Brilliant . . . a book for our times * * Observer * * Astonishingly brilliant -- BERNARD CORNWELL * * Mail on Sunday * * Spectacular . . . an exhilarating rush * * Sunday Times * * Funny, damning, devastating * * Independent * * Vivid, resonant, thundering * * Financial Times * * A boneshaker * * Scotsman * * Bracing, fearless, uproarious * * San Francisco Chronicle * * Lean, direct, muscular . . . almost certainly the first great novel about the Iraq war * * Review 31 * * An inspired, blistering war novel * * New York Times * * The kind of ambition that sent shivers down the spine of the young Tom Wolfe -- ROBERT MCCRUM