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Kevin Powers

    Kevin Powers is an American author whose works often draw from his experiences in the Iraq War. His writing is characterized by a raw honesty and a profound exploration of the psychological toll of conflict. Powers's style is lyrical and incisive, capturing the complexities of the human experience in the face of violence and loss. His prose resonates with urgency and depth, offering readers an intense and deeply moving perspective on the themes of war and its aftermath on the soul.

    Kevin Powers
    The Yellow Birds
    A Shout in the Ruins
    Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting
    Eleven Days
    A Line in the Sand
    • A Line in the Sand

      • 368 pages
      • 13 hours of reading

      FROM THE AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR OF THE YELLOW BIRDS'A kickass mystery from a superb storyteller' David Baldacci, author of The 6:20 Man'A spellbinding and totally original thriller' Philipp Meyer, author of The Son An early morning on a beach in Virginia. As he is taking his daily swim, Arman Bajalan - formerly an interpreter in Iraq - discovers a dead body. After surviving an assassination attempt that killed his wife and child, Arman has been given lonely sanctuary in the US. Now, sure that the murder is connected to his past, he knows he's still not safe.Seasoned detective Catherine Wheel and her fresh-off-the-beat partner have little to go on beyond a bus ticket in the man's pocket. It leads them to Sally Ewell, a local journalist as grief-stricken as Arman by the Iraq war, who is investigating a nefarious corporation: one on the cusp of landing a multi-billion-dollar government defence contract.As victims mount around Arman, taking the team down wrong turns and towards startling evidence, they find themselves in a race, committed to unravelling the truth and keeping Arman alive - even if it costs them everything.A Line in the Sand is a sinuous, powerful and white-knuckle thriller, from the award-winning author of The Yellow Birds, shot through with treachery, trauma and the long tentacles of war.'A tense, twisting, and thoughtful story of the intersection between grief and greed' Michael Koryta, author of Never Far Away

      A Line in the Sand2023
      4.2
    • A Shout in the Ruins

      • 272 pages
      • 10 hours of reading

      A stunning novel about violence, power and love from the acclaimed author of The Yellow Birds.

      A Shout in the Ruins2019
      3.7
    • Eleven Days

      • 270 pages
      • 10 hours of reading

      When the story opens on May 11, 2011, Sara’s son, Jason, has been missing for nine days from a Special Operations Forces mission on the same night as the Bin Laden raid. Smart, young, and bohemian, Sara had dreams of an Ivy League university for Jason that were not out of reach, followed by a job on the Hill where there were connections through his father. The events of 9/11 changed Jason’s mind and Sara accepted that, steeping herself in all things military to better understand her son’s days, while she works as a freelance editor for Washington policy makers and wonks. Now she knows nothing more about Jason’s fate than the crowds of well-wishers and media camped out in the driveway in front of her small farmhouse in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, waiting to hear news. In a series of flashbacks we learn about Jason’s dashing absentee father, a man who said he was a writer but whose career seemed to involve being in faraway places. And through letters Jason writes home from his training and early missions, we get a picture of a strong, compassionate leader who is wise beyond his years and modest about his abilities. Those exceptional abilities will give Jason the chance to participate in a wholly different level of assignment, the most important and dangerous of his career. At the end Sara will find herself on an unexpected journey full of surprise.

      Eleven Days2013
      3.6
    • The Yellow Birds

      A Novel

      • 226 pages
      • 8 hours of reading

      With profound emotional insight, especially into the effects of a hidden war on mothers and families at home, The Yellow Birds is a groundbreaking novel about the costs of war that is destined to become a classic. "The war tried to kill us in the spring," begins this breathtaking account of friendship and loss. In Al Tafar, Iraq, twenty-one-year old Private Bartle and eighteen-year-old Private Murphy cling to life as their platoon launches a bloody battle for the city. In the endless days that follow, the two young soldiers do everything to protect each other from the forces that press in on every side: the insurgents, physical fatigue, and the mental stress that comes from constant danger. Bound together since basic training when their tough-as-nails Sergeant ordered Bartle to watch over Murphy, the two have been dropped into a war neither is prepared for. As reality begins to blur into a hazy nightmare, Murphy becomes increasingly unmoored from the world around him and Bartle takes impossible actions. With profound emotional insight, especially into the effects of a hidden war on mothers and families at home, The Yellow Birds a groundbreaking novel about the costs of war that is destined to become a classic.

      The Yellow Birds2012
      3.8