Out of the Pit is set in contemporary Chicago. It is the fictional story of Dirk, his single dad, Russ, and the pit-bulls they raise. Dog-fighting today occurs in twenty-two of Chicago’s twenty-five police districts, and is on the rise nationwide. Though a felony offence, less than handful of successful prosecutions have been executed in Illinois in the past decade. Animal shelters throughout the country are inundated with fought and abused pit bulls. In the novel, an animal shelter holds — and refuses to release — one of Russ’s pit bulls, Poncho. It is also where Rachel — daughter of constrictive fundamentalist parents — volunteers with her mother. Dirk, who has raised and trained pit bulls since he was a young boy, believes Poncho was hit by a car, not fought. He is intent on getting him back. For Dirk, Poncho is a deeply beloved companion. Rachel challenges his assumptions and, over time, reveals her own prison, the religion that controls her.
The world of abused and misused dogs is the novel’s objective correlative as it offers a territory replete with struggles for affection, prestige, devotion, power and recognition. What interests me is what dogs bring out in people, mirroring humanity’s best and worst.