BONE OF CONTENTION

Gephardt’s third SF series entry propels readers through a meticulously imagined interstellar setting where sapient, telepathic dogs navigate politics, crime, and personal issues.

This final installment in a trilogy, following What’s Bred in the Bone(2019) and A Bone to Pick(2021), fuses high-concept SF with procedural rigor. The Transmondian Empire created genetically modified and cybernetically enhanced canines as part of the XK9 project. Among them were Rex Dieter-Nell and his mate, Shady Jacob-Belle, who were sold to the government of Rana, a deep-space station. As police dogs in the city of Orangeboro, they’re paired with human law-enforcement partners with whom they share a telepathic bond—Rex with Charlie Morgan, and Shady with Pam Gómez—and outfitted with high-tech collars to speak. The Ranans recognized the XK9s’ self-awareness (“please remember that XK9s are people,” the police chief advises someone at one point), and now inspectors from the Galactic Alliance intend to help governmental officials rule on whether they are sapient. Meanwhile, the dogs and their humans investigate prolific bombers who may be connected to a criminal syndicate. The novel’s inventive mechanics—telepathic links, advanced scent-tracking, microgravity logistics, and multispecies diplomacy—create a tactile, immersive environment. The narrative occasionally risks overloading readers with exposition, slowing momentum in council sessions and technical briefings. However, suspenseful action sequences, including pursuit through hidden corridors of the Vinebrook (the compound of one of Orangeboro’s most powerful families), are rendered with kinetic precision. Dense action sequences can also challenge spatial clarity, though careful attention to character perspectives largely mitigates confusion. They’re balanced by reflective interludes that add emotional weight, as when the members of the XK9 Pack process trauma. Rex evolves believably from a tactical operative to a political actor, wrestling with responsibility and inexperience, while Shady’s scenes of empathy and pragmatism anchor the narrative.

A tense, inventive SF novel of loyalty, politics, and heroism, set in a vividly realized universe.