Do you like books with dogs and action? Then you might like the book, Max, by Jennifer Li Shotz, because the book is centered around a heroic dog and an action-filled adventure that goes on throughout the novel.
The book takes place in a town in Texas with the main character Justin who would receive his brother's dog after his brother Kyle was killed in action. Through the next few chapters, Justin would have to learn how to take care of Max and become his new owner, with the help of his friends Chuy and Carmen. Max would start to ease into civilian life until Tyler showed up. Tyler was Kyles's best friend and had served with him. But when he showed up, Max tried to attack him and this would lead to Justin trying to find out why Max hated Tyler. Justin and Max would follow Tyler into the woods to find him with members of a Mexican cartel with Tyler selling them weapons. From here out Justin's new mission was to stop the deal from going through. But well spying on Tyler the first time they were spotted and Tyler realized it was him and would lead to the kidnapping of Justin’s dad. With the kidnapping happening, Justin would go back to where he saw the deal happen the first time and would stop it completely, making life go back to normal afterward.
The theme of Max is not to judge someone from only one interaction because Justin's family thinks Max is a crazy dog and trusts everything Tyler says. Since the family had known Tyler for longer than they did with Max they went with his idea of putting him down, so they sent him to the pound. Even though Max was helping Justin get away from two vicious dogs that were the sheriffs. They also believe him more because Max was always howling and tried to attack Tyler when he had first visited them, but they would later realize that Tyler was the bad guy and that Max was trying to stop anything bad from happening.
I found this book to be enjoyable because of the amount of action that was throughout the book. I also enjoyed the amount of action that was at the end of the book, with Justin stopping Tyler from going through with the deal. One thing I didn’t like about the book was how slow the build-up to taking Tyler down was, but other than that I found the book enjoyable
I recommend this novel because it has a really good storyline that I found enjoyable and has a great ending, but it takes a long time until much of the action takes place, so this book would suit someone who likes a slow pace book with a great ending to it. ( )

A great book for all ages, not just for children. This book is not only about a military trained dog, but also about friendship and family. A really good dog story. I've seen the movie sometime ago and it was good as well. ( )

Justin's older brother, Kyle dies in Afghanistan while on deployment. Kyle's dog Max survives, and is sent back to Justin's family at the funeral. Justin does't want anything to do with the dog, but Max only obeys orders from him, other than Kyle. So reluctantly, Justin agrees to take the dog, and train it. Later, Justin meets his friend Chuy's cousin, Mia, who is good with dogs. Mia helps Justin train Max, and they soon become friends. Not long after, Kyle's friend Tyler, who Justin never liked, comes back from Afghanistan too, asks Justin's dad for a job and place to live. His dad gives it to him, taking pity on him for being injured. Justin meets Chuy's acquaintance, Emilio, who buys video games from Justin. One day, the he decides to take Max for a walk, and Max starts following Emilio's scent. He leads Justin to find Tyler and Emilio, and another man dealing firearms. The man's Rottweilers smell justin, and chase him down, and he narrowly escapes. Later Tyler convinces him to shut his mouth and put Max down. Justin lets the pound take Max. His father gets suspicious of this behavior, so he asks about Tyler. Then he goes to the place that he rented to Tyler, and finds him with the man and their cache of firearms. So they take the father hostage. Later on, Justin, Chuy, and Mia follow Tyler and find him doing more deals. Again, the man's Rottweilers smell them, and chase them. Max meanwhile has escaped his captors, and arrives in time to fight off the Rottweilers. This gives Justin a chance to evade Tyler, and finds Chuy with Emilio. Justin subdues Emilio, and his father breaks free and handles the man with his dogs. Justin tells Mia to go to the police while he and Max run from Tyler. Eventually Justin is cornered and Tyler is ready to shoot him, when Max runs in from behind, and pushes him into a river. They return home, and Max is now trusted as part of the family.

This was a good book, and I liked it well enough. It was very sad though, and I don't really like sad stories. The movie was good, and I can't believe this is a true story. This dog sounds very loyal, and it is lucky he was trained for those sorts of things. I can't believe how he went from a traumatized, hostile dog, to the most loyal, protective one. ( )

Justin's older brother Kyle is killed in Afghanistan. Justin gets very sad about this, but Kyle left someone behind. Max Kyle's work dog was still alive and Justin wants to adopt him before he is put down. Justin finally convinces his parents to let him have him. Max is a highly trained military dog, he is scared from Kyle's death so Justin needs to retrain him for house rules. Justin is taking Max for a walk in the woods when he sees a gang. The gang is dealing guns. Two bulldogs are down there and smell Max and Justin. Justin realizes and runs the bulldogs and thugs start chasing them. Justin makes it out of the woods and the thugs retreat. Justin gets his friends and decides to go after them and get the police. Justin gets down to where the gang is gets the police and arrest them with a brutal fight. Max was injured but he was happy in the end. A gang was shut down because of Max.
Max is a decent book. It is non-fiction because its based on a true story. It is a book that is very sad and very suspenseful in moments. I prefer fiction books but this one was probably the best non-fiction book I've read. If you like war books or multi-emotional books i guess this is for you. Max is a fun book to read because if you're a military child you might be able to relate. I recommend Max to any people who want to read a true story. Max is based of a top-seller movie. ( )

This book is about a dog name Max who served along side Kyle in the marines overseas in Afghanistan. Max's handler Kyle is killed by gunshot when he is trying to help Max who was hurt by an explosion. Max is sent home but is not calm at all so he will be put down unless Kyle's family adopts him. The family takes the dog home and he surprisingly only remains calm when he is with Kyle's brother Justin who wants nothing to do with him. The two of them form an unlikely bond and Justin becomes Max's new and handler and new best friend. Aside from this being a book, it was recently turned into a movie, but be careful it is very sad at times so have the tissues ready! The central message of this book would be that you can find true friendship out of a very unfortunate situation. ( )