you, but I encourage you to dive in and exercise patience as Murphy interweaves seemingly disparate story lines into an engaging whole. Characters are introduced early in the plot that may leave an impatient reader wondering why they’re present in the novel, but Murphy gradually weaves the plot threads together, all the while creating a cast of fully-realized human beings whom you won’t be able to get out of your head. Plot and characterization come together masterfully in the climactic sequences, when everyone ends up at the same location and chaos (and, ultimately, redemption) ensues.
The novel also has many laugh-out-loud moments, many of which involve celebrity references. I don’t want to give away too much, so I’ll just mention “Senator Charlie Sheen” and leave it at that.
Mirroring its location and subject matter, Coma Dog clips along at a Hollywood movie pace, and I can envision the story as a screenplay, as the action moves from scene to scene involving different characters. And, as an animal lover, I wanted to reach into the novel and run off with Peppy—it’s another sign of strong characterization when the reader falls in love with a diabetic “talking” dog.
Anyone who enjoys getting a peek into the absurdity of Hollywood and the movie business is sure to love Coma Dog, and I look forward to reading more of Murphy’s work.
July 16, 2013
Coma Dog is essentially a story about a man, Harold Debec, who is saved by his son twice. The first time the son, Andrew, unwittingly saves Harold's career in advertising and helps to define his father for decades to come. The second time, Andrew saves his now estranged father's life during an action packed finale of the book. By saving his father the again, Andrew manages to unburden Harold from the baggage he has been carrying around since the first incident.
Harold Debec is a man in transition. He is recently divorced and has just been fired from his job of twenty plus years and doesn't know what he is going to do. He accepts a temporary position working on the marketing campaign of a low-budget talking dog movie that no one at the film studio is excited about. A life long east coaster, he is not overly fond of his new home in L.A., but seems to like it more as he meets and falls in love with Holly Cloth, a fellow studio marketing executive.
It starts as an enjoyable romantic comedy as you get to know Harold and Holly. They seem to be the only normal people in a sea of highly ambitious and pretentious L.A. types in and out of show business. It becomes a whacky black comedy when Peppy, the dog star of the talking dog movie, gets kidnapped by the producer's rapper wannabe son and his crew of clueless friends.
The climax comes in a chaotic scene at the L.A Forum during a pet adoption expo where every character in the book comes together.
Murphy's descriptions of L.A. are among the best I have ever read. He gives you a real sense of place throughout the book. His characters seem real even if the climax is a bit of a stretch. It is best to just jump on and go along for this thoroughly enjoyable ride.
Harold Debec is a man in transition. He is recently divorced and has just been fired from his job of twenty plus years and doesn't know what he is going to do. He accepts a temporary position working on the marketing campaign of a low-budget talking dog movie that no one at the film studio is excited about. A life long east coaster, he is not overly fond of his new home in L.A., but seems to like it more as he meets and falls in love with Holly Cloth, a fellow studio marketing executive.
It starts as an enjoyable romantic comedy as you get to know Harold and Holly. They seem to be the only normal people in a sea of highly ambitious and pretentious L.A. types in and out of show business. It becomes a whacky black comedy when Peppy, the dog star of the talking dog movie, gets kidnapped by the producer's rapper wannabe son and his crew of clueless friends.
The climax comes in a chaotic scene at the L.A Forum during a pet adoption expo where every character in the book comes together.
Murphy's descriptions of L.A. are among the best I have ever read. He gives you a real sense of place throughout the book. His characters seem real even if the climax is a bit of a stretch. It is best to just jump on and go along for this thoroughly enjoyable ride.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews