A hard hitting book based on academic life in Glasgow, and the possible repercussions if your father was a hard Glasgow man with connections in the criminal underworld.
Spoilt for me only by the weak ending typical of this genre.
Definitely worth reading, there are lots of good passages, and ideas.
Thank you to the author for a good read, and to the publisher for an advance copy for honest review.

Jim Brennan was born to a Glaswegian hardman, Big Jim, and vowed to leave the life he was born into. The first in his family to go to university he succeeds in his quest, happily married to Maggie and with 2 children his life is panning out nicely. Vice principal at the same university he attended life is good. Until his son Elliot is arrested for drug dealing and imprisoned. Jim soon finds himself more like his father than he realised as he is prepared to go to any lengths to protect his family.
This was a real gritty read, a story of crossing lines from good to bad and how easy it is to get caught up in wrong doings.
I received this advanced copy from Netgalley and Canongate publishing with no obligation to leave my review

A great read by Welsh. Professor Jim Brennan’s life is turned upside down when his son is imprisoned for dodgy drug healing.
Suddenly this respectable academic is thrust back into the grubby underworld his violent father inhabited and is fighting to save his family.
I really believed in Jim, his wife and two children. The novel is well-plotted: although there’s a lot going on and I sometimes literally lost the plot, the characterisation was good enough to keep me hooked.
I haven’t read Welsh’s other novels, but definitely will on the basis of this one.
Recommended if you like your thrillers gritty and gripping.

A look into an ordinary family whose lives are turned upside down when their son does something wrong. A book that makes you think "it could easily happen to my family". The twists and turns keep coming from every direction.

I enjoyed this book until about half way when the story seemed to loose it's way. I was intrigued with the story of a university professor and his drug dealing son being sent to jail and all of the problems it presented, however the story began to drift and the ending was very unsatisfactory. There were a couple of 'sub plots' but these did not go anywhere either.
Thank you to NetGalley and Canongate for the advance copy of this book.

This story of a professor and his drug dealer of a son starts off brilliantly well. Jim Brennan seems to be a engaging character and the dilemma he finds himself in is one that strikes fear into the heart of every parent, His drug-dealing son Eliot is facing a prison sentence and what's more, he has upset those further up the chain. Jim is a man made good, his father was a Glasgow hard man but now it seems he is being dragged back into his past. It had me gripped until about 20% of the way in. As it went on, I found myself less and less convinced by the story. Jim becomes less engaging and more self obsessed. There are a couple of subplots and characters that don't seem to go anywhere. A Chinese student goes missing in China and Jim is dragged into this, an ex student of Jim's turns up as the girlfriend of his somewhat seedy lawyer. These are loosely tied into the main plot but as I say, did not convince me. Also worrying was the lack of focus that Jim seemed to have with regard to his son's wellbeing. Yes, he's worried but is he actually there for him? I don't want to say more in case of spoilers. In a way I can understand Jim's ambivalence, Eliot is not a sympathetic character at all.

The book as a whole is very readable but it is not as immersive as some of Welsh's other work. Thanks to NetGalley and Canongate for the ARC.

I quite enjoyed the book about a university professor, Jim Brennan, who came from humble beginnings and is now poised for the top job at the university. Jim has escaped his violent upbringing but his son being arrested on a drugs charge puts him back into the world he thought he had left behind.
The story is well paced and keeps you gripped. I did however feel the ending was a bit abrupt and a bit of a damp squib.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

Thanks to Canongate Books for the advanced copy of this book. I think this book has a lot of potential, but the ending left me underwhelmed. The book has interesting characters, is set in Glasgow and in the first chapters, the story quickly gets a lot of layers and I was really excited to see how they would all come together.

The story is about Jim who is a professor in Criminology at the University of Glasgow. Jim's dad used to be a Glasgow mobster and Jim has worked hard to free himself from this past. When Jim's son Elliot gets arrested, Jim's past comes rushing back and he is forced to engage with some of the old friends of his dad. Jim tries hard to keep the life that he has created and his past separate, but his son's arrest makes this very difficult.

A few points that were missed (in my opinion)
- Jim is a professor of criminology but this is not referenced or used at all. I expected the criminology angle or his research to play a bigger part.
- There are little errors in the book that don't really matter for the story but are just a little sloppy (like ordering a whopper in a mcdonalds).
- Quite a few references are made to the fact that the story is set in Glasgow, so I expected Glasgow to feature more heavily in the book, like more specific references to places or streets or areas, landmarks etc. I've been to Glasgow once this summer and I wish the book did more to make me want to go back and walk in the fictional footsteps of Jim.

I think I have this many pointers because I really loved the beginning of the book, it had so much potential and made me think of Twelve Secrets by Robert Gold (one of my favourite book series at the moment) but unfortunately the ending felt super rushed to me, I wished there were some more chapters! It kind of seems like this could be the beginning of a series and therefore some of the story lines are left open?? If there was a second part, I would definitely read it because I really loved the overall vibe of the book so I will give it 3/5 stars.

Read if you are into moody crime novels with interesting characters.

Probably grittier than my normal reads but overall an enjoyable read. Certainly held your attention.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for a chance to read this book.

I thoroughly enjoyed Louise Welsh's 'To the Dogs'. For an intelligent man Jim Brennan seems to lurch from disaster to disaster just rescuing himself or being rescued from the brink in the nick of time. The situations he finds himself in become more serious, complex and ridiculous until the final twist. An excellent read which I'm pleased to recommend.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy. All opinions are my own.

This was an enjoyable crime thriller, but I felt quite disappointed that there was nothing in it to really mark it out as different to many others in the genre. Despite the discussion of people being cancelled and the concerns re accepting money from Saudi donors and Chinese students it felt a bit old fashioned.
Thank you to netgalley and Canongate for an advance copy of this book

I received an advanced reading copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Canongate, and the author Louise Welsh.
This story was....fine. A relatively involving book but nothing particularly thrilling and a pretty unsatisfactory ending. The overall premise and characters were solid but it never quite took off. A (generous) 3 stars.

It is not often a thriller is set around academia and an eminent Professor. Louise Welsh not only tackles the subject including the realities of building academic relationships with less than scrupulous countries but she does it extremely well. Professor Jim Brennan is a renowned Professor who returns from a graduation ceremony in China to a family problem with his son Elliot arrested. Welsh builds a great thriller around his troubled son, a missing graduate in China and having to confront his past with a father who was a well known Glaswegian criminal. This is a gritty novel that delves into the personal and professional morals of Jim Brennan. Welsh has tackled academia form a unique perspective that conveys great authenticity. A clever cerebral thriller. Readers will not be disappointed.

To The Dogs is a great wee thriller about a guy on the edge of personal and professional catastrophe, and taking the action he can to keep him and his family afloat. Set in an unspecified Scottish city (kind of Edinburgh and Glasgow with some additions- not Glasgow as the blurb suggests), crashing the university world together with the streets of the schemes, there’s a real momentum as threat builds on threat. Morally dubious and gripping throughout, with a suitable ending. Highly recommend

A fabulously written gripping story that was a pleasure to read. I would absolutely recommend this book, it was brilliant

Louise Welsh is one of my favourite writers. I don't know why she isn't world famous. In fact her work is so powerful that I had to stop reading her Plague Times trilogy because it was giving me panic attacks. The worlds she creates are almost too convincing.

It's been a pleasure to return to Glasgow in To The Dogs. Through Jim Brennan Welsh explores class, ambition, family and masculinity. Campus novels can sometimes disappear up their own a***holes but the rawness and self-awareness under JB's veneer of academia means that's never a danger here. Absolute perfection on every page.

This is a gripping tale of Glasgow culture as Jim Brennan finds himself dragged back to the underworld of threats, bribe and corruption from the comfortable life he has built for himself as a leading academic. His family, career and life come under threat as he walks a tightrope between defending himself and his loved ones and doing the right thing.

I first encountered Louise Welsh 20-odd years ago when I read The Cutting Room and I caught up with her again with The Second Cut, both of which are excellent.

To the Dogs is in a slightly different vein but just as captivating. I was hooked throughout, could barely put it down to sleep, and surprised by the ending - there was an easy way out of Brennen's troubles presenting itself but she didn't take it.

To the Dogs has humour and a touch of brutality and seediness - though maybe not as much as the 'Cut' books. The characters are excellently done, from Brennen himself, to his wife, daughter, lawyer and waste-of-space son.

If you enjoy intelligent crime get this book read.

A bit different to my normal choice of books but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I liked the Glasgow location although it could have been any university city - it was quite a quick read (or maybe I just wanted to keep reading). Definitely recommended.

Can you ever escape your family history? If not the next generation but the second generation. Filling the shoes of the criminal past that had been left behind.
Street smarts, blackmail and career changing events make a compelling narrative and enjoyable story that will keep the reader engrossed.