I found the included stories touching and relevant, they were also too repetitive to keep my interest. I also listened to the audiobook version, which I did not enjoy because of the reader's lack of sincerity when reading the dialogue.

There is a lot more to rescue than most of us will ever realize. Many people own animals, without really thinking about the morals and ethics involved in pet ownership, buying a pure bred or picking up a dog at a shelter, usually without putting too much thought into it or without thinking about their pets’ backstories. Upon adopting his first family dog as a rescue, after long being against pet ownership, author and writer Peter Zheutlin gets curious and decides to follow the same path their 2-3-year-old rescue Lab mix, Albie, took to get to their family and his second chance at life. He learns more than he bargained for, completing changing his outlook on life and growing as a person, as he embarks on a journey that includes traveling from Texas to Pennsylvania, in a truck with 40-60 dogs.

This thoughtfully written book explores the joys, heartaches, and the desperate reality of rescue. It also poses the question: Why is animal rescue even more imperative within the Southern States? Well written and clear cut, the author tells his story and his research. He does jump around a bit in time and admits in the afterword that he streamlined some of the events so that they would make more sense to readers. This book does a good job of taking the reader on the same gut wrenching but honest journey the author takes, sometimes shocking the reader with details of what the other finds, other times, warming the readers’ heart with success stories. As you fall for these animals, you will also bleed for them, hearing overwhelming statistics about animal cruelty, high kill facilities, and the realities of animal rescue. If you have ever been interested in nonfiction, animals, animal rights, overpopulation, or second chances, Rescue Road is the book for you.

They're not many people who can resist a good dog story. This is one about 30,000 canines rescued from the southeastern United States. Author Peter Zheutlin shares the story of Greg Mahle who found his life's calling finding forever homes for dogs that would otherwise be put down. RESCUE ROAD is a heart-warming story that reaffirms there are many compassionate people who work tirelessly to save dogs.

This is an interesting look at how and why dogs from the American South get transported up north to be adopted. I enjoyed it overall, but I wasn't expecting some of the horrific stories that are in here, describing in detail violence done against dogs.

Peter Zheutlin goes along with Greg Mahle on his journey from the South to the North bringing rescue dogs to their forever homes. Throughout the book he also visits with other volunteers along the way who run shelters, foster dogs, bring food and medicine to dogs, etc. This was an incredible story about all of the volunteers who do everything they can to rescue dogs from being euthanized and make their lives better. It is amazing to read about these volunteers who put so much time, money, and love into making sure as many dogs as they can help have a better life.
Before reading this book I knew a little bit about dog rescue, in particular dogs coming up from the South because one of my dogs was originally from Tennessee. While, I knew these dogs were transported in trucks and were being rescued from kill shelters that was about the extent of my knowledge. I never knew how much actually went into saving all of these dogs. In addition, I didn’t know the extent of the overpopulation problem in the South. It was informative and heart-breaking to hear about how dogs are viewed and treated in the South. It made me so grateful for all the volunteers working so hard to provide a better live for these dogs, even if it is as simple as giving them food or medicine.
Zheutlin did an excellent job sharing the work of all of these volunteers by showing just how much they do. He also really highlighted just how big of a problem the over-breeding of animals and the lack of spaying and neutering. So in addition to this book showing the day to day tasks of rescue organizations, it also is educational on the problems that still need to be taken care of. I found myself crying at many parts, whether they were sad or happy tears. While parts of this book are hard to read and heart-breaking, it is inspiring to read about the volunteers trying to fix this problem one dog at a time and the people who adopt rescue dogs.
I received a free copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.