My review of The Dog with the Golden Eyes by LM Kay (Lesley Tither)

What Goodreads says:

Nicholas James Corrigan is a small boy who doesn’t speak. One day he meets a strange dog and discovers they can understand each other’s thoughts. Nicholas James was a key witness to a crime when he was little and now The Man Who Did the Very Bad Thing is back and looking for him. Can his faithful new friend protect him? There’s only one way to find out!

My review:

I read The Dog with the Golden Eyes to my son, Michael (aged 11 years old). He absolutely loved it and begged me to read at least one chapter every night. My older son, Greg, listened in on some of our reading sessions and he liked what he heard so much that he is now reading this book.

The Dog with the Golden Eyes is a delightful tale about the relationship between a young boy, who has witnessed a very traumatic incident, and a stray dog that he adopts. The boy and the dog have a unique ability to communicate with each other telepathically and this ability comes in very useful over the course of the book when the man who was responsible for the traumatic incident suddenly reappears in the boy’s life.

The writing is lovely and the story doesn’t trail off into sub-plots that are unrelated to the main plot which I really liked. I think sub-plots in children’s books often confuse the reader. I would recommend this book for readers aged 9 to 12 years although it seems that a 14 year old [going on 114] has also been captivated by Lesley Tither’s fine writing and lovely story.

Goodreads reviews:

Shell Baker rated The Dog with the Golden Eyes five stars out of five on Goodreads and said:

From the moment I first clapped eyes on this stunning cover I couldn’t wait to read this book. I am familiar with the author’s writing but Lesley has turned her hand at writing a children’s book. Firstly I have to say that one of the things that makes this book so special is the beautiful illustrations throughout the story. They are stunning.

In this story we meet Nicolas James Corrigan who lives with his aunt. Nicholas doesn’t speak and while out with his aunt he meets a strange dog and discovers they can understand each other’s thoughts. Nicholas James was a key witness to a crime when he was little and now The Man Who Did the Very Bad Thing is back and looking for him. But can his faithful new friend protect him?

The idea of this story is simply wonderful with Nicolas James and the Strange dog’s friendship grows from the second they meet. The author has done a brilliant job of portraying this throughout the story building a brilliant bond between them.

And to be totally honest this is what I needed after just getting my reading mojo back. It is an easy and captivating read where you can’t help but love the characters…oh apart from the very bad man. He’s the baddie in the story so he isn’t meant to be loved.

Even though this is a children’s novel it can be read my people of all ages and it is one of those stories that adults will love. I certainly did. And I hope there is more to come from Nicolas I have my fingers crossed that this is going to be a series.

I highly recommend this book giving it 5 stars and would like to thank Lesley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Mikki rated this book five out of five stars and said:

What a delightful story, for adults and children. Short and sweet tale of a little boy and a dog who communicate without words and bring love into each other’s life just when needed.