In his debut novel, David Zimmerman’s territory, literally and figuratively, is the frequently discomfiting one of Iraq and the ongoing war there. The reader is immediately thrust into the conflict on the first page when Pvt. Toby Durant discovers the dead body of a naked child in the middle of the road while riding in a Humvee in a convoy in the 118 degree heat. But that sighting becomes the least horrifying part of the scene.
Durant, stationed in the desert which his buddies call “the sandbox,” has learned to do without some of the basic necessities: ready-made cigarettes, toilet paper, coffee filters, making do with “trash when they don’t send us the right equipment.” But it’s the sights and sounds that really get to him. In his mid-twenties and with a pregnant girlfriend back home to whom he is engaged, he is determined to “get through my war. Work on one thing at a time and only think of that. Then go on to the next thing.” The reader coming into this book with certain convictions regarding the controversial issues of the continuing presence of foreign troops, and of war in general, will find nothing here to quell them. But that is only the starting point in this novel, as Durant uncovers pervasive corruption on a level and to a degree that only heightens the jeopardy confronting him and the men with whom he serves.
Not an easy book to read, it is, however, well worth the effort. Recommended.
