The Dog Stars cover art

The Dog Stars

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for £0.00
£8.99/mo thereafter. Renews automatically. Terms apply. Offer ends 31 July 2025 at 23:59 GMT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.

The Dog Stars

By: Peter Heller
Narrated by: Mark Deakins
Try for £0.00

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends 31 July 2025 23:59 GMT. Cancel monthly.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

A life-affirming dystopian tale of global disaster, survival and belief.

Hig, bereaved and traumatised after global disaster, has three things to live for—his dog Jasper, his aggressive but helpful neighbour and his Cessna aeroplane. He's just about surviving, so long as he only takes his beloved plane for short journeys, and saves his remaining fuel.

But, just once, he picks up a message from another pilot, and eventually the temptation to find out who else is still alive becomes irresistible. So he takes his plane over the horizon, knowing that he won't have enough fuel to get back. What follows is scarier and more life-affirming than he could have imagined. And his story, The Dog Stars, is an audiobook unlike any you have ever listened to.

©2022 Peter Heller (P)2012 Random House Audio Dystopian Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Science Fiction Aviation Survival

Listeners also enjoyed...

 A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World cover art
The Last Ranger cover art
After the End cover art
The Ferryman cover art
Edge of Collapse: Box Set, Books 1-3 cover art
The Book of the Unnamed Midwife cover art
One Second After cover art
The Girl with All the Gifts cover art
Alas, Babylon cover art
The Road cover art
The Last Dog on Earth cover art
Wanderers cover art
The End of the World Running Club cover art
The Beginning cover art
World War Z cover art
The Stand cover art

Critic reviews

"The Road crossed with a post-apocalyptic romance...[engages] deep emotions to spine-chilling (and suspenseful) effect." (Lawrence Norfolk, Guardian Books of the Year)
All stars
Most relevant  
really engaging and not trying to be over the top. I really got into this and thought the tactics were interesting

nice apocalypse scenario, seems realistic

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is a beautifully written, poetic and infinitely sad book. The unusual rhythm of the sentence construction took a bit of getting used to but ultimately, it enhanced the listening a great deal. Mark Deakins did a great job with narration. At first I wasn’t sure if I was enjoying the story but then I suddenly found myself wondering what Hig was up to when I wasn’t listening. A real sign of a great book.

Sad and beautiful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A poetic day-dreaming soul survives the day-to-day of grim dystopia, chugging along alongside his post traumatic stress and grief, and bringing the reader along with his meandering day-dreaming and distracted musings, even in the midst of life and death gun fights. This is a gentle and at times dramatic tale, that speaks of the need for connection, companionship, hope and healing, even in a world of cut-throat survivalism.

The Ulysses of Post-apocalyptic fiction

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Heartwarming and gripping story involving a man and his dog after the collapse of the known worldwide, 99% of humans die off, a story of desperate survival against all odds.

If you like dystopian, you’ll love this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Really enjoyed this. Believable characters and touching storyline. Well read. A great addition to the apocalyptic genre

Beautifully written

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for The Dog Stars - written by Peter Heller and narrated by Mark Deakins. Thank you

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The narrator was excellent, I'll look out for more he has done. The story moves along in a way that keeps you engaged. It provokes emotions on all levels. I enjoyed it and did it all within 24 hrs.

Thought provoking

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The writer has an excellent command of language but the story dragged at times and the underlying meaning got lost in the well-crafted narrative.

A bit too slow moving

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A beautiful, reflective and occasionally heartbreaking poem of a first half is marred by a dull, male-power-fantasy of a second.

I'd still recommend it to anyone with an interest in post-apocalyptic tales thanks to its thoughtful protagonist and his fascinating dynamic with the slightly sinister Bangley, but not without a few caveats.

A tale of two halves

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.