The Good Lieutenant

A Novel

Fiction & Literature, Military, Literary
Cover of the book The Good Lieutenant by Whitney Terrell, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Whitney Terrell ISBN: 9780374712556
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Publication: June 7, 2016
Imprint: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Language: English
Author: Whitney Terrell
ISBN: 9780374712556
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication: June 7, 2016
Imprint: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Language: English

The Good Lieutenant literally starts with a bang as an operation led by Lieutenant Emma Fowler of the Twenty-seventh Infantry Battalion goes spectacularly wrong. Men are dead--one, a young Iraqi, by her hand. Others were soldiers in her platoon. And the signals officer, Dixon Pulowski. Pulowski is another story entirely--Fowler and Pulowski had been lovers since they met at Fort Riley in Kansas.

From this conflagration, The Good Lieutenant unspools backward in time as Fowler and her platoon are guided into disaster by suspicious informants and questionable intelligence, their very mission the result of a previous snafu in which a soldier had been kidnapped by insurgents. And then even further back, before things began to go so wrong, we see the backstory unfold from points of view that usually are not shown in war coverage--a female frontline officer, for one, but also jaded career soldiers and Iraqis both innocent and not so innocent. Ultimately, as all these stories unravel, what is revealed is what happens when good intentions destroy, experience distorts, and survival becomes everything.

Brilliantly told and expertly captured by a terrific writer at the top of his form, Whitney Terrell's The Good Lieutenantis a gripping, insightful, necessary novel about a war that is proving to be the defining tragedy of our time.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The Good Lieutenant literally starts with a bang as an operation led by Lieutenant Emma Fowler of the Twenty-seventh Infantry Battalion goes spectacularly wrong. Men are dead--one, a young Iraqi, by her hand. Others were soldiers in her platoon. And the signals officer, Dixon Pulowski. Pulowski is another story entirely--Fowler and Pulowski had been lovers since they met at Fort Riley in Kansas.

From this conflagration, The Good Lieutenant unspools backward in time as Fowler and her platoon are guided into disaster by suspicious informants and questionable intelligence, their very mission the result of a previous snafu in which a soldier had been kidnapped by insurgents. And then even further back, before things began to go so wrong, we see the backstory unfold from points of view that usually are not shown in war coverage--a female frontline officer, for one, but also jaded career soldiers and Iraqis both innocent and not so innocent. Ultimately, as all these stories unravel, what is revealed is what happens when good intentions destroy, experience distorts, and survival becomes everything.

Brilliantly told and expertly captured by a terrific writer at the top of his form, Whitney Terrell's The Good Lieutenantis a gripping, insightful, necessary novel about a war that is proving to be the defining tragedy of our time.

More books from Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Cover of the book Another Life by Whitney Terrell
Cover of the book The Toy Brother by Whitney Terrell
Cover of the book Trickster Makes This World by Whitney Terrell
Cover of the book King of the Badgers by Whitney Terrell
Cover of the book West of Kabul, East of New York by Whitney Terrell
Cover of the book Crimes in Southern Indiana by Whitney Terrell
Cover of the book Wait by Whitney Terrell
Cover of the book The Essays of Henry D. Thoreau by Whitney Terrell
Cover of the book The Brothers Story by Whitney Terrell
Cover of the book The August 5 by Whitney Terrell
Cover of the book In Search of Us by Whitney Terrell
Cover of the book Hunting the Truth by Whitney Terrell
Cover of the book The Riverman by Whitney Terrell
Cover of the book The Fellowship by Whitney Terrell
Cover of the book Flying to the Moon by Whitney Terrell
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy