An astonishing work and one that will definitely become one of the "classic" novels written about the current Middle East conflict. Kevin Powers' prose is lean, sparse, and raw, to the point of being almost poetic. A veteran of the war himself, He has captured in this small volume the emotions of two young soldiers trying to stay alive while serving in Iraq. The opening lines "The war tried to kill us in the spring." set the tone.

Twenty-one-year old Private Bartle and eighteen-year-old Private Murphy met in boot camp. As they graduated, Bartle promised Murphy's mother that he would take care of his friend- a promise that haunts his every moment and movement as together they struggle to make sense of the carnage around them when they are dropped into Iraq. The scenes are bloody, graphic, and often upsetting, portraying the reality of modern warfare.

They keep count of the casualties, convinced that if they can get past the number 1000 and still be alive, then they will survive; but as the days pass, and the number climbs higher, Murphy becomes increasingly morose and out of touch with reality. He seems to have an insight that he will not return home alive. The ensuing mental devastation Bartle endures when Murphy is killed follows him home, where life does not get better and we see the terrible phsychological and mental toll this war is taking -- and will continue to take -- on the young men and women serving in today's armed forces and on the families who wait at home. Only someone who has served there could ever have given us such a deep and haunting picture of this horror in such a beautifully written story.