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R. Scott Bakker

Disciple of the Dog: A Disciple Manning Novel Digital – November 23, 2010

by R. Scott Bakker (Author)

32 ratings

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Print length

288 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Forge Books
Publication date

November 23, 2010
ISBN-10

1429925361
ISBN-13

978-1429925365
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Forge Books (November 23, 2010)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Digital ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1429925361
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1429925365

Customer Reviews:
32 ratings

About the author

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R. Scott Bakker

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My books are the sum of four decades spent wandering fantastic worlds and philosophical worldviews. In an age where algorithms sort everything, I belong nowhere. Some days I write in a three-piece suit, and others, in my underwear.

These are the characters closest to my heart, those trapped between warring tribes. I despise easy answers. I write of ancient wars and long-dead philosophers, extinct races and poets whose words crack walls as readily as hearts. I mourn the worlds I once believed in, and I fear the planet we have become. The themes in my books teeter on the radical edge of the most pressing issues of our day. Among other venues, my philosophical critiques have been featured on CBC Ideas and in The Journal of Consciousness Studies.

Customer reviews

5 star		28%
4 star		34%
3 star		27%
2 star		3%
1 star		8%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Arian Evans

Super-Fun, Highly Under-Rated, contemporary detective fiction

Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2013

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This book is great. I bought it on a lark, on a random recommendation and read it simply because they said the author wrote well. What a great choice.

Early in the book I was convinced this was 5-star material. 5-star means classic to me. 4 star means the story is solid enough to be worth re-reading, or it is just damn well-written. This book is both.

The author is an unusually clever writer, and one hell of a sketching storyteller as well.

The protagonist, Disciple, is a mess. He is smart, clever, cynical, and great fun to wander through this story with. His observations are wry and witty. The characters in this story are mostly fun. With the exception that the women are a bit one-dimensional, which makes sense here though because that's how the first-person Protag seems to view women.

There are many, many, clever, catchy, and downright LOL phrases in this book. It has been years since I have highlighted a non-biographical, or non-philosophy/psych book as much as I highlighted this book.

This is a man's book -- for men. I tried to read parts of it to my mother, and a 91 year-old lady that lives with her, and they found it boring. (Yet they both liked "The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo")

So why not 5 stars? Only for a few reasons, most of which would probably be ignored by most readers:

1. The ending felt a bit weak and contrived. The book was sooo good up to this point, and then the ending fizzled into unmemorability/unbelievability for me.

2. Some of the wonderfully-clever phrases in this book are temporal - like his reference to the "Obama of the Cult World". Fun, funny, clever, but won't stand the test of time to make this a classic.

3. The protagonist is a war-vet, gun-toting badass. Who doesn't know anything about guns. The protagonist starts the book with a "colt automatic pistol" and yet, several times while carrying the gun on his person, or in his car - it turns into a "revolver". Perhaps the author was going for some Mickey-Spillane type feel with his gun descriptions but I find it unlikely that a vet of the first Gulf war on would:

+ call a 1911 in 45 ACP a "Colt automatic pistol". That's so 1930's.
+ probably even carry a Colt (brand) 1911, unless that was all they could find
+ triple-tap to the head. Assuming he had the skill to pull off a one-handed triple-tap with a 45; the bullet-catching recipient would likely collapse after the first round unless the bullets deflected off the skull.

The protagonist hails from the unfree-state of NJ, and notes how hard it is to get a handgun in NJ/NY. Which isn't entirely true. NYC, yes. Expensive, yes. Hard - not unless you have a criminal record. (edit/update: I have since looked into handgun laws in NJ and while the author exaggerates a bit they are indeed draconian compared to the rest of the free states)

::Plot Hint possible Spoiler::

And why didn't he just ditch the barrel? Removal of the barrel renders a 1911 forensically useless, and the barrel is trivial to replace. Maybe because it was a union-made Colt 1911 from the 80's, and he knew it wasn't worth keeping? :)

4. The protagonist is a martial-arts badass. War vet, boxer, etc. Yet, when faced with Uber Badass Nazis, pulls out his.....Aikido? The author calls it jujutsu, but I don't know of any jujutsu where you take a man down by one arm and "remain standing calmly". That's Aikido nonsense (and bad Aikido at that). He should have been at least kneeling on the Bad Guy holding an arm or shoulder lock.

It would have been much more believable if, somewhere in the book, he had properly beaten the crap out of someone, instead of just talking about it, repeatedly, and with bravado. And then when the times comes for him to be a Bad Ass - he winds up pulling out completely pussy, un-real-world-workable Aikido. Bleh.

See? I told you most of my complaints are petty. :)

Complaints aside - this is a solid story from a very clever and talented writer. I highly recommend giving this a spin!

5 people found this helpful

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Cults, neo-Nazis, gorgeous young women, and a detective who can never forget

Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2011

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If Philip Marlowe were to roam the back streets of today's cities, he might bear at least a slight resemblance to Disciple Manning, the protagonist of R. Scott Bakker's mystery novel, Disciple of the Dog. They're both tough-talking tough guys with a special affinity for the dark recesses of society. Manning is a troubled ex-soldier -- he fought in Iraq in the first Gulf War -- with a ceaseless hunger for pot and sex. He is, of course, fiendishly handsome, but he still manages to alienate women with his crude and usually unwelcome honesty.

However, Manning's most notable distinguishing feature is his memory, which sets him apart from Philip Marlowe and, apparently, the rest of the human race as well. It's been the subject of university lab tests for many years: he cannot forget ANYTHING. Now, this is not your run-of-the-mill eidetic memory, which is fundamentally visual. In fact, his memory of the written word doesn't seem to be the equal of his memory of the conversations and confrontations he's had in the course of three decades of a topsy-turvy life. He remembers everything ever said to him by anybody. Everything. Everybody. And not just the words, but the expressions, the body language, the intonation, and the context, including everyone else in the picture.

Disciple Manning is not a happy man. In fact, from time to time he despairs of humanity, having what he believes to be a far more accurate picture of human behavior than just about anyone else, and as a result has slit his wrists on several occasions. Somehow, though, he manages to pull through.

In Disciple of the Dog, Manning is hired by the wealthy parents of a 21-year-old woman who has disappeared from the cult headquarters where she's been living for two years. The scene is a small town in rural Pennsylvania, a former industrial center now shrunk to a fraction of its previous size. In the course of investigating the cult, a small operation led by a former UC Berkeley professor of . . . guess what? cults . . . Manning encounters another unusual organization that has set down roots in the same town. It's a neo-Nazi "church" led by a clique of ex-cons from the Aryan Brotherhood, and it appears to own the town. Manning rockets between believing that first one, then the other of these evil-seeming organizations is responsible for the young woman's disappearance and, he firmly believes, her death.

Bakker's writing style is lively, to say the least. The tale is told in Manning's interior voice, which is rich with imagery, profane, and endlessly engaging. The story is intricately plotted, though that's difficult for the reader to see until Manning reveals key points in retrospect as he sorts through his memories. The book is full of surprises. It's a lot of fun.
[...]

6 people found this helpful

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Richard Hughes

Crisp little mystery story with an interesting gimmick, holds up in retrospect

Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2013

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This is a solid little mystery novel. The gimmick, where the main character does not - cannot - forget anything he has ever experienced, is realized effectively and contributes to the plot without dominating it.

It does have R. Scott Bakker's usual problem, where all relationships between men and women are sexually focused to the point of it being creepy to read. But if you're a fan of R. Scott Bakker, as I am, you're probably either a-OK with that or resigned to it by now. :D

2 people found this helpful

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MB

I do like how Scott Bakker writes

Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2016

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I do like how Scott Bakker writes, his books are challenging, and in this regard this one is not different, but...though I appreciated the ending, it came so abrupt that it felt as it was written just to end the season so to say, as rapidly as possible. Got bored? I don't know. Anyway, I read it in no time and had a lot of fun reading it.

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ZhuaZi

Second best thriller ever!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 3, 2018

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Disciple of the Dog is the second attempt in the thriller genre by Bakker, and the second (and second best) thriller I've ever read. I remember him saying in a podcast that fans don't usually follow writers across genres, but fans of Bakker's unique and twisted mind are definitely going to love this book almost as much as Neuropath.

The style is, of course, incredibly different from the sprawling and archaic prose of the Second Apocalypse, but we see a lot of the same themes, namely persuasion, control of one's own and other's minds and a futile search for meaning in a dark and claustrophobic world. The main character's 'perfect' memory is a great and distinctive literary tool, allowing his reflection on these memories to form a crucial part of the narrative. Some of Bakker's witty lines were, on two occasions for me, 'splutter out a mouthful of tea' funny, and he has a gift for neurotic, anti-social main characters that fans have to see a bit of themselves in.

The book was very readable and I got through it in a few days. It was perhaps a little rushed towards the end, we didn't get into the cult as deeply as we could have and those hoping for a spectacular, world-destroying conclusion like that of Neuropath and the Second Apocalypse might be a little disappointed, but he's brainwashed me so effectively he has to get 5 stars.

75Kg

Refreshing and excellent

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 10, 2013

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I really enjoyed reading this book. I loved the concept of a man who couldn't forget. His wicked character (male chauvinistic it has to be said, ladies) had me chuckling to myself. The wife would ask as to the why but I could not, nor would I explain - that would have ended in a half hour discussion. You either like this type of dry humour or you don't. I like a book that can take me somewhere beyond my own imagination and this book did. Well written, clearly tongue in cheek for sure. A refreshingly good read. I look forward to reading it again in a few years when I've forgotten the details. I liked this book so much that I also bought it to send to a few friends who I know will appreciate it.

Whiskeyjack

Really nice...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 31, 2012

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A sociopath that remembers everything? I liked it! A rather short intensive crime story with a strange hero. I've read Bakker
excellent fantasy books and this is also very enjoyable.(Even better than "Neuropath")

Amberyl

Bakkers schwächstes Buch bislang

Reviewed in Germany on May 1, 2013

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Disciple Manning, Zyniker und Privatdetektiv, ein Mann mit einer neurologischen Krankheit, die verhindert, dass er jemals etwas vergessen kann, wird damit beauftragt die verschwundene Tochter wohlhabender Eltern aufzuspüren. Ein Auftrag, der ihn in eine verschlafene Kleinstadt führt, mit allen Klischees, die man an solchen Orten erwarten darf, und die nicht nur einer charismatischen Endzeitsekte als Quartier dient...

Wie immer ist Bakkers Schreibstil solide und liest sich angenehm flüssig. Leider bleibt diese Eigenschaft beinah der einzige Pluspunkt dieses Romanes, denn schon bei den Charakteren zeigen sich die ersten Schwächen.

Praktisch alle Figuren scheinen einer Blaupause entsprungen, vom redseligen, völlig überforderten Provinz-Sheriff, über den gebildeten und doch selbstverblendeten Sektenführer, bis hin zu Manning selbst, dessen Krankheit zwar grundsätzlich interessant ist, deren Auswirkungen für mein Befinden aber nicht wirklich glaubwürdig geschildert werden:
Disciple Manning kann sich also an alles erinnern, ein Umstand, der ihn einerseits zum notorischen Zyniker mach, da er alles schon mal gesehen hat (einschließlich Sex, doch der ist immer wieder neu, selbst nach der 558 Frau plus/minus), und ihm andererseits den Vorteil verschafft, im Geiste diverse Gespräche wiederholen zu können, um so versteckte Hinweise zu finden.
Gut, schön... Und sonst? Wo ist denn der herannahende Wahnsinn, vor dem doch selbst Mannings Therapeuten ihn ständig warnen? Oder irgend ein anderes Unterscheidungsmerkmal, das ihn tatsächlich von seiner Umgebung abgrenzen würde?
Die bloße Behauptung einer Andersartigkeit reicht leider nicht aus, um sie für den Leser auch spürbar und nachvollziehbar zu machen, weshalb Manning für mein Befinden seltsam blass und schablonenhaft erscheint.

Auch die Handlung wirkt von Anfang an allzu bemüht, und verliert spätestens mit dem Auftauchen einer Neo-Nazi Gruppe, die schon seit längerem mit der Sekte im Clinch liegt (oder auch nicht), endgültig jeglichen Zusammenhalt.
Einziger Lichtblick hier: die originelle und unerwartete Auflösung zu Mannings ursprünglichem Auftrag. Darüber hinaus wirkt der Plot dürftig und lieblos zusammengebastelt.

Fehlende Handlung scheint überhaupt ein Problem in Bakkers non-Fantasy Büchern zu sein.
In meinen Augen versucht er in allen seinen Büchern (vielleicht zu sehr), eine philosophische Botschaft unterzubringen, doch während dieses Konzept in Bakkers Fantasy-Serie aufgeht, in der er die Leserschaft über tausende Seiten mit ehrgeizigem Weltentwurf und gewaltigen Handlungsbögen zu beeindrucken vermag, scheint die eigentliche Handlung in seinen Einzelbüchern lediglich schmückendes Beiwerk zu sein.

Daher im Großen und Ganzen ein enttäuschendes Buch.

One person found this helpful

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Rachel

Intéresssante recontre

Reviewed in France on November 27, 2011

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Premier livre de R.Scott Bakker que je lis , et une belle rencontre , pas un anglais toujours facile-facile (surtout les blagues douteuses de Disciple) j'y suis revenu sans cesse et j'ai finis les derniers chapitres d'une traite . On sent que Bakker aime tout ce qui touche à la religion , les cultes et c'était intéressant de lire la conversation entre Disciple Manning et Xenonphon Baars
On a envie d'en savoir plus , sur les années dans l'armée de Disciple , pourquoi il a fait de la prison et sur ses tentatives de suicide , certes il se la joue , on le sent un peu mytho mais on le sent aussi fragile .

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