Review of Diamond Dogs

“Whatever sins may have been attached to the front grille of my father’s Eldorado were washed away and disappeared down a drain at seven o’clock that October morning.” Intoxicated after a party with his high school football team, Neil Garvin, 17, first-string quarterback with the “million-dollar arm," accidentally murders a classmate, Ian Curtis. Neil's father, the sheriff of their small town, Carmen, Nevada, covers up for his son and an awkward tension is born between them.

The book delves into the emotionally fraught relationship between Neil and his father, “…most people thought he was just this charming guy who really loved his son. He hardly showed his other side, at least not outside the house.” His “other side” being the side that mentally and sometimes physically abuses Neil. Neil even blames his father for the disappearance of his mother when he was a toddler.

Ian's parents report their son missing, and most of the student’s from Neil’s high school, including himself and his teammates