A man's wife has died; precisely how she died is a mystery, and their dog is the only witness. The husband is so desperate for the dog to tell him what happened, he embarks on a journey to teach the dog to speak. This is a unique story, to be sure. But not only is the premise preposterous, the ending is a true disappointment. I won't spoil the ending, but I will say I find it seriously annoying when I spend hours and hours reading a book, and only at the end discover the resolution of the mystery required a tidbit of information the author held back merely to encourage you to read the book. I'll compare how I felt at the end of this book to the following example: when I read a murder mystery and I'm introduced to several suspects, but at the end of the book I find out the murderer was someone never introduced in the story before then - a surprise character added at the end. That's how I felt at the end of "Dogs of Babel" - manipulated and irritated.