First published 2010
Susannah Charleson works as a search and rescue pilot when a newspaper photograph changes her life. The image shows a canine handler with his exhausted dog after the Oklahoma City bombing. Moved by what she sees, Charleson volunteers with a local search dog team. She learns about the demanding work, the absence of payment, and the emotional toll these teams endure. When she qualifies to train her own dog, she adopts Puzzle, a Golden Retriever puppy. Puzzle shows promise as a working dog but resists being a well behaved house companion. Charleson documents their partnership as they hunt for missing people. They search for lost teenagers and Alzheimer's patients who wander into danger. They work through the wreckage of the Columbia space shuttle disaster looking for crew members. Through these missions, Charleson explores the connection that forms between humans and their canine partners in this work that saves lives.
Genres: animals, dogs, non-fiction, biography-memoir, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family
Setting: Oklahoma City
Period: 21st-century
285 pages · Hardcover · Houghton Mifflin Harcourt