Overview

"""A coming-of-age romance and thriller during which Nick, a journalist, and his longtime crush, Annie the Marine, grapple with love and friendship amid the psychological traumas associated with military service and war.""--"

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9798988745631

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Reviews

A romantic thriller oozing with maturity and insight. -Gary Shteyngart, NYT bestselling author of the memoir Little Failure Kurtz is an all-American love story set against the rise of the post-9/11 national security state. John Lawson deftly mixes youthful romance with foreign intrigue as his novel probes the dark corners of America's forever wars, telling a tale of a consuming love between an aspiring journalist and ambitious Marine. It's a bit like reading Graham Greene's Quiet American, but narrated by the earnest young American rather than the jaded old Brit. A mesmerizing read. -JOHN DELURY, author of Agents of Subversion: The Fate of John T. Downey and the CIA's Covert War in China In Kurtz, John Lawson has accomplished the rare feat of weaving a biting critique of the military-intellectual complex into a moving love story. It is a knowing account of war, love, and longing. -RAY LOCKER, author of Nixon's Gamble and Haig's Coup It's extremely rare that I read a novel about women in the Marine Corps and see myself in the writing, but Lawson's book captures the layered complexities and contradictions of what's fair in love, military service, and war so beautifully it makes it all feel real. Finally, a fictional woman Marine leader and protagonist who is anything but a victim, but is fully human in her flaws, her decisions in combat, and her truths. -LT. COL. KATE GERMANO, USMC (retired), author of Fight Like A Girl: The Truth Behind How Female Marines Are Trained What a ride! Feels like Nicholas Sparks meets Joseph Conrad. John Lawson has conjured a fascinating book about the Global War on Terror, falling in love and moral courage. Kurtz is a thrilling mystery and a fast-paced romance, but it's also a cri de coeur for bravery and empathy to a country that has lost its way. If you want a novel with a heart and mind and a keen critique of American foreign policy, find Kurtz. -M.C. ARMSTRONG, author of The Mysteries of Haditha and American Delphi It's an old story: Men go off to war and women wait to receive them if they return, however changed. Kurtz turns that ancient verity on its head. Nick Willard is a callow kid when he falls for older woman Annie Kurtz, and the author depicts him warts and all as he struggles to grow up and find his way into Annie's arms even as she embarks on a career with the Marines. Against a backdrop of military absurdity and the horrors of the Afghan war, they seek justice and learn how to make peace with compromise. -VALERIE NIEMAN, author of In the Lonely Backwater, a 2022 American Writing Award winner

Author Information

JOHN LAWSON is a military analyst, a former journalist, and a Marine Corps veteran. His previous two books are Talking To Girls About Football, a collection of short stories, and Tom Landry and Bill Walsh, a nonfiction book featured in an NFL Films documentary. He has degrees from Maryland, Florida, and Washington & Lee, and he lives in Northern Virginia with his wife, Beth McMurtrie. They have two children.

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