THE DUST OF 100 DOGS

Cursed by a strange man just after losing her one true love, Irish pirate Emer Morrissey must live 300 years in the bodies of various dogs before being reincarnated in 1972 as human Saffron Adams. Saffron retains all of Emer’s memories and is thought to be a genius for her great knowledge of history. As Saffron drags the reader through her uninspired life in a dysfunctional Pennsylvania family, she makes plans to travel to Jamaica and dig up the treasure that she buried there as Emer, 300 years ago. Later in the book, King introduces the creepy Fred, who has deviant sexual tendencies and carries on conversations with his mother in his head—and whose connection to Emer/Saffron isn’t revealed until the end. With its sloppy, uneven pacing, kitchen-sink plot and boring characters, even the most loyal of pirate mateys will wish that Saffron and Fred would simply walk the plank. The language is anachronistic during Emer’s story and lacks spark when Saffron narrates. Despite Emer’s pirate adventures, there is little excitement and the ending is anticlimactic. This is not buried treasure, just fool’s gold. (Fantasy. YA)