Instruct: Classify the given review as either positive or negative.
Query: Save your time and money.

This book was shallow and unbelievable, going for a kind of magical realism, but falling flat. The main character tries to teach his dog to talk, after his wife kills herself, in the hope that the dog will shed (no pun intended) some light on his wife's death. But even the character's reactions to the suicide and bereavement were not convincing. Shallow, and the subplot of lunatics who believe dogs can be surgically altered to talk, was not well-enough developed, or compelling in the least. I was prepared to like this book, I have liked other noirish-type fantasies, but I found it really disappointing.