"Frank Huyler creates a thrilling drama out of a few well-chosen elements."

– Harper's Magazine

“A fascinating and heartbreaking meditation on healing and motivation … Even when there's nothing happening in this beautifully austere novel, Huyler provides readers with plenty to ponder.”

– Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Breathtakingly vivid…scrupulous and severe in its allegiance to truth-telling.”

– The Times Literary Supplement

"Resonant. . . . vivid and compassionate. . . . A timely, disquieting reflection on mortality, war and the startling dichotomy between the affluent West and the impoverished Third World."

– Kirkus Reviews

"He writes in a surgical fashion-with precision and care, making no sudden metaphorical movements. Huyler's protagonist resists easy answers or self-congratulatory axioms in examining the ethics of humanitarian intervention.”

– The New Yorker

"Sturdy and evocative."

– Publishers Weekly

"Dr. Huyler's writing is quiet, precise, spellbinding from beginning to end … Easily holds with the best contemporary fiction."

– The New York Times

"A book to treasure. It is a riveting tale of our time, at once haunting and inspiring, provocative and insightful. It will stay with me for a long time."

– Tom Brokaw - award-winning television journalist and author of ‘The Greatest Generation’

"One of the finest novels I've read in years. . . . A timely, powerful exploration into the uses and limits of benevolence . . . the limits of what's good and decent in the American character."

– Ben Fountain - author of 'Brief Encounters with Che Guevara'

"Brilliant, start to finish. . . . It's clear and deep and wise, and very few contemporary novels can make that claim."

– Stewart O'Nan - author of 'Songs for the Missing'

"Lyrical, moving, gripping. . . . A dark, compelling story about moral ambition and its pitfalls-a necessary book for this moment in America's imperial history."

– Andrew Solomon - author of the National Book Award-winning 'The Noonday Demon'