A man's wife, Lexy, is found dead under a tree in their backyard. Is it an accident or suicide? The police decide she must have fallen accidentally since there was no suicide note or any indication that she was depressed. But the only one who truly knows is the sole witness, the couple's dog, Lorelei.
The man, Paul, can't seem to get over Lexy's death. He is a linguist and he decides he is going to teach his dog to talk so he can find out what really happened. Needless to say, he fails. He does some more research and discovers an underground group that is altering dogs surgically to enable them to speak. He contacts this group and, to his horror and dismay, they kidnap Lorelei, intending to perform their torturous surgeries on her. He gets the dog back but her voice box has been removed and she can make no sound at all.
This story isn't really about the man's desire to talk with his dog. It's really about his wife. As we read along, it starts to become apparent that all is not well with Lexy. She makes beautiful masks and one day her husband makes a small criticism about one of her masks. She flies into a rage and smashes the mask to bits. Anger isn't her only issue, she's got other problems too.
I felt sorry for Paul. Lexy's death really messed him up badly. Towards the end of the story he's not eating much and wearing the same clothes for days and the house is filthy. But I didn't like Lexy. She kept too much hidden from him, her real feelings and thoughts that she didn't really share herself with him.
It was an OK read, although the dog-talking premise is dumb.
Review from Bookslut: http://www.bookslut.com/fiction/2003_07_000133.php.
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