“Every sentence, every paragraph, is dense with inventive language. […] Driven by uncanny energy and imagination, Bark On is a gripping and insightful novel.”

—Kristin Rabe at Foreword Review

"Bark On is one of the strongest debut novels I’ve read in years. There’s nothing weak about it, in fact: from the sentences to the story to the beating heart of it all, this book has an extraordinary musculature. I really enjoyed this novel."

—Daniel Wallace, author of Big Fish

"Boyle’s novel is an intense, hectic work with a terrific premise and lifelike, earthy characters that all easily express what drives them. The narrative shows a fervor for language and boundless energy..." 

—Kirkus Reviews

"Bark On is a novel squarely and worthily in the tradition of such high-style masters of Southern vernacular as Barry Hannah and Cormac McCarthy. It immerses you in the coastal-Carolina low country, where the streets are “named for the nearest water threatening to sink them,” where “thunderheads anvil down” and the language is a flood of startling invention that somehow feels both ancient and inevitable. It takes you both inside the world of elite triathlon training and to the extreme edge of that already-extreme sport, exposing the “meticulously random” cycle-of-abuse training methods of a charismatic, celebrated coach and two young, uncelebrated prospects he’s grinding down and grooming. This is an outstanding and even breathtaking debut by Mason Boyles—a novelist who’s here for the long haul."

— Mark Winegardner, author of The Godfather's Return