Cookie has been incarcerated for more than two decades. With his release finally in sight, he is asked to join a program that rehabilitates shelter dogs. He is hesitant, not because he dislikes dogs – he doesn’t – but because he avoids group programs and the scrutiny that comes with them.
Most of the other prisoners don’t even know Cookie’s real name. He has always been called Cookie, sometimes ‘One Tough Cookie’, not because of any hardened reputation, but because he is serving time for murder. The nickname doesn’t suit him. Cookie is fearful, withdrawn, and marked by a prominent facial scar, yet he accepts the label because it helps him remain unnoticed.
Cookie is paired with a troubled dog named Nigel, who is anxious, destructive and unlikely to pass the program. Cookie knows this failure will mean euthanasia. As their relationship deepens, Nigel becomes ‘Good Boy’. In an act of desperate compassion, he escapes the low-security prison to find someone who will care for Good Boy, if only for a few days.
This is a beautifully told and poignant novel about a damaged man and the redemptive power of love, forcing Cookie to reassess his life and question what shaped him.
I really loved Good Boy. At first it appears to be a simple, tender story about a man and a dog. As it unfolds, it reveals multiple layers of backstory, personality and circumstance, showing how a single decision can alter the course of a life.
Reviewed by Sue Stanbridge
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michelle Wright’s short stories and flash fiction have won and been shortlisted in numerous awards, including The Age Short Story Award, V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize and Bridport Prize. Her short story collection, Fine, was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript and published in 2016. Her first novel, Small Acts of Defiance, was published in Australia in 2021 and in the US in 2022. She lives in Melbourne, Australia.
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