– Review from BookLife Reviews

Schulze’s moving debut, a coming-of-age story set at the end of the 1970s, offers a clear-eyed look at violent encounters, finding a self, and—blessedly—a lot of dogs. The narrative revolves around 13-year-old Spencer MacElliott, the main suspect in the death of his alcoholic, abusive father. Spence’s reputation as a troublemaker, both at school and outside, doesn’t really help his case. The only place he feels a sense of respite is Pal’s Place, an animal shelter where he volunteers—and when he adopts Blue, a battle-scarred pit bull who has escaped from a dog-fighter, things start seeming better. Until they suddenly get a lot worse.

The narrative unfolds from Spencer’s deceptively offhanded perspective, with readers given continuous insight into this 13-year-old’s observations and internal monologues. Schulze does a good job of personifying a teenager, and the sarcastic minimalism of the tone recalls Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. But there’s a lot more action here, much of it exciting and dramatic yet written with compelling realism. Readers will not find it hard to believe that it is a 13-year-old both handling and narrating these events. The other characters are also a piquant set, bringing light to a sometimes dark tale, their lives captured in crisp, compact prose: “Now Daryl works at the Chevy dealership in town,” Spence tells us, “and he talks about it the same way he talks about the army.”

At times, Schulze switches telling the story from Spence’s perspective to that of the dog, Blue. Though this is an interesting experiment, it often proves more jarring than enlightening, especially as Blue’s perspective is already implied in scenes with Spence. Schulze touchingly creates a sense of community among survivors of abuse, as, over the course of the story, many characters are revealed to have grown up in the shadow of alcoholic fathers. Still, Hitter and Blue is a heart-warming read, building to a satisfying ending and lesson.

Takeaway: Heartwarming coming-of-age story of escaping abuse and the love of a dog.