And I remembered looking back over my shoulder as we ran away, Eddie Glackin lying there alone, not a friend in sight to hold him as he bled out, and I thought what a lonely world it was for unlovable fucks like us.
page 126
Table of Contents
Why All Them Dogs?
All Them Dogs is one of the 2026 Booker Prize longlisted entries that caught my eye. Recently I bought a copy of this book along with two other Booker Prize longlisted entries that caught my eye in my effort to diversify my reading horizons by reading literary fiction that is outside my usual wheelhouse.
This is also a debut novel by an Irish writer telling the story of a Irish gangster in Dublin. All of these things were intriguing to me so here we are. I read Saoirse by Charleen Hurtubise earlier this year and I have been wanting to read more Irish fiction. Yes, I know about Sally Rooney, no her writing style just isn’t my thing.
I read a hardcover copy of this book (ISBN/UID – 9798217046676) published by Riverhead Books. Author blurbs on this edition of the book are from – Marlon James, Isaac Fitzgerald, Roddy Doyle, Anne Enright, August Thompson. This is my first time reading anything by Djamel White. This is my first time reading anything by Djamel White.
Let’s get into it.
The Books
All Them Dogs is a literary fiction novel that tells the story of one Tony Ward aka Wardy, an Irish gangster who has returned to Dublin after a five year stint in London where he fled to after murdering a rival gang member. He ingratiates himself back with the local gang scene by working for a local drug lord Finto Maher. Alongside him is Flute Walsh aka Darren, an enforce for the big boss Aengus Lavelle.
I loved the sense of environment I got from this book. I could visualize the various environments that Wardy found himself in. The dingy apartment (or gaff as is the Irish slang) of a small time dealer. The gym that Aengus runs. Even the car that Wardy drove around in—a little shitbox, an Opel Corsa GSi which used to belong to his mother.
Isaac Fitzgerald’s blurb on the back of the book describes this book as “claustrophobic” and that is an accurate term. Throughout the course of the book it feels like Wardy has no space to relax, to breathe. Everywhere he goes he is facing some kind of hostility, whether it is from his half-brother, or from his gangster buddies or the world at large. The fast-paced nature of the book also adds to this feeling of the walls closing in on our main character.
The most intriguing part of All Them Dogs is the tender love story between Wardy and Flute Walsh. The moments of tenderness are few in number but they do provide moments of stark contrast to the harsh world that these characters live in. In the world of these Irish gangsters where violence is often the hammer used for every nail, even the erotic physical desire that Wardy and Flute feel for each other takes on a certain tenderness.
It might have been and all. Or I was just so fucking happy in that moment in a way I’d never been before. My brain buzzing like there was a light show going on back there. I shut my eyes while I chewed and enjoyed the colors. Why couldn’t every day be like this, why couldn’t my while life be this way?
page 165
Like with Taiwan Travelogue this is a tragic queer love story. It is very different in its specifics but I kept asking similar questions – what if these two men had met in different, less violent circumstances? What would happen if they were not both embroiled in a world where toxic masculinity was the name of the game and there was little space for anything else?
There is also tragedy of other kinds present throughout the book, mostly in Wardy’s relationships with his friends and family. The relationship between him and his mother and his half-brother Archie is hella sad to read about and it becomes increasingly worse as the story goes on. And, Wardy has very few real friends outside of that, most of his gangster buddies would equally stab him in the back as they would buy him a pint of Guinness.
The prose in All Them Dogs has a dark beauty to it. Written entirely from Wardy’s perspective, it is filled with the kind of irreverence in inner monologue one would expect from an Irish gangster. Subsequently, Irish slang is used throughout the book and I had to look up some of the words I wasn’t familiar with. I don’t know how authentic it all is since no part of my lived experience comes close to “Irish gangster” and I don’t know anybody like Wardy but it all felt real, this is a story that would make for a good gangster movie in the right hands.
Concluding Thoughts
I had good enough time with All Them Dogs. I can see why this novel was longlisted by the Booker Prize. The tragic antihero Irish gangster main character combined with a oh-so-tragic queer love story in a world that has no love for such “unloveable fucks” and a fast, claustrophobic pace make for very compelling reading.
I am definitely open to reading more stories about Irish gangsters and if Djamel White is going to write more stories like this I will read them. If you have any suggestions about other such stories about Irish gangsters feel free to suggest them to me. Especially if they feature tragic antihero characters like this one.
This also happens to be the 52nd book I have read in 2026 and also the 52nd book review I have written. My reading goal for 2026 is 52 books, one book a week so I am months ahead of schedule. The most impressive part to me is not the 52 books I’ve read since I have achieved that in years past but the 52 book reviews I’ve written, all of which are of much higher quality than they were last year.
That’s all from me, see y’all in the next one.
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