'These Heroic, Happy Dead: Stories' by Luke Mogelson is a collection of 10 short stories with a linked theme and some subtle links between them.

The stories here are about people affected by recent wars that American has been involved in. Through deployments to criminal activity. A shady military contractor, a reporter talking about Kabul, and a guy who talks his way into a crew job on a boat in the San Francisco bay are just a few of these characters. These are flawed, human characters who sometimes make bad choices. Much of that is fueled by experiences they've had in a warzone.

The author is a recent reporter for the New Yorker and was based in Afghanistan. Like many short story collections, I thought some stories were better than others. A couple of the stories are online at The New Yorker if you want a sample.

The writing style is clean and unbiased. There is no weighting judgment placed on the characters or their actions. They just are who they are, forever changed by war. The work is reminiscent to me of the writings of Tim O'Brien. I enjoyed reading this work.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Crown Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.