At the heart of Lives of the Monster Dogs is the profound love that links its two narrators and protagonists, Ludwig Von Sacher, the dogs' historian, and Cleo Pirra, a twentyone-year-old university history student.

Cleo's passion for the dogs and admiration for their beauty and elegance is in sharp contrast to Ludwig's grim self-assessment.

In his journal, the German Shepherd-human hybrid expresses loathing for his own kind: the monster dogs "look like ugly parodies of humans.... There is no place for monsters in this world." Ludwig and Cleo's love for one another lifts Cleo from her despair and brings them both to profound vision of kinship with other beings, living and dead.

Ludwig is obsessed with the scientist who first conceived of the monster dogs, Augustus Rank. Ludwig scrutinizes Rank's papers with the kind of attention usually reserved for sacred scripture. His studies are fueled by a masochistic...