A vividly propulsive neo-noir ... A fast-paced crime thriller with a psychosexual twist ... Djamel White is poised as a powerful new voice in Irish literature ... Like its sharklike protagonist, the narrative rarely stops moving, and the strength of the novel lies in this episodic quality ... The plotting, however, seems a little imposed and overcomplicated ... Has ambitions beyond the harsh restrictions of the crime genre ... And though many frailties are revealed below the braggadocio, the true emotions and psychosexuality of this angry and battered male psyche remain unknowable.
Beautifully audacious ... All Them Dogs is filled with a street lyricism that mines masculinity in a manner reminiscent of Jim Carroll or Robert McLiam Wilson. There’s a poetry on the pages here that tenderises even the most hardened characters, as they alternately strut and cower at the mercy of criminal impulses. That’s part of this novel’s magic. And it is a magical piece of writing.
Electricity pulsates through All Them Dogs with an intensity and a sense of urgency that propels the reader forward to the very fitting ending ... Prepare yourself for an adrenaline-fuelled, intense rush, a novel that will not allow you to take a breath ... Gritty, impacting, emotive, and frighteningly authentic, All Them Dogs is a formidable and assured debut.
White’s prose quickly brings readers into the cadence of Tony’s slang and captures his distinctive voice. All Them Dogs offers an intense view into the life of a man whose choices are constrained by the violence of his world.
Dense with street slang and bristling thoughts, the vernacular presses us into smoke-filled kitchens, across collapsing car seats, and against frayed tempers until the tension feels skin-tight ... White gathers reality into a taut bundle and leaves it with us. How we bear its oppressive immediacy becomes part of the act of reading, making All Them Dogs not just observed, but inhabited ... A consuming novel, albeit one that doesn’t seem preoccupied with leaving a lasting wound. Its force lies elsewhere, namely in the precision with which it draws us into its grip, and the unease it leaves once we surface.
A riveting and tender literary thriller ... In between taut action sequences, Tony reflects with piercing insight on the violence he commits ... It’s a memorable story of a man’s ill-fated attempt to transcend his hopelessness.
