Review by Woodrow Phoenix

Dog Man, heroic combo of police man and police dog, has done more than anyone to keep the city safe from the evil schemes of a very bad orange cat called Petey. He has three ‘awesome allies’, Sarah, a “very smart” TV reporter, her pet poodle Zuzu, who is “very brave” and his boss, Chief who is described as “very chiefy”.  And for the last two books he has had two housemates: the cloned kitten Li’l Petey, and their robot friend 80-HD. Sometimes they’re more than housemates when they get into their costumes and become super heroes: Cat Kid, Lightning Dude and The Bark Knight, as seen in Lord of the Fleas.

Brawl of the Wild is the sixth book of adventures, and it finds Dog Man on the wrong side of the law for a change, when he wakes up in the morning after a peaceful night to discover his dog bed is a big bag of money – stolen a few hours earlier from the city bank. Oh no! Dog Man is sent to dog jail, where the judge sentences him to “14 dog years of hard labour!!!” Surely there has been some mistake? Surely our hero would never betray the principles on which he has lived his life?

Dav Pilkey’s plot uses elements from previous books to spin this new tale, giving regular readers plenty of rewards for keeping up with the continuing adventures of his half-dog, half-man protagonist. The usual blend of jokes, slapstick and little bursts of cute character interaction add up to another instalment of silly situations that children will enjoy figuring out. Next in the Dog Man series is For Whom The Ball Rolls.