Richard Adam's is most famous for his book, Watership Down, however Plague Dogs is a work that is usually right behind it in popularity. In a hard to cover area, Adams tackles the issue of lab animal use with a unique, but very believable spin.

Unlike Watership, Adams presents more than just the animal's takes on things. It passes back and forth between Snitter and Rolf, the escaped lab dogs, and the humans whose lives have become involved with them. We follow the dog's progress as they escape from the lab, and make their way through the Scottish countryside in a quest for peace and freedom from fear.

The dogs themselves are opposite in nature, yet manage to be friends. Rolf is wary of humans, and thinks all are cruel, while Snitter longs for his lost master and searches for a new one. Rolf is conflicted between fear of humans and hatred for the torture he endured. Snitter is mentally unbalanced, but gentle natured. The differences play well off of each other and make for good dialogs between the two.

Experiments on the animals are well described, but kept from being gruesome. Humans involved in the lab or affected by the dogs are given plenty of space in the book to inform the reader of their motivations and actions as well.

All and all, Plague Dogs is a good read. There are only two things that really detract from the story. One, Adams continually goes off on long tangents that have nothing to do with the book really, some lasting 20 pages. I skipped nearly half a chapter trying to get past it all.

The other main problem is that Adam's used a little too much dialect when it came to the Tod's broken speeches. They were extremely hard to read, even with the guide given at the front of the book. I found it interesting that he did this considering how well he pulled off Kehaar's mangled words in both Watership books.

Still, the book is worth the read, despite the extra patience required. It gives an eye opening look into animal research labs, from several perspectives, as well as some glimpses into the damage done by "sensational" rags (or newspapers).

Recommended: Yes