After years of abuse and neglect, Parker is found chained in a junk-filled backyard after a drug bust. The little guy’s terrified of people. Officer Ned Barringer brings him to a nearby shelter for medical care. When Ned learns how hard it is for dogs like Parker to get adopted, he must do more. He’s also instantly taken with Kim Harper, one of the shelter managers. She offers to train Parker for … for free. Ned instantly accepts. That same day, he meets his next-door neighbor, a ten-year-old boy named Russell. Russell is hiding a black-eye, compliments of two bullies at school. This angers Ned. He suffered the same fate as a child. It’s the main reason he became a cop. But what can he do? When a near-death tragedy occurs, what role might Parker play in bringing these three lives together?
Dan Walsh is known for page-turning, character driven novels. Fans of Dan’s other novels, as well as dog-lovers everywhere will especially enjoy Saving Parker (and if they do, 2 more books are available in the Forever Home series).
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I enjoyed the dog’s point of view and that the author used the dog’s voice to express it.
It was also interesting to explore the idea of avoiding heartache by not having a relationship with soneone who has a hazardous job.
Parker the former abused dog finally gets a good forever home where he is loved and in the process several people along the way are helped with their problems.
Good book
I enjoyed because easy reading and had romances too.
Read long ago the story stays. This was close to being a tear jerker. Loved the characters.
Sweet story
Sad that this could really happen. Glad everything turned out good for Parker.
After reading the first two (Finding Riley and Resuing Finley, also by Dan Walsh) I downloaded this one too. The main characters here are a young boy in a single parent home who struggles with being bullied…. and a neighborhood police officer who remembers what that is like. This one, too, was a good one to recommend to my teenaged grandchildren.
Another great story from a great author. I love books dealing with relationships between people and animals. Great read!
This is book 3 of the “Forever Home” series by Dan Walsh. I fell in love with the series when I read Rescuing Finley and then Finding Riley. Walsh creates a disturbing portrait of animal cruelty and abuse and of salvation and redemption of a dog that should never be able to trust any human being ever again.
I can identify with Parker’s situation as my own dog is a rescue. It took a couple of years for her to completely trust me. There were successes and setbacks along the way, just as there are with Parker and Ned.
Saving Parker started our as a page turner, but then it just died. I found I could skip paragraphs and lose the story. There was too much information about training and caring for Parker. Half the book could have been eliminated and the story still would have flowed
I like this book. If you like animal stories this book and this author are for you. Caring, concerned people helping each other and Parker. I wish the author had either focused on the child/dog relationship or the adult standpoint. By focusing on both fairly equally, I could never decide if the book was for youth or adults. There was enough focus on the adult relationship that middle school children would lose interest, yet much of the book seemed written with that age children in mind,
It was good at first, plenty of dog action, which I enjoy. Then the plot slowed down, more about the humans than the dog. I started losing interest.
Good story. I could feel the character’s emotions. Well done
Great book.
I enjoyed it but found it weighty due to repeated losses.
Excellent
Read like an advertisement for animal abuse and volunteer foster homes.
I really enjoy reading animal stories but this book was much more than just a book about a dog. It was about bullying. I think it was an excellent book, especially for children that be getting bullied.
somewhat predictable
I love stories involving animals. This book was a tear jerker. The way the lives of the dog and people were wound together was very inspirational. I will read it over in the future.