They say not to judge a book by its cover—Mongrel has two devil-headed youths seated together who appear to be writing something with a bowl of what looks like blood by their feet—but, in this case, I find the correlation between the stories and the cover to be spot on.
When a reader begins this book, it may seem like another story of rebellious youth ready for trouble. But it is soon evident that Mongrel is not what was expected. This is five tales told through the eyes of five separate characters—Sera, Gus, Sophie, Milan and Gunther—in five chapters, all of which take place over the course of twelve hours on the last day of the U.S. bombings of Serbia in 1999.
The novel starts off with three youths driving across the Canadian-American border concealing ecstasy under their tongues in case the border...
Ranj Dhaliwal is the author of Daaku, which tackles the issue of Indo-Canadian gangs in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland. He has been called upon by media and police across Canada as a gang expert. The third book in the Daaku series will be released in 2013.
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