View source for A Dog Like Lloyd by Jacqueline Sheehan

{{infobox1
|title=A Dog Like Lloyd
|sort=Dog Like Lloyd
|author=Jacqueline Sheehan
|reviewer=Sue Magee
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=A powerful story about grief and the redemptive power of the unconditional love of an animal. A great read.
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=304
|publisher=Ebury
|date=April 2017
|isbn=978-1785034510
|website=http://www.jacquelinesheehan.com/
|cover=1785034510
|aznuk=1785034510
|aznus=1785034510
}}

'''Warning: If you've read [[Lost and Found by Jacqueline Sheehan]] then you'll find this tory ''very'' familiar.'''

Psychologist Roxanne Pellegrino couldn't believe what was happening when her forty-two-year old husband Bob had a heart attack: she asked the paramedics who were giving him CPR to be careful as he was a vet and had to go to work later that morning.  But unfortunately for Bob and Roxanne there wasn't to be a later for him and Roxanne's world fell apart.  Unable to control her grief she fled her job and her home and moved to Peaks Island off the coast of Maine, where she found employment as an Animal Control Warden.  It was a subject which interested her, it filled in her time and saved her having to explain about Bob.  So far as people were concerned she had been married, but wasn't any more.

And so it might have continued with Roxanne in denial about Bob's death, but a Labrador dog was found on the island and he'd been pierced by an arrow which was still sticking out of his thigh.  The surgery was extensive and Lloyd, as she called the dog, came home with her to recuperate.  Lloyd had lost someone too - that was obvious - and together they helped each other to heal.  If the book had ended there it would have been a good heart-warming story, but it didn't.  Roxanne and her employer set out to find Lloyd's owner and this unravelled a story of mental illness, abuse and suicide.  It also put Roxanne and Lloyd into danger.

Roxanne's neighbour on the island had a young daughter, Melissa and it didn't take long for Roxanne to realise that Melissa had an eating disorder.  Her food intake was minimal, she ran long distances ''and'' worked out big time.  She had all the tricks for making people think that she was eating.  When she was practising as a psychologist it was something which Roxanne had always preferred to avoid treating, but a tentative relationship between Roxanne and Melissa began to grow, with Lloyd as the attraction for the damaged girl.

Oh, but this is a powerfully-told story.  At one point I thought that I was going to have to stop reading and I kept having to look up from the page to remind myself that this was ''fiction'': I was terrified for Lloyd and at one point I had tears running down my face.  Jacqueline Sheehan has a real talent for producing situations which make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end and characters you warm to.  I rooted for Roxanne and could empathise with Melissa.  Lloyd simply stole my heart.  I moved from not being able to turn the pages swiftly enough in my need to find out what happened to being disappointed that the story was over.  Days later I'm still thinking about Lloyd and I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy of the book to the Bookbag.

If this book appeals then we think that you'll enjoy [[Red Dog by Louis de Bernieres]].

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