Book review: Gritty debut garnering acclaim

Dubliner Djamel White is already being highlighted as a writer to watch. Picture: Conor Horgan

• All Them Dogs
• By Djamel White
• John Murray, €14.99

All Them Dogs is the much-anticipated debut novel from Dubliner Djamel White. 

After completing an early school-leavers course in Ballyfermot, White undertook a six-month placement with Fighting Words (co-founded by Roddy Doyle), which helped him carve out his niche.

With plenty of encouragement from his mentors and peers, he undertook an undergraduate degree at UCD, graduating with a BA in English and creative writing in 2022 and an MFA in creative writing in 2023.

All Them Dogs is described as a novel that “gives the gangs of West Dublin their own The Wire”, with White being highlighted as a writer to watch.

His debut is garnering acclaim from writers like Anne Enright and Marlon James, with The Bookseller describing All Them Dogs as ‘Dublin’s answer to Top Boy.’

After five years staying under the radar in the UK, Tony Ward arrives back to Dublin with the intention of re-establishing himself in the gangland hierarchy he had left behind.

Although his mentor has passed away and circumstances have changed, Ward remains determined and unwavering in his ambitions.

He knows what he wants but first he needs a meeting with Aengus Lavelle, an infamous Irish crime boss and “the key link between all the major suppliers and the rest of the gangs in the country”.

Through his old contacts he lands himself a role working alongside Darren ‘Flute’ Walsh, one of Lavelle’s sidekicks, and an old school acquaintance of Ward’s.

Ward has a sense of bravado and immortality that constantly puts him in harm’s way. He never stops running, never stops moving, living his life at an intense and dangerous pace.

His mother is at her wit’s end, a shell of a woman, unable to comprehend where it all went so wrong. 

His brother, a college graduate just returned from Berlin, has managed to steer his life away from the gangland environment that permeated their youth.

Walsh is not as Ward remembers and he finds himself in quite an unexpected situation as the air starts to hum between them.

Walsh has an unstable personality, one that Ward finds himself inexplicably attracted to. Both characters are extremely volatile, which leads to powerful scenes throughout the narrative.

Ward is trouble, yet there is an endearing quality to his personality. His trajectory through life is emotive and provocative, with his desire to belong palpable on every page. 

Ward lives on the edge with a raw voltage charging through his every move, every decision he makes.

There is a brief reference to an alternative path that he could have taken as a young lad. 

Alongside the occasional glimpses of ordinary life, these moments hint at a part of Ward’s longing to escape the turmoil surrounding him.

There is no shying away from the strong language in this novel, with vehemence and hatred spewing out of every conversation. 

Yet there are gentle moments and bursts of feeling that offer glimpses into what could have occurred if circumstances had been different.

Electricity pulsates through All Them Dogs with an intensity and a sense of urgency that propels the reader forward to the very fitting ending.

Prepare yourself for an adrenaline-fuelled, intense rush, a novel that will not allow you to take a breath.

Gritty, impacting, emotive, and frighteningly authentic, All Them Dogs is a formidable and assured debut.