Review of "The Rescue: A Thriller" by T. Jefferson Parker

I'm entertained by books with amusing animal characters, especially pets that 'talk.' One of the main protagonists in this story is a mongrel pooch named Joe, a 55-pound Labrador-Terrier mix with gull wing ears and an exceptional sense of smell.

Joe doesn't talk per se but we're privy to Joe's thoughts as he grows from a cute puppy, to a talented Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) canine, to the pet of a San Diego self-defense instructor, to a pooch being pursued by a Mexican drug cartel.

Joe's current owner is journalist Bettina Blazak, who writes stories and does video interviews for a newspaper called 'The Coastal Eddy' in Laguna Beach, California.



Bettina first saw Joe at an animal shelter in Tijuana, Mexico, when she was doing a story about Mexican street dogs.



Joe was recovering from a bullet wound, and Bettina learned that, 35 days ago, a boy found the injured dog on a Tijuana street and carried him to the clinic. There Joe was saved by an emergency operation.

Bettina was drawn to Joe, adopted him, and called him Felix. The journalist then wrote an article about Felix's life-threatening adventure, which went viral. This brought the canine to the attention of several previous owners as well as a Mexican drug cartel.



From Joe's thoughts we find out that he lived with a boy named Teddy Delgado as a puppy, but was taken away when a relative was allergic;



Joe was then trained to be a DEA sniffer dog, and worked for several years until he got burn out.



Afterwards, Joe was adopted by an ex-cop/self-defense instructor named Dan Strickland. Dan secretly works for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, where he uses Joe's outstanding sniffer to steal drugs and cash from the Sinaloa Cartel.



Joe was injured during a cartel shoot-out in Tijuana, and Dan inadvertently lost the pooch in the chaos.



Dan Strickland is a sort of good guy/bad guy who runs an excellent self-protection school, drives a green Maserati Quattroporte, and really loves Joe.....but also loves the drug money Joe makes for him. Moreover, Joe loves Dan back, and misses his former home, which was filled with dog treats and dog toys.



Once Bettina's article about Felix/Joe goes viral, the journalist is contacted by all of Joe's previous owners:

❧ Teddy Delgado sends a series of emails, saying he raised Joe as a puppy, loves and misses the dog, and is saving up money in hopes of buying him back.

❧ A DEA officer says the agency owns Joe, and - though they don't want to take the dog away - have a plan to use Joe against the cartels.

❧ And Dan Strickland asserts Joe is his dog, and he wants Joe back.



Moreover, the Sinaloa Cartel - which lost a lot of money because of Joe - wants to kidnap the canine.

By now Bettina is very attached to Felix/Joe and plans to keep him no matter what.

This is the set-up for the story, which leads to all manner of action and adventure for the characters involved, especially Bettina, Dan, Joe, a bicycle-cop, and a cadre of DEA agents.







This is an exciting adventure story with a touch of romance, recommended to fans of the genre.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Victoria Villarreal, who does an excellent job.

Thanks to Netgalley, T. Jefferson Parker, and Macmillan Audio for a copy of the book.

Rating: 3 stars