The Pack

I hope this isn't a real thing - The premise of The Pack is that families who summer on Burrows Island have no qualms about picking out a dog from the New York City pound, keeping it as a family pet during the summer, and abandoning it to starve or fend for itself when they head back to the city come September. I had looked forward to a story that would tell of such scum receiving their comeuppance, but those who suffer turn out to be the laidback, elderly year-rounders who take too long to realize that "just dogs" could have transformed into an effective killing machine.

Fisher is one of those professional writers with over fifty books to his name, ranging from novels, to ghostwritten memoirs, to a parody series called Chicken Poop for the Soul. He knows how to keep his story moving and he milks this rather "Movie of the Week" premise for all it's worth. (I thought I remembered it as a Movie of the Week from the '70's, but it was in fact filmed for theatrical release.)

The Pack is part of the Valancourt Press Paperbacks from Hell reprints of 1970's and '80's horror novels. Not recommended for readers either afraid of dogs or squeamish about means of dispatching them.