Kensington
Published February 24, 2026
Reviewed by Barbara Fister
Maddie McGowan understands dogs. She has a PhD in applied animal behavior, and has a practice treating dogs with an excess of anxiety, aggression, or other problems. She also has a flock of sheep and Jack, a border collie to herd them. Together, they compete in sheepdog trials, having been schooled in the sport by her mentor and friend, George, whose training skills are legendary. On the day she greets him at a trial where she hopes Jack will put in a good showing, he seems unusually tense. After he tells his dog “away to me” – a command to start rounding up sheep, as they begin the competition – a rifle shot rings out and he falls to the ground. His dog, confused, herds the sheep to his body as George’s friends try to revive him, to no avail.
Did a hunter make a terrible mistake? Surely nobody would shoot George on purpose. But there are reasons to doubt this was an accident. Maddy is devastated by the loss, but soon has her hands full with another puzzling situation. The head of a local animal shelter asks her for advice about a dog that was brought in half dead. The German shepherd won’t eat or drink, and even in its weakened state tries to attack anyone who comes near. Intrigued, she agrees to help. It’s only when a staff member approaches and the dog feebly sits up that she realizes he’s alerting. He must be a trained K9 dog. But how could a dog that costs police organizations thousands of dollars end up in a vacant lot, nearly dead from neglect and abuse?
Away to Me is an absorbing story, well told in a conversational voice by an author who is, like her protagonist, knowledgeable about dogs and their behavioral problems. Though this is her first work of fiction, she does an excellent job of braiding together elements of a complex plot while keeping up the pace and developing characters, including Maddie who has a dark past that threatens to invade her peaceful existence on a farm in rural Wisconsin. In many ways, the small mysteries of why the dogs in the story behave and how Maddie decodes the things they are trying to tell her is as absorbing as the murder investigation.
In addition to a solid plot and a complex, compelling heroine, the setting is brought to life beautifully, including Maddie’s observations of nature and her vivid depiction of her work with animals. For example, she describes how sheep behave at a sheepdog trial: “imagine playing chess with all the pieces alive and full of their own opinions, moving at twenty miles an hour.”
Whether or not you’re a dog person, you’re likely to enjoy the company of this intriguing narrator and the dogs in her life.