Mad Dog

Debbie Fyfe is the reference/Internet resources librarian in the
Information Services Division of the Edmonton Public Library.

Set in the summer of 1964 in a Southern Ontario farming community, Mad
Dog is a coming-of-age story with dark, seedy undercurrents.

Having been abandoned by her mother at a young age, 13-year-old
Sheryl-Anne MacRae lives with her Uncle Fergus—an idealistic
pharmacist with a penchant for illegal drugs—and his family in a small
town. Sheryl-Anne dreams of escape, until the day Uncle Fergus brings
home a young hitchhiker named Peter Angelo who plays guitar and looks
like James Dean: Sheryl-Anne falls in love.

As summer races toward fall, Peter is pulled into Fergus’s world of
drugs, dangerous sex, late-night rituals, and apocalyptic prophecies.
Although initially uncomfortable, he is gripped by the idea that the
charismatic Fergus will help him become the next Bob Dylan. Sheryl-Anne
is tormented by nightmares, which Fergus refers to as “the Sight,”
and grows increasingly confused about what is real and what is imagined.
The novel ends brutally as Sheryl-Anne’s visions seep into her
everyday reality.

Although the secondary plots involving race riots and activism could
have been omitted, Mad Dog is a story that stays with the reader long
after the book is put down. Replete with graphic images of ritual abuse,
it is recommended for mature readers only.