Back in the Pack

I’ll admit: I rolled my eyes when Andrew Blake, a retired engineer, moved to the countryside to ‘find himself’ with two giant dogs he clearly didn’t want. But Hinske’s writing disarmed me within chapters. The dogs aren’t just plot devices—they’re chaotic neutral forces of nature, and their antics (stealing a Thanksgiving turkey, turning a yoga class into a petting zoo) force Andrew to engage with life in ways his grief had wallpapered over. The Virtual Voice narrator nails the balance between Andrew’s curmudgeonly exterior and the vulnerability peeking through, though I occasionally wished for more vocal distinction between the female characters—some of the neighborhood women blurred together in tone. Where the audiobook *shines* is in its pacing. At under four hours, there’s no fat. Scenes like Andrew’s disastrous attempt to host a book club (where the dogs “edit” the manuscripts) or his passive-aggressive notes to a neighbor about her rooster’s 4 a.m. crowing land with comedic timing that feels *earned*. My only real critique? The ending wraps up a touch too neatly—Andrew’s emotional breakthrough lacks the messy ambiguity that made his earlier struggles so compelling. Still, it’s a rare audiobook that makes you laugh *and* mist up over a dog’s snoring. If you’ve ever side-eyed a self-help guru but secretly wanted a do-over, this is your audiobook—just keep tissues handy for the goat scene.