Oh Heavenly Dog

by Joe Camp

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0590314009
• ISBN13: 9780590315463
• Release Date: January 1980
• Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks
• Length: 139 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.

Customer Reviews

The novelization of Benji's third successful feature film

This is Joe Camp's novelization of the 1980 film Oh! Heavenly Dog. Camp, the man behind the Benji phenomenon, co-wrote the screenplay with Rod Browning, and this novelization closely follows the script of the film itself. It's the story of a private investigator attempting to solve a murder under the most unusual of conditions. Benjamin Browning is set up and murdered, at which point he finds himself in a strange place called the Intermediate Destination Evaluation Facility. It's sort of like a toll booth on the way to eternity. Browning is graded Marginal Material, which means he needs to complete a certain mission in order to secure a spot in the Ultimate Reward destination. That mission is to go back and solve his own murder. Unfortunately, Browning has to return to earth in the form of a cute and fluffy little dog. The four-legged Browning meets up with the same beautiful woman he had met shortly before his death, and it just so happens that she is working on a book about the crime he is trying to solve. Jackie Howard is increasingly perplexed as she finds the dog every place she goes as she investigates the crime scene and interviews important witnesses. Browning has to overcome all sorts of handicaps, such as the lack of hands, the inability to speak, and the tendency of large dogs to chase him up and down the streets of London, but he goes so far as to overstay his allotted time on earth in order to close the case and keep Jackie out of danger as he prods her slowly toward the truth. The ending holds a bit of a surprise, as well. If you've seen the movie, you already know the story; this novelization is very faithful to the film's original screenplay (which makes sense given that Joe Camp wrote both of them) - there are few additional details to be found in these pages. It's an excellent novelization and includes a set of color photographs from the film itself, but it's much more fun to watch Benji's amazing performance than it is to read about it.